LA MESA, Calif. (AP) — San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher has not quite seven months to order tie-dyed jerseys or warmup gear before his Aztecs play in the inaugural Bill Walton Classic.
It would be only fitting, since the doubleheader on Nov. 7 is sure to be a mashup of the things Walton loved the most: basketball, the Grateful Dead and his hometown.
“We’ll have to get on board with (Nike) Jordan and see what they’ll do for a one-off special game. I’d love to wear something tie-dyed for that game,” Dutcher said after a news conference Wednesday in the gym at suburban Helix High, where Walton starred nearly 60 years ago at the beginning of a hoops journey that took him to UCLA, the NBA and then into broadcasting.
The Bill Walton Classic will be played at Pechanga Arena, where Walton played for the NBA’s Clippers in the early 1980s before they moved to Los Angeles.
The promoter, Sports San Diego, is in negotiations to find a power conference team to face the Aztecs. It won’t be UCLA, which will play in the Rady Children’s Invitational at the University of San Diego during Thanksgiving weekend, but the Bruins could be invited in the future.
Walton died of cancer on May 27, 2024, at age 71.
“This is long overdue,” Dutcher said. “Bill Walton was a treasure, and anything we can do to put his name out there, we’re all for it.”
The doubleheader will open with a women’s game between USD and UC San Diego.
Walton won two NCAA championships under John Wooden at UCLA before an NBA career that included winning league MVP in the 1977-78 season and championships with Portland and Boston. The Big Redhead played parts of four seasons with the Clippers in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Long after his playing days ended, the Hall of Famer was an unofficial goodwill ambassador for San Diego, with his disposition matching the perennial sunny weather.
Dutcher had a special relationship with Walton. Dutcher was Steve Fisher’s top assistant when they recruited the youngest of Walton’s four basketball-playing sons, Chris, to play for the Aztecs in the early 2000s.
Dutcher remembers going to Walton’s home near Balboa Park for dinner.
“It was great. Anybody that’s ever spent time with Bill knows what a great person he was,” Dutcher said. “It was all about everyone else when you were with Bill. It was never about him. And that was a beautiful thing.”
The Walton home, which had a hot tub and tipi in the backyard, became a favorite hangout for Aztecs players, just as it had been for members of Bill Walton’s favorite band, the Grateful Dead.
“And then to have him sitting courtside at Aztec games, and I think there was an Aztec player or two over the years that sat in that Walton hot tub with Tuffy when Chris played for us,” Dutcher said. “So, what went on over there, I don’t ask. But I know the Aztec family spent a lot of time in that tipi and at the Walton house.”
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball