Good morning, Uni Watchers, and a Happy Hump Day to one and all.
ICYMI, yesterday the Orlando Magic unveiled a new uniform set for 2025-26. And in a late(r) afternoon offering, Culinary Corner has returned! Our own Mike Engle — who you’ll be hearing from shortly — has revived an old favorite and which will periodically appear on the site.
Aside from being one of Uni Watch’s Ticker Assistants, Mike also enjoys following sports memorabilia auctions, and one which is currently ongoing is offering a motherlode of uni (and non-uni) items from the late, great Bill Walton. You may recall this past season the Portland Trail Blazers honored Walton’s passing with an awesome tie-dye memorial band, which of course relates to one of Walton’s off-court pleasures, the Grateful Dead. So when Mike tipped me wise to the auction, which includes a bunch of items from Walton’s Deadhead activities, I was doubly enthused. Mike has graciously featured a few of those below.
Let me turn the rest of this over to Mr. Engle now. Enjoy!
by Mike Engle
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Bill Walton was famous for his roles on UCLA men’s basketball teams (freshman team, 1970-71; varsity team, 1971-1974, NCAA champions 1972 and ’73), the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA (1976-77 NBA championship, and 1977-78 Most Valuable Player), the Boston Celtics of the NBA (1985-86 NBA championship and Sixth Man of the Year), as a basketball broadcaster, and as a Grateful Dead fan…in arguably no particular order. He died in May 2024 at the age of 71, and his estate provided many of his personal artifacts to Hunt Auctions for liquidation and fundraising. We actually once featured this auction in the Ticker, but there’s enough good stuff here to do a Uni Watch look-through. Let’s take a peek!
Bill Walton’s school jackets
Bill Walton’s high school varsity letterman jacket has a green wool body and gray leather sleeves, representing Helix High School, La Mesa, CA. It features a nice chain-stitched patch on the right chest for his 1969 state championship. The school still exists, albeit as a charter school. Additional info on Lot 2 here.
His university varsity letterman jacket is even prettier, with a navy wool body, gold trim, and white leather sleeves, representing UCLA. Additional photos and info on Lot 50 here. Meanwhile, Lot 51 has three extra loose UCLA patches issued to Walton: two UCLA C’s just like on his jacket, and a “West 1972” patch. Additional info on Lot 51 here.
Finally, the last of this model of jacket is this graduation year jacket, all navy with a little white trim on the front pockets, and a gold 74. Additional info on Lot 12 here.
All of the above jackets were manufactured by a certain H.L. Whiting Co. in Los Angeles, CA (Corporation #241861). As per the California Secretary of State website, the company filed in 1950, but became inactive in 1972, which suggests that even the 1974 grad jacket was made in advance. The former headquarters in L.A. North now houses a commercial kitchen that is rented to caterers and restaurants.
Bill Walton’s game-worn basketball jerseys
Lot 57 is probably a NCAA holy grail: Bill Walton’s senior-year jersey in road blue! Thanks to thread placements and unique puckering of the letters, this jersey is conclusively photo-matched to the end of the 88-game winning streak at Notre Dame, plus an additional undated image. Additional photos and info on Lot 57 here.
Meanwhile, Lot 80 isn’t too shabby either for a NBA collector: a black road Portland Trail Blazers jersey from his 1977-78 MVP year! This jersey is conclusively photo matched to a game in the Boston Garden against the Celtics, but Walton had flown home to be with his wife, who had a son, on January 15, 1978, so the photo match date must be December 9, 1977. Additional photos and info on Lot 80 here.
Rounding out Walton’s NBA career, Lot 194 has his 1982-83 home white San Diego Clippers uniform and Lot 195 has his 1983-84 home white San Diego Clippers uniform. Lot 216 has a Boston Celtics jersey…Walton only played for the Celtics for two years, 1985-86 and 1986-87, but this lack of the NBA logo on the left strap makes me think it’s 1985-86. Sadly, this one isn’t photo-matched, and the available one is CERTAINLY NOT this jersey, which notably has an upside-down M for a makeshift W.
Bill Walton’s event-worn baseball jerseys
Lot 396 is a San Francisco Giants jersey, with a “2014 World Series Champions” patch consistent with 2015. The NOB is “Built to Last,” which is a Grateful Dead album, with the number 50…I’m not sure what 50 means. I’d bet it’s pictured here, alongside Jerry Garcia’s daughter Anabelle.
Lot 345 is a Giants two-fer, with “I Cant Get Enough” (no apostrophe) #72, and “The Daze Between” (that’s an all-star band) #∞ (turning a 8 sideways to make a lemniscate).
Lots 340 and 344 pertain to his hometown San Diego Padres.
Bill Walton’s music mementos
Bill Walton frequently dressed up as Father Time for New Year’s Eve concerts, and his costumes from 2000 (Lot 129), 2009 (Lot 130), 2015 (Lot 131), 2010 (Lot 132), 1998 (Lot 471), 2020 (Lot 472), and 2023 (Lot 473) are available for bidding. The costume from Lot 131 also appears to have been worn to a San Francisco Giants game, namely on August 26, 2016, against the Atlanta Braves.
Lots 485 and 486 are Walton’s posters from Dead & Company concerts at Citi Field. A certain Mr. Hecken might like those, if he doesn’t have his own! There are plenty of other posters, too…mostly Grateful Dead and related spinoff bands, but not only them.
Grab Bag
There are too many tie-dyed shirts to go through them all, but if you’re a size XL or XXL, you might be able to wear some of them! If you just want the memorabilia factor, most of his shirts come with printed images of him wearing “a similar shirt,” which is funny to me, because I thought tie-dyed shirts tended to be one-of-a-kind unique. Maybe the auction house is hedging a bet.
There are plenty of old basketball shoes for bid, but I’m especially intrigued by Lot 71, which is one right shoe rigged up with a crazy brace attached to it.
I’m an absolute sucker for cursive handwriting on custom personal stationery (wow, he lived 5 bicycling minutes away from the San Diego Zoo), so I’m drawn to letters from Bill Walton to David Stern (Lot 101) and to Kevin McHale (Lot 207).
Lot 101 shows Bill’s words of encouragement to the NBA Commissioner upon suspending Golden State Warrior Latrell Sprewell for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo (consistently misspelling Sprewell as “Spreewell”):
March 5, 1998
To: Commissioner David Stern
Re: Spreewell
Dear David:
I’m sorry for you and the entire NBA on the Spreewell decision. You have given your life to make the NBA, first, a better league and second, what it is today. You did the right thing and so many of us are very proud and completely behind you. Those of us who love the NBA can only hope that this ridiculous decision on Spreewell will not become the divisive and destructive wedge between the unique partnership that you have forged between the league, its players, and its fans. In my 28 year relationship with the NBA, this (Spreewell) is my worst and lowest moment. I can only hope that, as a society of law requires, we (the NBA) can move forward and that the fans will forgive this gravest and silliest of mistakes.
With sympathy, admiration, and respect,
Bill Walton
NBA 1974-1988
Basketball Hall of Fame 1993
Meanwhile, Lot 207 is a love letter to his former teammate when Kevin McHale was honored by his hometown, Hibbing, MN:
1-22-00
Hi Kevin,
Congratulations to you and your family on this ever so special day. We are so proud of and happy for you. Kevin, you are simply the greatest in so many ways, and our endless thanks go out to you for making our lives and the world such a better place.
As time passes slowly, so many people recede quietly into history. Not so with you, Kevin, whose legend and impact grows exponentially by the day. You richly deserve this greatest of honors bestowed upon you by your longest, closest, and truest friends.
Thank you, Kevin, for standing tall through the changing times, the hard rain and the desolation of Highway 61.
Please Kevin, take the key to your wonderful hometown of Hibbing, Minn. and continue to unlock the doors of hope, opportunity, inspiration, creativity, and freedom.
Our most sincere congratulations to you, Kevin, on your very own day in home town [sic]. It doesn’t get any better. For those of us though, who are privileged [page break to Page 2] to live in your immense shadow, we know full well that Every day is Kevin McHale Day.
Bill Walton
Lot 59 is his passport, issued in 1970 so he could play in U.S. Armed Forces exhibition games. Why do I love celebrity passports so much? (But no, I don’t collect them…yet!) Not really because passport autographs have to be authentic to the time (and here, we get Walton’s hand-signed full government signature of “William T. Walton III”), and not really because passports are relatively rare (compared to trading cards and wire photos, which can be printed ad infinitum). No, I love passports because celebrities are citizens too, subject to the same bureaucracies and clerical systems as you and me. As a side note, Walton offered his height as 6 feet 10 inches…he was canonically said to be 6 feet 11 inches tall (though he may have been taller, he didn’t like being thought of as a 7 foot tall freak), but this makes him even one inch shorter than that. I didn’t get contemporaneously measured or weighed on my last passport application, so let’s just say he was at least that tall then.
Lots 261, 325, and 364 are his old driver’s licenses, expiring on his birthdays in 1999, 2009, and 2004, respectively. These front signatures are facsimiles, but whether it’s scanned from a paper that Walton signed at the DMV, or else if it’s straight from a digital pen, I like how he mostly interacted with governments as “William T. Walton III,” but at least one time he gave his athlete autograph of “Bill Walton” to the State.
Lots 172, 173, and 553 are custom bicycles…just remember that if you want to ride these, you probably can’t, unless you’re approximately 7 feet tall!
The rest of the auction lots can be found here, and the auction ends on June 12, 2025, at 14h00 ET. As always, good luck bidding, or enjoy watching other people spend their money!
Readers? Do any of you readers ever bid on any auction items (sports-related or other)? Even if you’re not into auctions, what one item would you want from this auction, especially if money were no object? What’s your favorite item?
Scoreboard: Has to be from 2016 (November?) the shield at midfield. Also far from a sellout, weather or Dan Snyder’s Clown show not a big draw.
I have a different answer. It’s a Rams home game at the Coliseum after moving back from St. Louis, and when did they ever host Washington there? It’s 9/17/2017, LA Rams vs Washington. It’s Week 2, and the scores on the right hand part of the scoreboard are from other NFL Week 2 games.
You got it, Mike!
I remember this game–it was also Sean McVay’s first time facing the Skins, the organization where he had been an assistant and later OC, as a head coach. It was also the Redskins’ first game in L.A. in who knows how long, although that would have been the case for a lot of visitors in 2016 and 2017.
GTGFTU – Mariners @ Rangers, May 9, 2021. Dane Dunning picks up the 10-2 Mother’s Day win.
Tough decision, but my favorite Walton item is the first-year Clippers’ uniform. To this day, still a team that has a way of falling through the cracks.
My best guess for the 50 on Walton’s Giants jersey is the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.
Agreed. The group released a box set to commemorate their 50th anniversary that year.
When the Blazers won the championship, right at the end of the game Walton tore off his jersey and tossed it into the crowd. Assuming it remained in one piece, someone out there has something of a holy grail in jersey collecting. I’ve always wondered what happened to it.