i was a stringer for a newspaper in So Cal and watched Walton as a junior in high school come up from San Diego to play in the Compton High School basketball tournament vs the best CIF teams. After his team blew out the eventual CIF champion Millikan 72-49, i wrote that Walton might one day become the greatest player of all time. LOL.

He certainly didn't embarrass me and might have been the greatest NCAA player ever and then turned around lowly Portland into an NBA champion before succumbing to injuries.

A few years ago when Walton was broadcasting color for a BYU game, he referred to Fredette and to Ainge and said they were not BYU's greatest players ever. He said that was Cosic, a guy who had the character and charisma to be a rock star in the Internet age.

Legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden probably received more credit than he deserved for developing Walton because in those days media coverage was sparse and Walton in San Diego was completely unknown until UCLA, except by rs. Walton was likely ready for the NBA as an 18 year old, as were Alcindor and others.