CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton made stops in West Virginia Thursday to spread his message that “anything is possible.”
“We have no excuses for the things we don’t do,” Walton told reporters during a tour of the Kanawha County Public Library’s Main Branch in downtown Charleston.
Walton was in town to see recently completed renovations to the library building on Capitol Street. He said he’s a lifelong reader who relied on books to help with his stutter at a young age.
“I couldn’t speak at all until I was 28-years-old. Learning how to speak was my greatest accomplishment, so here I was just buried in books,” he said during an appearance on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Walton’s love for reading came from his mom who was the town’s librarian where he grew up in California. His family didn’t know much about sports and didn’t own a television set in the 1960s, so he convinced his parents to buy one even though they couldn’t afford one.
“My mom said I’ve been doing lots of research at the library and I’ve concluded that nothing on television is worth watching,” he said. “This was before the advent of ESPN, the History Channel, PBS and all the things we do watch now.”
Instead, Walton would read books, but he still had big dreams of playing professional basketball. He went on to become one of the best college basketball players of all time leading UCLA to NCAA championships in 1972 and 1973. He then led the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA championship in 1977 and another NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 1986. He’s been a sportscaster, commentator and social activist since then.
He said reading helped him understand the unpredictability of life in many aspects.
“Libraries are like music, they’re like sports, they’re like riding a bike. It’s like going to a concert. You never know what’s going to happen. You open that book, and it takes you places that you cannot get to by yourself,” he said.
Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton is touring the recently renovated @KanawhaLibrary in downtown Charleston this morning.
“They did not have the NBA in mind when they built this.” 🤣 He’s 6’11” pic.twitter.com/tyRAMNlS15
— Carrie Hodousek (@CarrieHodousek) October 19, 2023
During the tour, Walton viewed a number of upgrades to the facility including a tool lending library and the Idea Lab where he got to view sound booths for podcasting, drums and other materials.
Due to his 6’11” height, Walton often ducked his head from room to room because of the low ceilings and jokingly said “they did not have the NBA in mind when they built this” but that the building was “beautiful, bright, fresh and totally organized.”
The downtown library’s $32 million renovation was complete and reopened to the public in May 2022.
Walton is due to speak at the Jackson County Community Foundation’s 10th Annual Dinner Thursday evening.