“National treasure,” Greenberg said of the late Walton. “I mean, think about it, we’re talking about what he did here at ESPN. … That man was an incredible player. One of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I always joked with him, he didn’t know more about anything than anyone around me. But he always gave up his heart. Like he was the most genuine person you could ever be with.

‘He is clearly missed dearly and far too soon. But a great, great human being who happened to be one of the best college basketball players to ever play.

At UCLA, Walton won three consecutive National Player of the Year awards while leading the Bruins to back-to-back national titles. He was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player after both seasons.

After a successful college career, Walton was drafted with the No. 1 overall draft pick, won a pair of NBA championships during his playing career and also won the 1978 MVP. He struggled with injuries throughout his career. Bill Walton played in the NBA from 1974 to 1988 and ended his career with the Boston Celtics. Due to injuries he had to retire from basketball.

Sean Farnham, who played his college basketball at UCLA, recalled a time when Walton reached out to him after his career with the Bruins ended. When Farnham graduated, he was called into the office of Doug Erickson, the Bruins’ longtime director of basketball operations, where he received a letter from the basketball legend.

“You couldn’t even read what was on the card because it was handwritten on both sides and all the way on the back,” Farnham recalls. “(It was) Bill Walton talking about my journey at UCLA, what he appreciated about UCLA.”

Walton discussed how Farnham needed to take the lessons he learned on and off the field and apply them to his life to be successful.

“It’s something I have framed in my house,” Farnham continued. “Bill Walton didn’t have to do that. But what he did was he saw everyone who wore that uniform, whether you were an All-American like Bill and one of the best, that you were part of a family and part of something special. And to me, it’s just who Bill was and everyone he came into contact with and interacted with.

After his playing days, fans got to see his personality firsthand and he was known for his unique, over-the-top style of analyzing games. He worked as a broadcaster for CBS, NBC and most recently ESPN, primarily calling Pac-12 games.

Walton and his broadcast partner Dave Pasch have made quite the broadcast tandem over the years, and fans regularly tuned in to see their entertaining style. There’s no doubt he could be up to his normal entertaining antics if he were in Maui today.