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business newsThe Business of Giving: Bill Walton, NBA Hall of Famer
By
Justin Rohrlich
Jan 24, 2012 1:30 pm
The basketball legend explains why he's throwing a spectacularly Bill Walton party -- that anyone can bid on -- to raise money for disabled athletes.
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I recently had the opportunity to speak to the legendary UCLA, Trailblazers, Clippers, and Celtics center, who said his pain had once gotten so bad, he considered ending it all.
“I spent three years on the ground,” he told me. And, as he told Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune, “It got to the point where my life wasn’t worth living. I was standing on the edge of the bridge, figuring it was better to jump than to go back to where I was.”
But, now that Walton’s chronic pain is under control and he is, as he says, “back in the game of life,” he feels the “responsibility to make sure others have the same chance.”
A large part of this responsibility involves working closely with the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Introduced to the organization “by a lifelong friend who was aware of the very serious trouble I was having and the depression and loss and sense of it all being over,” Walton describes his work with CAF as “the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“At the end of the line, we’re all challenged athletes; some of us just don’t know it yet,” he said. “One day, every one of us will need someone else’s help and the Challenged Athletes Foundation has the ability to provide support, assistance, and equipment so people can use sports to make better lives for themselves.”
However, one of the most daunting challenges challenged athletes face is the cost of getting back on the field, court, or track.
“It’s tough to be disabled on a lot of fronts. To buy a sport chair, a hand cycle, that can cost $2,500,” Walton explained. “To buy an artificial leg -- a running leg -- that can cost from $15,000 to $30,000 for one. That’s why we’re having this special event at our house.”
“This special event” is something spectacularly Bill Walton. Through charity auction site charitybuzz.com, one winning bidder will be invited to Chez Walton in San Diego, where he or she will host and enjoy a party that includes…anything they so desire.
“Bring your friends, bring your family, bring whomever you want,” Walton told me. “We’re gonna open up our home, have a great time, and make a difference in some peoples’ lives.”
As Walton pointed out, “If it was all about hard work and bootstrapping, nobody would ever fail. The nicest thing anyone ever said about me as a player was that I helped my teammates play better ball. The true measure of a society is the ability to be able to help others. Never forget that happiness begins where selfishness ends.”
Bidding ends Tuesday, January 31.
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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