Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200162
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
WALTON MAKES HIMSELF A BIG PRESENCE IN BROADCAST BOOTH
Bill Walton doesn't see his new profession as much different than his former vocation. Maybe that explains why his television presence is so strong.Walton, recently elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, brings to the tube the same roll-up-your-sleeves, aggressive style he used in the pivot at UCLA and in the NBA.
A 6-foot-11 guy is never in the background, but Walton's move to NBC's NBA studio as one of "The Insiders" has pushed his profile among basketball commentators. If you listen to Walton on the pregame segment for Sunday's NBA All-Star Game (6 p.m., WSLS), you'll learn something.
It turns out though, that the thing most remarkable about Walton's TV work isn't what he says or how he says it, but that he says it at all.
As a three-time college player of the year at UCLA, Walton didn't speak to the media. Whether to talk or not was an optional choice in coach John Wooden's program. However, Walton's silence had deeper roots.
"I didn't think of going into TV work at all while I was playing," Walton said by phone from his San Diego home Thursday night. "I had bad stuttering problems. I didn't want to embarrass myself.
"I accomplished a great deal as a basketball player, but I worked very hard not to stutter. The greatest achievement of my life was learning how to speak."
Walton got into TV work through the encouragement of NBC sportscaster Charlie Jones, who's also from San Diego, and longtime New York radio voice Marty Glickman. Former player Ernie Vandeweghe, the father of UCLA and NBA star Kiki Vandeweghe, helped Walton with his vocal training.
"When I was at UCLA, it was a three-sided thing, my not speaking to the media," Walton said. "I had an inability to communicate, and there was always the fear of giving away to the competition any edge we had. Coach Wooden said it was our right whether or not we wanted to deal with the media.
"Frankly, my desire was to be a college student, and I enjoyed my college days immensely. I regret now not having a better relationship with the media, but I couldn't. And considering everything that was happening [Walton's success and UCLA's NCAA dynasty], I would have spent so much time dealing with that I wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself like I did."
Walton, 41, has thrown himself into TV work as he once did basketball. Besides the NBC studio gig, he does analysis on telecasts for the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and UCLA, and appears regularly on Roy Firestone's "Up Close" on ESPN.
"I wouldn't say I'm outspoken," Walton said. "I just say what I think and feel after doing a tremendous amount of homework. I work really hard at my job.
"What I like is that you can do this every day. As a player, if you're injured - which I was because of my feet - there's nothing you can do. This is different. The only thing that determines how much you can do is you.
"It's like basketball in that I like the pressure of having to produce. When they come to you, when it's your turn, you'd better have it right there, and you'd better know it."
Walton does. Asked about fellow NBC commentator Quinn Buckner and season-long reports that he's in line for the Mavericks' coaching job, the big redhead didn't back off.
"I don't want to give away this week's show," Walton said. "I will say that the job is Quinn's if he wants it."
\ ROTH'S NEW PITCH: Bill Roth, Virginia Tech's football and basketball voice, has a new game. He's been named one of two new broadcasters for the Richmond Braves of the Class AAA International League.
Roth previously worked in the IL as a student at Syracuse University, doing two seasons of Chiefs' broadcasts (1986-87). He'll begin his baseball work with some spring training games. The season opens April 8 with the Braves at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Roth, "thrilled" by the opportunity to call Triple A baseball, said the Tech network remains his priority. He will do all of the Braves' home games and some road dates also, while handling off-season affiliate relations and marketing for Tech's football and basketball network.
"Virginia Tech has been very supportive about my desire to do baseball," said Roth, 27, who grew up in suburban Pittsburgh calling Pirates' games into his own tape recorder. "Dave Braine [Tech's athletic director] has been very positive about it from the start, and I appreciate that."
Roth will be the R-Braves' No. 2 play-by-play man. He will work with Steve Stewart, who recently joined WRNL Radio as its sports director from a TV job in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Stewart has Triple A baseball radio experience with the Calgary Cannons.
\ IN THE RING: Promoter Don King provides pay-per-view boxing with another hair-raising experience tonight, a four-bout card in Mexico City that will settle four world championships.
The 9 p.m. card, available on some area cable systems (Cox Cable Roanoke is charging $29.95 for same-day purchase), may be one of mismatches.
In the main attraction, WBC super lightweight champ Julio Cesar Chavez is a 26-1 favorite over challenger Greg Haugen, the longest odds on any title fight in pay-per-view history.
With some intrigue emerging in the heavyweight division in the coming months, viewers will have to pay to see George Foreman-Tommy Morrison, the Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield championship rematch and perhaps, a Bowe-Lennox Lewis title-unifying bout.