Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
Chronology
1952 Born in La Mesa, California, on November 5
1969-70 Leads Helix High School team to California Interscholastic
Federal High School title two years in a row
1970 Enrolls at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
1971 Plays on UCLA’s freshman basketball team
1972-74 Plays center on UCLA varsity team coached by John Wooden
1973 Arrested while participating in a protest demonstration against
the Vietnam War
1974 Drafted by Portland Trailblazers as number one overall pick in
NBA draft
1974-78 Plays with Trailblazers, leading team to NBA championship in
1977
1979-85 Plays with San Diego (later Los Angeles) Clippers
1985-87 Plays with Boston Celtics, winning NBA championship in 1986
1987 Retires from professional basketball
1990 Undergoes surgery to fuse bones in left foot and ankle
1990 Joins Prime Ticket Network as analyst
1991-2001 Works as basketball commentator for major network and
cable networks, including CBS, NBC, MNBC, and Turner
Sports
2002 Hired by ESPN/ABC as lead analyst for NBA coverage
ketball team on the radio, silently promising himself that
someday he would play ball for the team. His outstanding
record as a high school player made him a hot property
for college basketball recruiters, but the one offer he
was most interested in came from UCLA. Walton quickly
accepted the university’s invitation to enroll there and
play basketball for the Bruins under legendary coach
John Wooden, a man who was to have a major impact on
his life. Of Wooden, Walton writes on his Web site: “The
joy and happiness in John Wooden’s life comes today, as
it always has, from the success of others. He regularly
tells us that what he learned from his two favorite teachers,
Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa, is that a life
not lived for others is not a life.”
Leads UCLA to Two NCAA Championships
In his first year at UCLA, Walton played on the freshman
basketball team, after which he played the next
three years on the varsity team, coached by Wooden.
During that period, the Bruins basketball team won
eighty-six games and lost only four, winning the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship
in both 1972 and 1973. Walton was named Most
Valuable Player in the NCAA tournament both of those
years. By the time Walton graduated from UCLA, he was
widely recognized as the best college basketball player in
the country, having scored 1,767 points and 1,370 rebounds
in his eighty-seven college games. During his
college years, Walton earned a reputation as something
of a rebel with his support for left-leaning causes, long
hair, and commitment to vegetarianism. He was also an
outspoken critic of President Richard Nixon and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. During his junior year at
UCLA, Walton was arrested while participating in a
protest demonstration against the Vietnam War.
Awards and Accomplishments
Walton
1969-70 Named All-State and All-Conference as a high school junior
and senior
1970 Named All-American and Helix (H.S.) Athlete of the Year as a
senior
1972-73 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship
at UCLA; Most Valuable Player in the NCAA tournament both
of those years
1972-74 Led UCLA to 86-4 record during his three years of varsity play
1972-74 Sporting News College Player of the Year and winner of
Naismith Award
1977 Led Portland Trailblazers to NBA Championship; named NBA
Finals Most Valuable Player
1978 NBA’s Most Valuable Player
1986 Helped Celtics win NBA Championship and received NBA Sixth
Man Award
1992-93, Named Best Television Analyst/Commentator by the Southern
1995-96, California Sports Broadcasters Association
1998-2000
1993 Inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame
1994 Voted into the Verizon Academic All-American Hall of Fame
1997 Named as one of NBA’s 50 best basketball players of all time
1997 Became first male basketball player from the state of California
to be inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of
Fame
1999 Received NCAA’s Silver Anniversary Award for his extensive
civic and professional contributions
2001 Became inaugural inductee into the Grateful Dead Hall of Fame
2001 Emmy Award for best live sports television broadcast
In the NBA draft of 1974, Walton was the number
one overall pick, tapped by the Portland Trailblazers.
Walton had shown himself to be unusually prone to injury
during his years of playing basketball in high
school and college, and this vulnerability seemed to
grow during his early years with the Trailblazers. During
his first two seasons of NBA play, injuries sidelined
Walton for about half of the team’s scheduled games. He
seemed to come into his own during the season of 1976-
1977, averaging nearly nineteen points per game and
leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots. In
the post-season, the Trailblazers faced off against
Philadelphia in the NBA Championships. Portland lost
the first two games but, led by Walton, came back to win
the next four to take the championship. Walton was
named Most Valuable Player of the championship, having
set single-game records for defensive rebounds and
blocked shots.
Walton began the 1977-1978 season with an even
more impressive performance, leading the Trailblazers
to victory in fifty of their first sixty games. However, injury
sidelined Walton for the final twenty-four games of
the regular season. He returned to play during the NBA
playoffs but was forced to drop out again when it was
discovered that he had broken a bone in his left foot.
Without Walton, Portland fell to the Seattle Supersonics
in the playoffs. Injury forced Walton to sit out all of the
1978-1979 season. Despite his history of injury, Walton
in 1979 was signed to a five-year contract with the San
Diego Clippers, a franchise that in 1984 moved to Los
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