Bill Walton, RIP

Legendary Boston Celtics player Bill Walton passed on earlier this week after a battle with cancer. Shank does the honors and pays tribute:

Bill Walton’s time in Boston was brief but unforgettable, and we were lucky to have him

The memories and stories started pouring in as soon as the news broke.

Everyone remotely connected to the 1985-86 Celtics has a Bill Walton memory. Invariably, those stories are personal. And all of us were shocked Monday when it was learned that Walton had died in California at the age of 71.

No player ever loved playing for the Celtics more than Walton. And it’s cruel and ironic that Bill would pass as the team is on to another appearance in the NBA Finals, which would mean a chance to win an NBA-record 18th banner.

My friend Rich Johnson, longtime curator of the New England Sports Museum and — like Walton — someone with a lifelong stutter, weighed in online, sending out a recording of the Grateful Dead’s “He’s Gone,” while writing, “Listening while wiping away tears. His personal kindness to me was life changing.”

Bill touched a lot of lives in his short stint in Boston, and those of us lucky enough to have known him share the same emotions.