Dave Pasch shares old texts from Bill Walton after his death

Bill Walton’s longtime ESPN partner gave fans a glimpse of their playful camaraderie outside of the booth Tuesday, one day after the NBA legend and broadcaster succumbed to his long battle with cancer at the age of 71.

Dave Pasch, who called college basketball games alongside Walton since 2013, posted a handful of screenshots to X that featured heartwarming text exchanges with the two-time NBA champion.

“Bill Walton’s nickname for me was ‘Coal’, and he would call himself ‘Solar’. He would playfully say I was living in the past, while he was the future. As I was going through many old texts from him, laughing my butt off, this one got me. Bill was an all time ball buster!” Pasch wrote.

In response to a photo Pasch sent to Walton that featured a highway sign for Lead Ave and Coal Ave, Walton wrote back in July 2018: “Please, we are nearby, Can Dave come out and play, It is Dave, right???”

Pasch added in a separate post on Tuesday how Walton “would text me during games I was broadcasting, and pretend he didn’t know I was doing it, but ask if I was watching,” even messaging Pasch, “Please watch more BB, It’s good for you.”

Walton, an analyst on the Pac-12 broadcasts with Pasch, expressed admiration for his on-air partner in separate exchanges.

“I miss you,” Pasch messaged Walton in May 2021 while vacationing in Aruba, to which the latter replied, “I love you, Please don’t tell anyone.”

In a message from March 2022, Walton wrote to Pasch: “You’re awesome, I miss you, I love you, I’m sorry for the grief I cause you, I just knew it had to eventually happen, I sure don’t want to play them, Please where do we get this stuff, I may never sleep again.”

Another message from Walton encompassed a wide range of topics from game-day research to solar panels and the sendoff: “Please stop hating my grandchildren.”

Pasch also recalled how Walton, a Grateful Dead fanatic, “would create & print tee-shirts and placards every year we did the Pac 12 tournament, and hand them out to the crew.”

The broadcaster then revealed the shirt he made “to wear on our final broadcast, which sadly never happened,” which featured a photo of Walton eating a cupcake on the front and the message, “I survived 12 years with Bill Walton & all I got was this shirt,” on the back.

Pasch reflected on his “special friendship” with Walton during a “SportsCenter” interview Monday.

“He used to tell me a lot, he would take the headset off during a commercial break and just say to me, ‘I love you, but don’t tell anybody.’ He just enjoyed the fact that I was his sparring partner and that he could have fun with me and just take shots at me,” Pasch said.

“I knew that it was all just part of the game, and off the air we had a great friendship. Bill paid for every meal. I remember the last game I had with Bill was Feb. 1 at USC. It was rare it was just the two of us. … We were talking a lot about the future. It was just a conversation I’ll never forget.”

The first overall pick out of UCLA in the 1974 NBA Draft, Walton spent the first four seasons of his professional career with the Trail Blazers, winning a championship in 1976-77.

He joined the then-San Diego Clippers in 1979 before being traded to the Celtics ahead of the 1985-86 season, winning his second NBA title.

Walton is survived by wife Lori, and sons Adam, Nate, Chris and Luke. 

“There will never be another Bill,” Pasch posted Monday on X. “Love you & miss you my friend.”