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Wally Walker
Walter Frederick Walker (born July 18, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player. He is best known for his National Basketball Association (NBA) career – both as a player and as a front office executive for the Seattle SuperSonics. He was the No. 5 overall pick of the 1976 NBA draft: selected one pick ahead of Adrian Dantley, and three before Robert Parish. He was a part of all three NBA Western Conference Championships for the Seattle SuperSonics: as a player in the 1978 NBA playoffs and 1979 NBA playoffs, and as President and General Manager of the SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA playoffs.
Today he is the Deputy Athletics Director of the Virginia Cavaliers.
A prolific frontcourt scorer while in college, Walker led the Virginia Cavaliers to their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and its first NCAA tournament berth in 1976.
He was the only Cavalier to receive the Everett Case Award as the ACC Tournament's Most Valuable Player following Virginia's championship run, until Joe Harris in 2014. Enjoying one of the finest individual seasons ever by a Cavalier player during the 1975–76 season, Walker scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the 1976 tournament championship game against the University of North Carolina.
Walker's scoring average of 22.1 points during the 1975–76 season ranks as the sixth best in Virginia history and his 1,849 career points is sixth on the all-time Cavalier list. He was a first-team Academic All American in 1976. His number 41 was retired by the school. The Portland Trail Blazers took him in the first round of the 1976 draft, the fifth overall pick.
His playing career averages in the NBA were 7.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in eight years with Portland, Seattle and Houston. He won two championship rings (with Portland and Seattle) in his first and third seasons. He was a starter for the Sonics in 1981–82 and the next season for the Houston Rockets. After ending his NBA career in 1984, Walker played 11 games in Italian Pro League in Milan and then enrolled in Stanford Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1987 with an MBA. He worked for seven years at Goldman Sachs and also started his own money management business, Walker Capital, before returning to the NBA in the early 90s as a part-time television announcer and consultant for his former team, the Seattle SuperSonics, owned by Barry Ackerley.
Following the 1993-94 NBA season, Walker was named by Ackerley to be President and General Manager of the team. The Sonics continued their run of success for the next four seasons with a roster built primarily around Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, Nate McMillan and Hersey Hawkins, with Hawkins as a Walker acquisition. In 1997–98, the Sonics won the Pacific Division with a record of 61–21 and Walker finished second in Executive of the Year voting.
The Sonics average cost per win was 6th best in the league at $850 thousand per victory for the 1999–2000 season.
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Wally Walker
Walter Frederick Walker (born July 18, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player. He is best known for his National Basketball Association (NBA) career – both as a player and as a front office executive for the Seattle SuperSonics. He was the No. 5 overall pick of the 1976 NBA draft: selected one pick ahead of Adrian Dantley, and three before Robert Parish. He was a part of all three NBA Western Conference Championships for the Seattle SuperSonics: as a player in the 1978 NBA playoffs and 1979 NBA playoffs, and as President and General Manager of the SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA playoffs.
Today he is the Deputy Athletics Director of the Virginia Cavaliers.
A prolific frontcourt scorer while in college, Walker led the Virginia Cavaliers to their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and its first NCAA tournament berth in 1976.
He was the only Cavalier to receive the Everett Case Award as the ACC Tournament's Most Valuable Player following Virginia's championship run, until Joe Harris in 2014. Enjoying one of the finest individual seasons ever by a Cavalier player during the 1975–76 season, Walker scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the 1976 tournament championship game against the University of North Carolina.
Walker's scoring average of 22.1 points during the 1975–76 season ranks as the sixth best in Virginia history and his 1,849 career points is sixth on the all-time Cavalier list. He was a first-team Academic All American in 1976. His number 41 was retired by the school. The Portland Trail Blazers took him in the first round of the 1976 draft, the fifth overall pick.
His playing career averages in the NBA were 7.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in eight years with Portland, Seattle and Houston. He won two championship rings (with Portland and Seattle) in his first and third seasons. He was a starter for the Sonics in 1981–82 and the next season for the Houston Rockets. After ending his NBA career in 1984, Walker played 11 games in Italian Pro League in Milan and then enrolled in Stanford Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1987 with an MBA. He worked for seven years at Goldman Sachs and also started his own money management business, Walker Capital, before returning to the NBA in the early 90s as a part-time television announcer and consultant for his former team, the Seattle SuperSonics, owned by Barry Ackerley.
Following the 1993-94 NBA season, Walker was named by Ackerley to be President and General Manager of the team. The Sonics continued their run of success for the next four seasons with a roster built primarily around Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, Nate McMillan and Hersey Hawkins, with Hawkins as a Walker acquisition. In 1997–98, the Sonics won the Pacific Division with a record of 61–21 and Walker finished second in Executive of the Year voting.
The Sonics average cost per win was 6th best in the league at $850 thousand per victory for the 1999–2000 season.
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