Neal Walk, an NBA center from 1969 to 1977 who played five seasons with the Phoenix Suns, has died at 67. Walk is probably best known for being the No. 2 pick in the 1969 draft, mostly because of who went first and how it all went down. That year the Milwaukee Bucks and the Suns, the two worst teams in the league from the previous season, flipped a coin for the top pick. Milwaukee won, and drafted Lew Alcindor.
It was a tough comparison to live up to for Walk, who had a more than respectable career -- even posting a career-high 42 points against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972. Still widely considered to be the best center in Suns history, Walk is the only Sun other than Charles Barkley to average 20 points and 12 rebounds in a single season.
Walk would go on to play five seasons with the Suns before getting traded to the New Orleans Jazz in 1974. After playing 37 games with the Jazz, Walk was traded to the New York Knicks, where he finished his NBA career. Walk would continue playing overseas in Israel and Italy. In 1987, Walk would make a return the Suns, working in a community service role until 2012.
Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic provides more details on Walk's life and career:
The Phoenix Suns do not have many people who can claim working in the organization for about two-thirds of its 46-year history and there are only two players who can claim a 20-point, 12-rebound season for the Suns.
Neal Walk’s legacy includes both.
Walk passed away Sunday night at age 67. He was at a Phoenix hospital after being in poor health in recent weeks for various medical reasons, 28 years after surviving surgery to remove a tumor on his spinal cord.
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Away from unfair comparisons to Abdul-Jabbar, Walk had an exemplary five-year run at center in Phoenix and played eight NBA seasons before finishing his pro basketball career in Israel and Italy.
“My answer on the coin toss was always, 'I didn’t toss it and I didn’t make the call. I just play basketball,'" Walk once told azcentral sports.
And he played it well.
Walk is the only Suns player besides Charles Barkley to average 20 points and 12 rebounds in a season. The 6-foot-10 center did so in his fourth year (1972-73), when he averaged 20.2 points, 12. 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 38.4 minutes per game. His 1,009 rebounds that season is nine shy of the franchise record set by Paul Silas. He also had a 26-rebound game that was one off Silas’ franchise record.
Walk was a gritty rebounder with a left-handed shooting touch and a hook shot. He was an exemplary passer for a big man to the point that he led the Suns in assists (4.0 per game) during his final Suns season in 1973-74.
The unfair shadow of Abdul-Jabbar’s greatness never left Walk, even though Walk held his own with the greats at times. Walk posted a career-high 42-point game against Abdul-Jabbar in 1972. He still was booed at home, where the lack of support affected him.
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In 1987, a tingly feeling in his feet prompted a doctor’s visit that led to surgery to remove bone chips in his neck. During that surgery, it was discovered that a disk was pressing against his spinal cord with a lump between his shoulder blades. A subsequent surgery removed the knuckle-sized mass, which was benign, but he lost use of his legs.
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Living in Phoenix after the surgery, Jerry Colangelo reached out to Walk to bring him back into the franchise. Colangelo was the general manager who drafted Walk and coached him for the last 44 games of his rookie year and the last 75 games of Walk’s best season in 1972-73.
Colangelo created a Suns community relations job for Walk and arranged for him to receive a wheelchair-accessible van. Walk worked in community relations, giving inspirational speeches and putting on camps for athletes with disabilities until 1999, when he became the Suns’ assistant photo archivist and kept that job until he was fired in 2012.
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Walk is survived by his wife, Georgia, and a brother.
