ESPN's Dave Pasch Shares Incredible Series of Texts From Late Bill Walton

Unsurprisingly, the longtime broadcasting duo had great rapport off-camera, too.

Bill Walton and Dave Pasch, 2019 / Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

NBA legend Bill Walton passed away on Monday and among the many sharing fond memories of the beloved personality is Dave Pasch, Walton's longtime broadcast partner. They made for a perfect duo on-air calling Pac-12 games for ESPN, and on Tuesday Pasch revealed some of their text exchanges to the world.

As with most things Walton did, the texts were equal parts confusing and heartwarming.

Via Pasch's X (formerly Twitter) account:

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! pic.twitter.com/EejlTMzBKX

— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024

Bill would text me during games I was broadcasting, and pretend he didn’t know I was doing it, but ask if I was watching 🤣 pic.twitter.com/p9DuiufCFA

— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024

And the random, out of nowhere texts…man, this is cathartic. Miss and love this guy. pic.twitter.com/IhTT3HuzDy

— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024

I lied. One more tweet. Because it’s so darn funny 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/FpG9vgtsxm

— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024

This is ... exactly how one would expect Bill Walton to text. It's perfect. He was an incredibly genuine human being and these merely serve as further proof.

The outpouring of love for Walton and the stories circulating the sports world are reflective of just how beloved a man he was. And from everything we know about him, this sort of celebration of his life is exactly what he'd want.