Column: Written word guides wondrous, wandering life of Bill Walton

Meeting up with Bill Walton during the first total solar eclipse to cross the lower 48 of the United States in nearly four decades is, as the Deadheads say, a trip.

Walton doesn’t draw the line at stoking inspirational fires locally or regionally or nationally. When the opportunity strikes, he’s galactic, too.

“It’s the perfect harmonic convergence,” Walton said Monday when we sat down to conduct a Facebook Live interview for the inaugural San Diego Festival of Books on Saturday at Liberty Station.

“Beware of the darkness. Shine the light. Don’t get taken down by negativity.”

That’s Walton. Any discussion is a doorway to think broadly, to reconsider, to peek through a different lens. He wears his own version of mental eclipse glasses, daily. He’s a marvel of creative thought … and lung capacity.

That’s why his keynote talk at 10:30 a.m. in Liberty Station’s main hall will demand attentive ears and a comfortable chair.

The first keynote speaker in the history of San Diego’s book festival will discuss his New York Times bestseller, “Back from the Dead.” The discussion could go in any conceivable direction — and probably a couple of inconceivable ones, as well.

There’s a lot rattling around in the head of the 64-year-old redhead from La Mesa who used basketball to help chart a path that included induction into Halls of Fame, a broadcasting career and tireless philanthropy.

When all of that begins to spill out, you simply ride the wave.

“We’re going to drift. We’re going to dream. We’re going to explore. We’re going to question. We’re going to challenge,” said Walton, summing up where the discussion might wander Saturday. “We’re going to do all kinds of really fun things.

“And at the end of the day, we’re going to be able to say, ‘Hey, man. Remember that book festival’ that we had so many years ago that’s now an annual event and is now just swamped and swarmed with everybody and it’s the biggest thing on the calendar all year long?

“Well, we were there on the very first day and what could be better than that?”

Then he uncorked that toothy, contagious smile. This, after all, is the guy whose favorite saying is: “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Those words remind him of all he’s overcome, from a paralyzing bout with stuttering growing up to debilitating, demoralizing injuries as an adult that he outlines in the book. The words reinforce life’s bounty that waited as a reward for perseverance.

So to Walton, it’s far more than talking a good game when it comes to books. They provided escape and a safe place. They offered a window to the world beyond the reach of his skateboard and bike.

Walton’s a voracious reader who routinely sprinkles works by everyone from Sinclair Lewis to Nike founder Phil Knight into casual conversations. He considers Neil Young and Bob Dylan poets as much or more than musicians, soaking in the lyrics. His most cherished friends included late Pulitzer Prize winners David Halberstam and Paul Conrad.

“We grew up without a television, which was fine with me,” Walton said. “I’m a reader. I’m not a spectator. I want to be a participant in the game of life.”

Each word in “Back from the Dead” came from Walton, pounded out in his Hillcrest home overlooking Balboa Park and on airplanes during his grueling travel schedule.

He decided to peel back the darkest chapter of his life, when the physical, psychological and emotional toll of unrelenting health issues caused him to consider suicide.

“When you hit bottom, as I did, all that goes out the window,” Walton said. “All the pride and all the stubbornness and all the toughness of, ‘I can do this by myself. I don’t need any help’ … that is not the case.

“But you don’t learn that lesson until you’re at the bottom. I was at the bottom.”

Why share that?

“You realize that you have an obligation and a duty, particularly as you get better, as I have,” he said. “I’m all better, although a lot of people would say I’m crazier than ever. But the fact that I am pain free and I do not take any medication and I just go full-speed ahead, I’ve never been busier, I’ve never been happier.

“I haven’t been this healthy since I was 13 years old. I spent half my adult life in the hospital. I spent my entire adult life in pain, physical pain. It takes a terrible emotional and psychological toll on you and everybody around you.

“It was tough, but I had to tell the stories.”

There’s no time to linger, though — especially on eclipse day.

“Bring all your stuff (Saturday). Bring your memorabilia. Bring the basketballs. Bring anything you have that you want me to sign,” Walton said. “We’re going to have a grand celebration of life.”

No special glasses necessary.

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Walton Speaks: S.D. Festival of Books

Bill Walton will be the keynote speaker Saturday at the inaugural San Diego Festival of Books.

• When, where: The Festival of Books runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Liberty Station.
• Admission: Free, though panel discussions that include Walton’s 10:30 a.m. event in the main hall are $3. One dollar from each ticket sold will be donated to the San Diego Council on Literacy.

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bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @Bryce_A_Miller