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ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

WILLIAM WALTON '47

Inducted: 1992

Upon graduation from Mt. Vernon High School in 1942, Bill Walton enrolled at Indiana University where he made the basketball team as a walk-on. He was there for one semester before entering the Navy in World War II. He returned from the South Pacific to DePauw in 1944 as part of the V-12 Program. A starting guard under coach Lloyd Messersmith, Walton averaged nine points with a career high 20 against Franklin on nine of 10 field goal shooting. After the V-12 program was terminated in 1945, he was transferred to the NROTC program at the University of Michigan where he earned a letter. In the fall of 1946 he returned to DePauw and was able to make the starting lineup again. The 1946-47 team finished the regular season with a 15-2 record and earned a trip to the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament in Kansas City. At 5'8" he was the only player on the all-conference team under six feet, but was considered one of the fastest men on Indiana college floors and thus earned all-state honors as well. Walton was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association and his rights were traded to Tri-City also of the NBA, but he entered the Indiana University School of medicine instead. After interning at Seaside memorial Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., and serving his residency in urology at Indianapolis General Hospital (now Wishard), Walton began a private practice which is currently in its 37th year. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Marion County Medical Society and was Chief of the Urology Section of Methodist Hospital. Mt. Vernon High School honored Walton in 1985 with induction into its Athletic Hall of Fame.