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Center · 1974–75

Neal Walk

Phoenix lost the 1969 coin flip for Lew Alcindor and drafted Walk second overall instead — a tag he shrugged off, and by 1972-73 he was averaging 20.2 points and 12.4 rebounds, still the only Sun besides Charles Barkley with a 20-and-12 season. Florida's all-time rebounding leader came to the New Orleans Jazz by trade, finished with the Knicks, then played in Italy and Israel.

After retiring he legally changed his first name to Joshua. A benign spinal tumor in 1988 put him in a wheelchair — so he played wheelchair basketball, and the White House honored him as 1990 Wheelchair Athlete of the Year. He later worked in the Suns' community affairs department and died in 2015 of a blood disease.

HOW HE CAME & WENTHe was traded to the expansion New Orleans Jazz for the club's first season and moved on to New York the next year.

Full name
Neal Eugene Walk
New Orleans Jazz tenure
1974–75
Position
Center
Born
1948, Cleveland
Died
2015
Height
6′10″ (208 cm)
Weight
220 lb (100 kg)
College
Florida
Drafted
1969, 1st round (No. 2), Phoenix
Signature in the archive 1974-75 Topps Phoenix Suns #17 RIP

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

NEAL WALK · 1974–75 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
1974–75NOJ3723.09.97.12.70.80.5.422.800
JAZZ TOTAL1 SEASON3723.09.97.12.70.80.5.422.800

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

NEAL WALK · 4 NOTES
  • Was paralysed by a spinal tumour in 1987 and became a wheelchair basketball player and advocate.
  • He remains the Florida Gators' all-time leading rebounder more than half a century after his last college game.
  • He scored a career-high 42 points against Milwaukee on January 11, 1972.
  • After the NBA he played in Venice, Italy, and spent three seasons in Israel with Hapoel Ramat Gan.