Neal Walk

One collector is trying to find a single signature from every man who ever played for the Jazz — all 370 of them, from the 1974 New Orleans team to today. For many of them, this page is the only one on the internet. Here is Neal Walk: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you own something he signed — or you know who might — there is a note at the foot of this page.

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 was dealt to New York midway through that same season, on February 1, 1975.

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