Once a Knicks, always a Knick!!

PHOENIX -- Neal Walk, a tough center on the early Suns teams who became an inspirational speaker after losing the use of his legs, has died at age 67.

The Suns confirmed his passing in a statement Monday.

"We were saddened last night to learn of the passing of Neal Walk, an integral member of the most successful Suns teams in our franchise's early years," the Suns said in the statement. "The Suns will always remember and appreciate the many contributions Neal made, both on the court with his scoring ability and tenacious rebounding, and later as a community ambassador and photo archivist with the team."

Walk lost the use of his legs in a surgery to remove a tumor from his spine in 1987.
Neal Walk averaged 12.6 PPG and 7.7 RPG over eight NBA seasons. NBA Photo Library/Getty Images

Phoenix drafted Walk as the No. 2 pick in 1969 after losing the coin flip with Milwaukee to draft Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor).

"My answer to the coin toss," Walk once told AZCentral Sports, "was always, 'I didn't toss it, and I didn't make the call. I just play basketball.'"

Walk averaged 20.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game in the 1972-73 season. Charles Barkley is the only other Suns player to top the 20-point, 10-rebound average.

The 6-foot-10 Walk also played for the New Orleans Jazz and New York Knicks in his eight-year NBA career.

Walk, who had a standout college career at Florida, averaged 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in his NBA career. In five seasons with the Suns, he averaged 14.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

In 1999, Walk became a photo archivist for the team, a job he held until 2012.

According to an obituary on AZCentral Sports, Walk received the Gene Autry Courage Award in 1995 and was invited to the White House after being named wheelchair athlete of the year in 1990. He was inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Walk is survived by his wife Georgia and a brother.

Sorry to learn of his passing, hard to believe he was #2 pick behind Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Read there was only to players in the history of the suns who averaged 20 pts and 12 rebounds.....Sir Charles Barkley and Neal Walk!

Walk never lived up to his college stats but had a decent career in the NBA and overseas. Just after he retired he woke up one day with a bad back problem and they found a tumor on his spine likley there since birth and after they operated he lost the use of his legs. He went and joined a top wheel chair league soon after in California.

My first Knick game was in 1971 who had the great Connie hawkins, one of the van arnsdale twins and Neal Walk. Willis got the ball in the high post and walk was pestering him, trying to reach in and swat the ball, Willis turned and gave him a vicious elbow and the man went down. Willis was mean.

They flipped a coin that Milwaukee win and got the draft rights to Lou Alcinder! Phx lost and took Walk at the 2. These were both recent expansion teams.

Also:

Abdul-Jabbar wrote that he was disappointed by the bidding results. "All things being equal, I would have been more than happy to play for (the Nets)," Abdul-Jabbar wrote. "The ABA was a new league, without the tradition and composure of the NBA, but I was no great fan of tradition and composure. "I had wanted to sign with the Nets - 30-second clock, three-point shot, multi-colored basketball and all - but I was offended to be taken so lightly. If they hadn't taken me seriously when I was calling the shots, how would they treat me once I was under contract? The Nets had had the inside track and had blown it.