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Walton resents publicity so much that he shunned lengthy interviews for two years. Recently he has relented somewhat and last month agreed to a series of conversations with TIME Correspondent Leo Janos. As a rule, Walton avoids those he considers "intruders and aggressors" by retreating to a small, private world. The center of that world is his pad, a large room attached to a garage on the Brentwood estate of a U.C.L.A. fan. Pool and sauna privileges are included in the $125-a-month rent.
Inside, Walton has converted a portable bar into a health-food stand: bottles of apple juice, jars of honey, and sacks of fruit replacing the bourbon and Scotch. An enormous water bed dominates one corner, and a photograph of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation, sits in a frame on his desk. The only visitors Walton receives are "the friends who accept me for what I am." They include his girl friend Susan, a tall, attractive brunette whom Walton has been dating off and on since his sophomore year. Other regulars include teammates Greg Lee, Tommy Curtis and Keith Wilkes. Walton passes the time with his friends listening to rock music or rapping about politics, ecology and schoolwork.
For Walton, "friend" is a title bestowed seriously, and his circle exerts a major influence on his life. "When someone you respect is doing something he believes in," says Walton, "it seems to me you wouldn't have much respect for him if you didn't give it a try." From Susan, he adopted meditation, which he then introduced to Curtis, Lee and the rest of the team. From Lee, Walton picked up the vegetarian habit.
Perhaps the most important piece of friendly persuasion to come Walton's way recently was the idea of acupuncture, recommended by a physician friend. During his first two years at U.C.L.A. Walton seldom played without pain, the result of tendinitis in both knees that developed when Walton shot up six inches between his junior and senior years in high school. So severe was the pain that Wooden gave Walton the unusual right to call time-out during games whenever the ache became unbearable. Walton still girds his knees with elastic bandages, but acupuncture has allowed him to play without agony.
Among Walton's off-court pursuits, the most controversial is his militant politics. When the U.S. mined Haiphong in May 1972, Walton joined student protesters at U.C.L.A. and was arrested for helping to close down the university administration building. From the police van, Walton spotted U.C.L.A. Chancellor Charles Young and let fly a barrage of obscenities. Young immediately slapped Walton with a yearlong probation.
Walton calls himself "a revolutionary" and "an internationalist." He says that he cannot understand labels of nationality or why people in California are so much more affluent than those just across the border in Baja California. "My concept of revolution," he explains, "has nothing to do with violence. Instead, each person starts within himself questioning his own values, judgments and relationship to society. Ultimately, you wind up living as part of the problem or part of the solution."