14 Facts About Neal Walk

Neal Eugene Walk was an American college and professional basketball player who was a center in the National Basketball Association for eight seasons during the late 1960s and 1970s, playing overseas afterward.

Neal Walk played professionally for the Suns, the New Orleans Jazz and the New York Knicks of the NBA.

Neal Walk was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a Jewish family, and moved to Miami Beach, Florida, with his parents Al and Sylvia at the age of 6.

Neal Walk attended Miami Beach High School, and played high school basketball for the Miami Beach Hi-Tides, starting for the first time in his senior year.

Neal Walk accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Tommy Bartlett's Florida Gators men's basketball team for three seasons from 1966 to 1969.

When Neal Walk graduated from Florida, he was the Gators' all-time leading scorer, and still maintains the team records for career rebounds, average points per game, and rebounds in a single game, among others.

Neal Walk won a silver medal at the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel for Team USA alongside Ronald Green, Steve Kaplan, and Jack Langer.

Neal Walk was drafted in the first round of the 1969 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, after they lost a coin toss with the Milwaukee Bucks for the number one pick, which turned out to be Lew Alcindor.

Neal Walk was traded to the then New Orleans Jazz, and subsequently traded to the New York Knicks, where he played for two seasons.

Neal Walk is the only Suns player besides Charles Barkley to average 20 points and 12 rebounds in a season.

In 1988, while Neal Walk was living in Phoenix, it was discovered that Neal Walk had a benign tumor enveloping his spine.

Neal Walk later worked for the Phoenix Suns in the Community Affairs department.

Neal Walk is featured in the Miami Beach Senior High School Hall of Fame, a "Gator Great" in the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

On October 4,2015, Neal Walk died of an unspecified blood disease.