NBA legend Bill Walton redesigned his San Diego home’s roofs for solar and installed tanks holding 32,000 gallons of rainwater; his family worked on the garden for 45 years

Bill Walton is widely regarded as one of basketball’s great centers, with multiple NBA titles and Hall of Fame status, as well as a distinctive broadcasting voice. But an article from the NBA site dug deeper into Bill's legacy than just his awards and mentioned a house in San Diego where he and his wife Lori spent many years incorporating sustainability into everyday life. According to Lori, her husband's connection with nature goes way back to his childhood, because being out in the open air was said to soothe him as a restless baby.

A home redesigned around the sun

That outlook eventually shaped the design of his own home. The Waltons redesigned the roofs of their San Diego house to accommodate solar panels and installed rainwater tanks with a total capacity of 32,000 gallons. Composting was a regular practice in the family, as was driving an electric car, although Bill, who stood seven feet tall, was somewhat awkward to fit into such a small vehicle. In personal notes left by Walton, he once called himself a 'human solar panel,' someone who could harvest energy from the sun and convert it into useful forms in everyday life.


A garden as meaningful as a championship win

The garden was just as important as the house. Over 45 years, Walton transformed the yard into a lush garden filled with diverse plants, which Lori described as more than a hobby and as part of everyday life. It was also the first place Bill visited after any journey. Whenever the Waltons traveled, the first thing Bill did when he got home was walk through the garden, and the day before he died in May 2024, he wanted to walk outside once again. His habits showed that he treated sustainability as a daily practice rather than a once-a-year observance like Earth Day.

His environmentally-friendly practices didn't end there. He was cautious with his use of single-use plastics, remained conscientious about recycling, and always had a reusable water bottle on hand wherever he went, opting to fill it from airport taps instead of buying bottled water on his travels. These were habits he maintained for many years.

Habits that mimic a greater legacy

Walton's life shows how sustainability can become part of everyday life through habits maintained over many years. In some cases, it can come from small things rather than making large-scale changes: composting food waste, selecting a reusable bottle over a disposable one, or taking the time to walk around a garden for a few minutes after having worked a hard day. While each act may seem minor on its own, the habits add up over time, as they did for Walton.

Walton also showed how sustainability can be woven into everyday life rather than treated as separate from it. He compared solar energy to basketball, describing both as pursuits that demand discipline, commitment, and daily effort. He also tied environmental issues to broader questions like jobs, public policy, and education, a theme he raised as the keynote speaker at the first Pac-12 Sustainability Conference in 2017. Viewing sustainability as part of everyday life may be more practical for many households than relying on a single gadget or product.

You do not need a 32,000-gallon rainwater tank to learn from Walton’s approach to home and land. Most people will never rebuild a roof for solar panels or install 32,000 gallons of rainwater storage, but some of Walton's everyday habits are easier to adopt: start composting food scraps in a small kitchen bin, swap disposable bottles for a reusable one and refill it at a tap, or simply spend a few quiet minutes outside every day.

The NBA feature also noted that the league has embraced a similar idea. NBA Green partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees for every three-pointer made around Arbor Day, with the first batch planted in Los Angeles specifically in Walton's honor. It reflects some of the same themes Walton embraced in his own backyard for decades.

The NBA profile noted that, in personal notes Lori found after his death, Walton ranked family first, sports second, music third, the environment fourth, and philanthropy fifth among his life’s greatest accomplishments. This order reveals quite a lot about a man whose basketball career earned him championships and a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame. His story suggests that sustainability does not necessarily have to be grand. It may very well be a roof fitted with solar panels, a garden cultivated for 45 years, and just one more refill for a bottle.