Fans of basketball, hippie culture and sports media are mourning the loss of Bill Walton this week, but the hyperbolic Hall of Famer’s death from cancer at age 71 is also giving way to a bevvy of hilarious stories about the Redhead Deadhead.

Walton’s former broadcast partner, Dave Pasch, got in the spirit on Monday by sharing some of his favorite text messages with the eccentric two-time NBA champion, who proved to be every bit as verbose over electronic communications as he was in person.

‘Bill Walton’s nickname for me was ”Coal,” and he would call himself ”Solar,”’ ESPN’s Pasch wrote on X. ‘He would playfully say I was living in the past, while he was the future. As I was going through many old texts from him, laughing my butt off, this one got me. Bill was an all time ball buster!’

Pasch’s post included a picture Walton sent him of a highway exit sign for ‘Lead Ave’ and ‘Coal Ave’ in July of 2018. Along with the picture, Walton wrote: ‘Please, we are nearby, can Dave come out and [play?]

‘It is Dave, right???’

Pasch’s trip down memory lane was far from finished.

‘Bill would text me during games I was broadcasting, and pretend he didn’t know I was doing it, but ask if I was watching,’ Pasch wrote in another post, alongside four different grabs of Walton texts.

‘Are you watching this masterpiece?’ Walton asked in one message. ‘UCLA @ UW.’

Walton continued: ‘I have no idea who’s calling the game, but the guy is stealing your lines.’

In another message, Walton asked Pasch about a New York Knicks-Cleveland Cavaliers game that the latter happened to be calling at the time.

‘Hope you’re watching this Knick/Cavs game,’ Walton wrote to Pasch, adding: ‘Hopefully the announcer will reset the scene for you.’