The death of Bill Walton rippled across the entire sports world earlier this year, with memories and stories resurfacing from so many who he bonded with. One such person was Michelle Beadle, who hardly knew Walton on a personal level but was inspired by his life and death in a major way.
In an interview on South Beach Sessions with Dan Le Batard released Friday, Beadle detailed how Walton’s passing lit a fire under her to get uncomfortable and find more joy in her life.
“When Bill Walton passed, I remember thinking to myself, I really need to live more,” Beadle said. “I’m not doing a good job embracing life. And it’s weird that our brains work that way, where we attach it to someone we barely know, maybe we’ve met a few times.”
Beadle said that while her personality on air on hit shows like SportsNation, Get Up and NBA Countdown was big and outspoken, she tends to be an introvert who enjoys quiet alone time over big experiences where she is the center of attention.
“I’m not an extrovert by any stretch, despite what we do for a living,” Beadle said. “I think people still think that’s weird, but I’m not comfortable speaking to a big room of people … so in no way was (her career) on the radar.”
Since leaving ESPN in 2019, Beadle worked for the San Antonio Spurs television broadcast and for FanDuel TV hosting Run It Back, as well as in the audio space hosting a show for Mad Dog Sports Radio on SiriusXM and a podcast for Wondery. Recent reports from the New York Post suggest Beadle is in talks to join The Chris Carton Show on FS1 amid a broader shakeup on the network.
[South Beach Sessions on YouTube]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.