Neal Walk
From Hoopedia
Neal Eugene Walk (born July 29, 1948 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a 6' 10" retired American professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA.
He attended Miami Beach High School going to the state championship with Alan Goldfarb, Drew Cherner, and coming off the bench Michael Rappaport. He also attended the University of Florida where he graduated as the all-time leading scorer. But has been passed up. He still maintains the record for rebounds (1181) and in scoring average (20.8) per game.
Drafted second overall in the 1969 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns, after they lost a coin toss with Milwaukee Bucks for the number one pick. Milwaukee chose basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then still named Lew Alcindor) with the first pick.
He played from 1969 to 1974 for the Phoenix Suns, was traded to the then New Orleans (now Utah) Jazz and subsequently traded to the New York Knicks, where he played for 2 seasons.
Afterward, he went to play in Italy (Venice and after which, he went on to play in Israel (Hapoel Ramat Gan).
In 1988, it was discovered that he had a benign tumor enveloping his spine. Following surgery, Walk was left in a wheelchair, from which he played wheelchair basketball for the L.A.-Phoenix Samaritans in the Southern California league of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. In 1990, Neal Walk was honored at the White House by President George H. W. Bush as the "Wheelchair Athlete of The Year."
He has since gone on to work for the Phoenix Suns in their Community Affairs department. Neal is in the Miami Beach Senior High school Hall of Fame and a legend in the Jewish community. He is also in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
