Today in 1976, the Bill Walton-led Portland Trailblazers were sitting at 15-6 atop the Pacific Division, well on their way to a season that would end with a NBA Championship and a MVP award for their tall, redheaded Deadhead, Bill Walton. 

Walton would appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated on this day in 1976, and now the publication has made Curry Kirkpatrick’s profile on Walton available in full online.

Among the highlights, the fact that Walton was averaging a staggering 21 points per game, 16.4 rebounds per game and just over 3 blocks per as well. Massive numbers considering his nightly competition included the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. The article mainly focuses on Walton’s health (it’s also worth noting he did the interview in a Grateful Dead t-shirt) after a battle with injuries. The piece closes with a revelation on Walton from some of his current and former teammates. Read below. 

“Bill’s war with the people is over,” says his good friend and former teammate Steve Jones. “Maybe the hair was the symbol. No more tangles, no more tears. At some point Bill realized he’s a basketball player first, a political activist or whatever next. Maybe it was while he was rafting down the river.”

Or riding his bike. Or munching his bran muffins. Or reading his Steinbeck and Vonnegut. Or bouncing his son on his knee. “I kidded Bill the other day about the haircuts,” says Herm Gilliam. “I said pretty soon he’ll have a crew cut and the American flag in his window. He laughed and laughed.”

It is a marvelous sight to see Bill Walton laughing again. And puffing his cheeks, too.

Here’s some highlights of Walton from the 1977 Finals that year against Philadelphia to demonstrate just how great he was during his day job, when he wasn’t on tour with the Grateful Dead.