Bill Walton Lost His Beloved Bike, But Twitter Came To The Rescue

It’s no secret that former NBA star and TV personality Bill Walton wears his passions on his sleeve. He loves the Grateful Dead. He loves basketball. And he loves, loves, loves cycling. Having undergone over 40 surgeries for back and feet issues, he has found an outlet in cycling, calling it in a WSJ interview “the most important thing I have. It is my gym, my wheelchair and my church all in one.”

You could imagine how he would feel if his bike was lost. And at 7 feet tall, his bike is a custom affair that can’t be replaced without great time and expense.

Over the weekend, Walton was put through the wringer as his bike was lost luggage on a trip via Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu to Maui.

He was apoplectic, reaching out via social media with this tweet, which also shows just how big his big bike is:

He was flying to Hawaii for a vacation, the high point of which was a cycle tour of the majestic volcanos. So lacking a bike would put a pretty serious damper on his trip.

It turns out that by venting on Twitter, the likeable celebrity managed to put a fair amount of pressure on the airline to find his missing bike, both from sympathetic Twitter users and from media outlets that had picked up the story. Not wanting to be the guys that lost Bill Walton’s prized bike, Hawaiian Airlines, bombarded with messages, went to work.

Walton was also tweeting non-stop to his followers expressing his pain and frustration. This went beyond rage. Bill NEEDS that bike in his life.

Oh, and he deviated from his mission for one tweet to discuss his lovely pit bull in the pic:

Fortunately, the tweeting and faith paid off, with the bike coming back to its rightful owner:

And Bill was gracious enough to give props to the hundreds (possibly thousands) of folks who pinged Hawaiian Airlines on his behalf:

Here’s to hoping that Bill has a great trip riding through Hawaii and maybe considers shipping his bike back home given his recent experience.