It was only fitting that as the Pac-12 Conference rode off into the sunset, its biggest supporter followed along.

Bill Walton, UCLA legend and the ultimate champion for the “Conference of Champions,” died Monday following a prolonged battle with cancer.

For those of a certain age, like myself, his playing days had to mostly be absorbed through stories from those who watched him win three national player of the year honors, two national championships and a pair of NBA titles.

Instead, the most vivid personal recollections came via Walton’s quirky, eccentric flair as a broadcaster, specifically for NBC and later ABC/ESPN and the Pac-12 Network.

Throw it down, big man! The worst call in the history of Western civilization!

At least once a game, something was either the greatest or worst display of basketball the game has ever seen, in Walton’s eyes.

“Now that’s Hakeem Olajuwon right there!” Walton once said after a routine Adem Bona blocked shot while calling a UCLA game against Saint Francis in November last season.

It made broadcasts quickly go from goofy to delirious, with even some of his biggest supporters having to throw in an eye roll or two.

Above all else, though, Walton entertained and brought life to a profession that’s sometimes inched toward mean-spirited in recent years at major networks.

More than just basketball, it was clear Walton just enjoyed life. While covering Arizona previously in January 2014, I once saw Walton take a break from his preparation for an ESPN2 broadcast in Tucson to have a conversation with a young fan dressed as a watermelon. But, hey, that was probably just a normal day in the Walton-verse.

Walton made those Pac-12 After Dark late-night tip-offs a tad more tolerable and turned games into an exercise in how far he could stretch the imagination through words you wouldn’t normally associate with a basketball game.

“You ever see huskies and bears fight?” Walton once asked longtime broadcast partner and play-by-play man Dave Pasch, who had the tough task of maintaining a straight face each week, during a Washington-UCLA broadcast. “Usually what happens when that happens is the dogs come in and they nip and tuck around the bear, who just kind of stand there and look around and then eventually the bear gets tired of these little antagonistic huskies. So, the bear, they come and just smash the huskies — and that’s what’s happened right now (on the basketball court).”

“What are you talking about,” Pasch asked.

“I’m talking about bears and huskies, the matchup that we have tonight,” Walton answered as early first-half action continued. “Did you know that the grizzly bears, which used to be predominant here in Southern California, they left millenniums ago. … But in 1933…”

Walton continually found ways to educate audiences, especially whenever he could wax poetically about his love for the rock band Grateful Dead and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia like he was explaining the intricacies of the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons’ defense.

Walton didn’t limit himself to basketball, either, as he delivered a, um, memorable call of a Chicago White Sox-Los Angeles Angels baseball game in August 2019.

“I’m not a very good catcher,” Walton said on the telecast. “I’m much better at getting high than getting low.”

Bill Walton was unapologetically himself to the very end.