Basketball Hall of Famer Chet “The Jet” Walker dies at age 84 – WFTV

Walker, who averaged 20.6 points while missing just 18 games from 1969 to 1975 and made the All-Star team four times, is a member of the Bulls Ring of Honor, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Walker was selected by the Nationals in the 1962 NBA Draft and followed the franchise when it moved to Philadelphia in 1963 and became the 76ers, ESPN reported.

The 76ers won a then-record 68 games in 1966-67, ending the Boston Celtics’ eight-year title dominance. Walker averaged 19.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game that season, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

Philadelphia traded Walker to the Bulls in 1969. Walker played with Norm Van Lier, Bob Love, Jerry Sloan and Tom Boerwinkle and Chicago won more than 50 games in four consecutive seasons, the Tribune reported. The Bulls reached two consecutive Western Conference finals under coach Dick Motta.

“That basically laid the foundation for basketball in Chicago,” Walker said during his speech when he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, according to the newspaper.

In his 13-year career, Walker averaged 18.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, according to Basketball-Reference.com, and was a seven-time All-Star.

Walker was born in Bethlehem, Mississippi, on February 22, 1940, according to Basketball-Reference.com. He was the youngest of 10 children and was raised by a strong, single mother, who moved the family to Benton Harbor, Michigan, according to the Tribune. Walker overcame poverty to earn a scholarship to Bradley University in Peoria, where he was twice named All-American and won NIT titles in 1957 and 1960.

According to Bleacher Report, he was inducted into the Bulls’ inaugural Ring of Honor class in January.

He joined Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Phil Jackson, Artis Gilmore, Johnny Kerr, Dick Klein, Jerry Krause, Toni Kukoc, Tex Winter, Love and Sloan, ESPN reported.