Basketball legend Bill Walton spoke to children and shot hoops yesterday at the Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester.

The 6-foot, 11-inch athlete gave a personal and motivational speech, in which he stressed how lucky the boys and girls present were to be young and full of potential.

‘Seize this moment, the whole world is yours,’ said Walton, who played for the Boston Celtics.

Walton, who grew up in San Diego and played basketball at the University of California at Los Angeles and in the National Basketball Association for 14 years, used anecdotes from his own life to prove anything is possible no matter what obstacles exist. He said he was an awkward-looking, redheaded boy with a speech impediment. According to Walton, he also started out by spending time after school in a local boys’ club.

Walton won two Most Valuable Player awards during his time in the NBA and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. He has been a broadcaster since retiring from the sport.

Walton, whose father worked three jobs and whose mother was a librarian, said though the family did not have a lot of money, his parents instilled in him important values.

‘They taught me about love, trust, confidence, family and loyalty,’ Walton told the children.

Walton recalled how his father – who was not a sports fan – would drive him back and forth from basketball games. To express his appreciation, the seventh grader told his father when he won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, he would give his father the complimentary free car.

Sure enough, when he was 23 years old, Walton was awarded his first NBA MVP award – and a car that he gave to his father.

Walton’s audience particularly enjoyed this narrative.

‘My favorite part was when he said that his father still drives the car that he got when he was MVP,’ said 11-year-old Sheaniece Beckford.

Walton later compared teamwork in sporting events to teamwork attitudes within a community.

‘Happiness begins when selfishness ends,’ he said. ‘Life not lived for others is not life.’

He also stressed education as important in both basketball and life.

‘The ball is an extension of the mind. If you train your body and mind, you will always win at a mental level,’ he said.

Finally, he cited balance and quickness as the two most important skills an athlete can possess. This balance on emotional and spiritual levels was necessary in life as well, he said.

The message resounded loudly with many of the aspiring basketball stars in the audience.

‘It was cool because I’ve never talked to an NBA player before, and I like playing basketball so I felt what he meant,’ said nine-year-old Noldy Duverly.