Elk Grove native and NBA champion Bill Cartwright to be added to Sacramento Walk of Stars

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One of the biggest professional athletes with roots in the Sacramento region will add another award this fall, when NBA all-star Bill Carwright joins the Sacramento Walk of Stars.

Cartwright may be best known as the “man in the middle” for the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, which won three consecutive championships from 1991-1993. But the 7-1 center was born in Lodi and attended Elk Grove High School, where he led the team to a Northern California title in 1975 while being named the California High School Sports Athlete of the Year.

“The baseline to Elk Grove, like a lot of small towns, small cities, is just work. It’s just work ethic, that's who I'm a product of. My dad was a farm laborer growing up in the country,” Cartwright told my colleague Chris Nichols on Insight this week. “We just do one thing: we can work, we can work harder, we can work longer, we can do more. And that's what Elk Grove represents.”

Growing up, he remembers Elk Grove Boulevard as a single four-way stop, with farmland all around. Cartwright was 6 feet, 6 inches tall by the time he was in eighth grade, helping to drive tractors on the farm where his father worked. 

While he played football and baseball into his freshman year of high school — his first professional sports dream was to be a pitcher — eventually he focused on basketball. 

“I started spending a lot of time inside, which is actually good for the Sacramento summers because it was blazing hot outside,” he remembers.

By his senior year, Sports Illustrated found a high schooler who was the talk of the town.

“Classmates at Elk Grove High say Cartwright could be elected student body president. His popularity is that of a sunny assistant crossing guard rather than that of a star who has been interviewed by TV networks. Among his best friends are the basketball manager and a member of the golf team for whom Cartwright caddies during tournaments. He dates the vice-principal's daughter, babysits his coach's kids and is a favorite autograph giver among Sacramento schoolchildren.”

From Elk Grove he went to the University of San Francisco, where he finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer. From there he went to the NBA, playing his first eight seasons in New York. But he may be best remembered now on those championship teams with the Bulls.

Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan, left, Bill Cartwright, center, and Scottie Pippen, right, show off the teams three NBA Championship Trophies during a celebration rally in downtown Chicago, June 22, 1993.AP Photo/Mark Elias

“The biggest thing about what I want to really emphasize about being in Chicago, my entire career was about learning lessons, and I really learned lessons in Chicago to what a basketball team should be,” Cartwright said. “You really learn how to play basketball together. Offensively we had our system, the legendary triangle offense, a great defense. We had great — I don't call them bench guys, but second group starters — that would come in, really competitive guys. And then we just happened to have the best player in the league as well.”

Now Cartwright is the Director of University Initiatives at USF, but he still has connections to Elk Grove. When his old high school won its first state championship in 2022, he spoke with the coaches and players.

“That was a special group, special coach, special situation and I thought it was amazing they were really able to pull it all together and win a state championship,” he said. “And when something like that happens, believe me, nobody forgets about it. That's forever. People still talk about us when the Northern California Championship is 1975. So this is something you'll never forget.”

Cartwright will get his official star on L Street between 18th and 19th streets in a public ceremony Sept. 18, along with fellow 2024 honorees Colin Hanks, Cornel West Jr., and Merrin Dungey.