We have some sad news coming out of the Wisconsin community.
Walt McGrory, who walked onto the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team in 2017 and then played all four seasons with the school, passed away Saturday following a battle with cancer, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In 2021, McGrory was given a diagnosis of osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Basketball Legend George McGinnis Dead At 73 After Suffering Cardiac Arrest)
In April 2023, doctors amputated part of his left leg, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Carter Gilmore and Tyler Wahl, who currently suit up for Wisconsin, and UW alums Carter Higginbottom and Trevor Anderson visited McGrory in Minnesota before the season began, the outlet noted.
“It was heartwarming to go up there and just see him again,” Wahl said in November, according to the Journal Sentinel. “Kind of like old times, because we would all hang out together. We talked a little bit about what was going on with him, but mostly it was just to visit, getting him to laugh and chop it up.”
Walt McGrory, who joined the Wisconsin men’s basketball program in 2017 and was a member for four seasons, died Saturday of cancer. https://t.co/NGB4jstxna
— JSOnline – Badgers (@js_badgers) December 18, 2023
In September, McGrory launched a GoFundMe, which raised over $136,000.
Following the Badgers‘ Nov. 17 win against Robert Morris, head coach Greg Gard requested that fans keep McGrory in their thoughts as his health was deteriorating, the Journal Sentinel reported.
“I first want to start out with something that’s way bigger than tonight’s game, the game of basketball itself,” said Gard, according to the outlet. “For Badger Nation, those that are out there tuning in, whatever your philosophical, spiritual mode is that you do, if you could send some good thoughts and prayers to Walt McGrory’s way.”