The NBA has never acknowledged basketball’s worst kept secret: Jerry West is the player silhouetted on the league’s logo.
Maybe there’s a reason for that: West didn’t want to be a logo.
“I’m just part of the game,” West said in an interview in 2021. “I’ve never aspired to be more than that. I’ve been very fortunate to have the life I’ve had, and for me, that’s enough.”
His was a life unlike any other: an NBA and Olympic champion as a player, a champion as an executive and a man elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame not once, not twice but three times. The Los Angeles Clippers announced that West died Wednesday at age 86.
“At a critical time in your life, you hopefully meet someone who can make the difference you only dream of,” said Miami Heat president Pat Riley, who played with West during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers. “That’s what Jerry was for me.”
Nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his performance late in his playing career, West was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980 as a player and again in 2010 as a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic team. West will be inducted for the third time as a contributor later this year, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has called West “one of the greatest executives in the history of sports.”
“He built eight championship teams during his time in the NBA, a feat that reflects his excellence on the court,” Silver said. “And he will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor this October, becoming the first person to be inducted as both a player and a contributor. I treasure my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me about basketball and life over the years.”
West “embodied basketball excellence and was a friend to all who knew him,” the Clippers said in announcing his death. West’s wife, Karen, was by his side when he died, the Clippers said. West had worked for the Clippers as a consultant for the past seven years.
He played 14 seasons in the NBA, was an All-Star 12 times, was a member of the 1972 championship-winning Lakers, was named NBA Finals MVP in 1969 when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics (the first year the award was given and the only time it has ever been awarded to a player on the losing team), and was selected to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
“He was truly my basketball sage — smart, loyal and a lot of fun,” Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said. “When you were around him you could feel his competitive spirit and drive. He cared about everything and everyone. From the day I first met Jerry seven years ago, his intelligence, integrity and enthusiasm inspired me. He never quit.”
West served as general manager of the championship-winning Lakers and helped establish the “Showtime” dynasty. He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Clippers. Among his notable accomplishments as a Lakers executive was drafting Magic Johnson and James Worthy, then acquiring Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to form a powerful title-winning duo.
West’s basketball career spanned generations, playing with the likes of Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain, whom West called “the greatest champions and greatest players of our time.” As a coach and executive, he worked with a who’s who of NBA stars over the past four decades, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Worthy, O’Neal, Bryant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
“It’s amazing the joy they’ve brought to basketball fans all around the world,” West said in 2019.
Even in his later years, West was considered a basketball king, sitting courtside at summer league games in Las Vegas, watching multiple games in a single day and often greeting long lines of players who approached him for a handshake, including LeBron James.
“This game transcends a lot of things,” West said while participating in Summer League last year. “Players may change, playing styles may change, but the respect you learn in this game never changes.”
James, On social media“Dear friend, I will truly miss our conversations! Heartfelt prayers to your amazing family! Eternal love from Jerry! Rest in peace,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer wrote on Wednesday.
West, who is 25th in the NBA’s all-time scoring list, knew he was the model for the league’s logo — a player dribbling against a red and blue background — but had indicated in recent years that he would be open to the league changing it.
“The logo has never been officially declared to be Jerry West’s, but it certainly looks a lot like him,” Silver said in 2021.
West remains the all-time leader in NBA Finals points, field goals made and attempted, and free throws made and attempted. He appeared in nine Finals with the Lakers, going 1-2 against the New York Knicks and 0-6 against the Celtics.
“Those damn Celtics,” he would say.
West also hit one of the most famous shots in Finals history. 60 feet before the buzzer goes off In 1970, the Knicks took Game 3 of the Lakers series into overtime.
Tributes poured in from across the sports world on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Dodgers released a statement calling West “a staple in Los Angeles sports for more than 60 years,” and the NBA was planning a pre-game tribute to West before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
West is survived by his sons David, Mark and Michael from his first marriage to Martha Jane Kane, which ended in divorce. West and his second wife Karen have two sons, Ryan and Johnny, who is married to former LGPA tour star Michelle Wie.
Riley recalled that after the Lakers’ shooting practice, he and West would go to a nearby drugstore and “eat the best hamburgers, drink milkshakes and have delicious custard pudding with fresh whipped cream,” then go home and take a nap to prepare for that day’s game.
Apparently, the burgers, milkshakes and custard worked wonders for West.
“Jerry was so skilled and ruthless at beating (his opponents),” Riley said. “I was so proud to be around him. I watched and I learned. He made me believe. When you’re in that aura of greatness, it’s mesmerizing.”
Michael Jordan said he considered West “a friend, a mentor and like a brother to me.”
“I value his friendship and knowledge,” Jordan said. “I always wished I could have played against him as a competitor, but the more I got to know him, the more I wish I had been his teammate. I admire his basketball acumen and we had a lot in common in how we approached the game.”
A native of Chelian, West Virginia, West was known as a tenacious player who was rarely satisfied with his performance. He grew up shooting at baskets nailed to the side of a shed, often shooting until his fingers bled. He became the first high school player in state history to score more than 900 points in a season, averaging 32.2 points a game while leading East Bank High School to the state title.
He later revealed that basketball was his therapy.
West documented his lifelong struggle with depression in his 2011 memoir, “West by West: A Fascinating and Tormented Life,” writing that an abusive father left him with a childhood that was unloving and filled with anger, and that he often felt worthless, so he turned to gaming to combat that.
West led West Virginia to the NCAA finals in 1959, where the Mountaineers lost by one point to the University of California. West remains the school’s all-time leading scorer.
“Today is one of the saddest days for West Virginia University and the state of West Virginia,” Mountaineers athletic director Len Baker said. “The hearts of Mountaineers around the world are broken by the loss of the great Jerry West.”
A year after winning the gold medal at the Rome Olympics, West joined the Lakers, where he played his entire professional career. In 1996, he was recognized as one of the league’s 50 greatest players, and in 2021, when the league expanded the voting to 75 players to celebrate its 75th anniversary, West was selected again.
“It always amazes me how far you can go in this world chasing a bouncing ball,” West said in 2019 when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by then-President Donald Trump. “My chase began in Cherian, West Virginia, where I hung a wire basket with no net over the side of a bridge. If I didn’t make the shot, the ball would roll down a long bank and I’d be chasing it forever, so I had to make a shot.”
“I was a dreamer. My family didn’t have much, but we had a beautiful view of the Appalachian Mountains. I would sit alone on my front porch and think, ‘If I could get to the top of that mountain, what would I see on the other side?’ And I did, and my dream came true. That bouncing ball allowed me to see both sides.”
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Associated Press writer John Raby contributed to this report.
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