Jerry West, an NBA star whose spectacular playing career earned him a spot on the league’s emblem and contributed to several titles, died on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Clippers announced.
The 86-year-old had served as an adviser to the Clippers since 2017.
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“Jerry West, the personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him, passed away peacefully this morning at the age of 86,” the Clippers announced. “His wife, Karen, was by his side.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver described West as a “basketball genius” and a “defining” presence in the league.
“I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life,” Silver stated in a statement. “On behalf of the NBA, we send our deepest condolences to Jerry’s wife, Karen, his family, and his many friends in the NBA community.”
Great players from multiple eras paid tribute to the West.
“I valued his friendship and knowledge,” six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan stated. “I always wanted to have competed against him, but as I got to know him better, I wished I had been his teammate. I appreciated his basketball insights, and we both had many similarities in how we viewed the game.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member was an all-American at West Virginia University before spending 14 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Despite the fact that West’s career occurred during a time when the NBA playoff schedule was significantly shorter, his name is still all over the record books: 4,457 points (ninth most), 1,622 baskets made (ninth), and 1,213 free throws made (seventh), to name a few.
West made 7,160 free throws during the regular season, ranking tenth overall.
He received a spot on the NBA’s all-time squad in 2021, which features the 75 best players in the league’s 75-year history.
It is impossible to overestimate the influence the West has had on the sport over several generations.
He is referred to as “The Logo” by modern NBA fans, and his silhouette is the most prominent image in professional basketball.
Baby boomers remember West as “Mr. Clutch,” the man who was always eager to take game-winning shots. He notably hit a buzzer-beating 60-footer against the New York Knicks, forcing Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals into overtime. West won the inaugural NBA Finals MVP award in 1969.
Even older fans may recognize West as “Zeke from Cabin Creek,” a rather geographically problematic appellation given that he grew up in Chelyan, West Virginia, rather than neighboring Cabin Creek.
“Today is one of the saddest days ever for West Virginia University and the State of West Virginia,” WVU athletic director Wren Baker said in a statement. “We have lost the greatest mountaineer of all time, and there will never be another Jerry West.”
Before turning professional, West was a member of what is widely recognized as the finest amateur team in international basketball history, the 1960 gold medal-winning Americans.
Coach Pete Newell selected future Hall of Famers Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson, and West for a team that won by an average of more than 42 points per game that summer in Rome.
West’s dominance carried into the professional ranks, as he led the Lakers to nine NBA Finals appearances, winning the championship once in 1972.
He spent nearly two decades in the Lakers’ front office, working as general manager and assembling the legendary “Showtime” teams.
Magic Johnson, the star of those teams, said West meant everything to him.
“Jerry West was more than a general manager; he was a great friend and confidante,” Johnson said in a statement. “He was there in my highest moments, winning five NBA championships, and in my lowest moments when I announced my HIV diagnosis, and we cried together for hours in his office.”
The Lakers won NBA championships in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 2000, all under West’s supervision.
“Jerry West will forever be remembered as a basketball icon. “He brought Lakers fans their first championship in Los Angeles in 1972 and was instrumental in another six titles during his tenure with us,” the club stated. “Our thoughts are with the West family and the countless NBA fans who remember his legacy. Jerry West will remain a Lakers legend.”
Pat Riley, who coached the Lakers to five championships, said West’s death transported him back to the golden 1980s.
“Today’s sad, sad news about his passing brought back many of those special moments with Jerry,” Riley, president of the Miami Heat, stated in a press release. “Those beautiful memories came in a waterfall of tears, all coming so fast, so vivid, so etched in my mind.”
West later worked for both the Memphis Grizzlies and the Golden State Warriors. He was in Golden State’s front office when the Warriors won titles in 2015 and 2017, earning his seventh and eighth championship rings as an executive.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob grew up in Massachusetts rooting for the West’s archrival, the Boston Celtics, but admits he has always admired the NBA great.
“To me, he represented basketball. He was more than simply about the game; he epitomized competitiveness,” Lacob stated in a statement Wednesday. “He was the most competitive person I’d ever met, settling for nothing short of greatness.” He needed to win. It overwhelmed him. He was larger than life. “He was an icon.”
Lacob concluded: “We are devastated with today’s news of his passing and extend our prayers and support to his wife, Karen, his entire family, and the NBA community.”
West received Executive of the Year accolades with the Lakers in 1995 and the Grizzlies in 2004.
In 2019, Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“Jerry’s four decades with the Lakers also included a successful stint as a head coach and a remarkable run in the front office that cemented his reputation as one of the greatest executives in sports history,” Silver stated. “He helped build eight championship teams during his tenure in the NBA—aa legacy of achievement that mirrors his on-court excellence.”
West’s influence on professional basketball can be observed every time an official league statement is printed on NBA letterhead or someone puts on NBA gear.
The red-white-and-blue logo, created in 1969 by branding expert Alan Siegel, is still one of the most iconic emblems in North American sports.
Dick Schaap, Siegel’s friend and prominent sports journalist, brought him a portfolio of NBA photos, and one of West dribbling with his left hand and driving to the hoop stood out to him.
“I always admired him, but I liked the picture because it was a nice vertical and had this motion to it,” Siegel told NBA.com in 2021. “I was a fan of his, and he was one of those people who had an important history in the NBA.”
At the time, Siegel did not declare that West was the basis for that iconic design, but many admirers knew.
“In designing the logo, I never mentioned it was based on a picture of him,” he stated. “It was just discovered years later.”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s second-highest scorer, who played for West in Los Angeles, explained why his former coach is “the logo.”
“The reason Jerry West is the logo for the NBA is because he embodied the qualities we admire in our best athletes: skills as a player, dedication as a teammate, and integrity as a person,” the former Lakers center stated in a statement.
“He was my coach and advisor, but most importantly, he was my buddy. Today, a portion of the continent has broken off, leaving us all a little smaller. I know I am. I would especially like to express my sympathies to Karen and the entire West family.”
In recent years, West has been an advocate for mental health, openly discussing his struggles with depression, which stemmed from his background with an abusive father in poor, rural West Virginia.
“My goodness, I’ve lived like a lot of people, some really dark moments in my life,” West said on “The Rich Eisen Show” in the year 2022.
“I’m not sure what triggers it, but it comes back to some of the things I witnessed as a child that were not conducive to loving, caring homes.” It was very difficult for me.”
West was outraged by the HBO series “Winning Time,” which portrayed him as an out-of-control boss prone to outbursts.
While HBO did not apologize to West, it stated that “Winning Time” should be considered a dramatization rather than a documentary.
A homage to West was shown on the video board, and a moment of silence was observed at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Wednesday night before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Mavericks and the Boston Celtics.
David, Mark, and Michael Kane, the NBA icon’s sons from his first marriage, survive him. He and his second wife, Karen, produced two sons: Ryan and Jonnie.
