The Logo played 14 seasons for the Lakers before a brief coaching stint and a remarkable run as general manager—from Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
At an age when most players of his generation were long gone from the game, cursing it from afar and proclaiming how much better and purer it was when they played, Jerry West was still in the thick of the action, making decisions, talking to players and generally relating to young men whose great-grandfathers might’ve watched him play live.
Though West also served as general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies and was a much-consulted consultant with the Golden State Warriors and most recently the Clippers, it was with the Lakers that West will be forever associated. He was that rare sports personality who achieved fame—indeed, immortality—both during his playing career and after it had concluded.
But by his third or fourth season in L.A., West had made his own rep. Tougher than a Cossack, blessed with natural talent and motivated by a killer personality, West was even, in a strange way, Hollywood. His size, a legit 6'3" with a massive wingspan, surprised people when they met him. He didn’t have movie-star good looks but, rather, the face of a hard extra, someone who tumbled down stairs, dusted himself off and went back looking for more.
West didn’t care for the nickname, but in some ways he clung to that rural persona, rarely venturing into controversial political territory, something he came to regret. His Olympic co-captain Robertson was among those who led the fight to improve labor conditions for players, and, late in life, West said wistfully: “I always admired him for that.”
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