Jerry West - Mr. Clutch

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When I heard that Jerry West passed away I didn’t think of him as the great NBA executive that he was.

He built the Lakers, found Shaq and Kobe. Built teams from scratch and always had brilliant responses to difficult situations.

Smart guy.

I didn’t think of him as the man who overcame a really rough childhood to make it in the NBA.

I didn’t even think of him as the logo. (The NBA used his silhouette as their promotional logo).

I remember him as a player first and foremost.

The 1969-1970 Lakers lost in 7 games to the New York Knicks.

I was 5 years old.

I cried and I truly recall looking at the final score on the screen:

New York 113 Los Angeles 99

I cried because I loved Wilt Chamberlain that much, and it made me sick that they lost.

Jerry West was on that team and he was an amazing shooter.

The Lakers won it all in 1972 and that was the year they had a 33-game winning streak (still the longest streak in any sport).

They came to Buffalo and spanked the Braves and I got to see Wilt and West in person. They were both great.

West hit a 3/4 court shot in the Finals - at the buzzer - to send the game to overtime - and turned to Walt Frazier and said:

“Good Defense.”

I read Wilt’s autobiography back in 1973 and he seemed to be a little mad at Jerry West for some reason - he thought West shot too much - so for a little while, I was on Wilt’s side. 

I was also mad at Jerry.

But as my kids grew up I told them a story about how I once played in the NBA.

“I didn’t see your name in the record books,” Matt said.

“I used a fake name,” I said. “My name was Jerry West back then.”

Matt went back to his room…

…came out a little while later and yelled:

“You were good!”

Any kid growing up in the 70’s wanted the same smooth jump shot that Jerry West had.

Kids who grew up when my kids did knew Jerry from his days as an executive.

In fact, Jake broke the news to me:

“Your basketball career is officially over,” he said. “Jerry West died.”

A remarkable life lived by an amazing, talented man.

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