Jerry West Autographed SPORT Magazine Cover - Los Angeles Lakers - The Logo

Description

Jerry West Autographed SPORT Magazine Cover - Los Angeles Lakers - The Logo
Front & Back Cover Only - Not the entire magazine
March 1970 Issue
Jerome Alan West
(born May 28, 1938)
[3]
[4]
is an American
basketball
executive and former player. During his active career West played professionally for the
Los Angeles Lakers
of the
National Basketball Association
(NBA). His nicknames included
Mr. Clutch
, for his ability to make a big play in a clutch situation, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the
1970 NBA Finals
against the
New York Knicks
;
The Logo
, in reference to his silhouette being incorporated into the NBA logo;
Mr. Outside
, in reference to his perimeter play with the
Los Angeles Lakers
; and
Zeke from Cabin Creek
, for the
creek
near his birthplace of
Chelyan, West Virginia
. West played the
small forward
position early in his career, and he was a standout at East Bank High School and at
West Virginia University
, where he led the
Mountaineers
to the
1959 NCAA championship game
. He earned the
NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player
honor despite the loss. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the
1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team
, a squad that was inducted as a unit into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
in 2010.
West's NBA career was highly successful. Playing the
guard
position, he was voted 12 times into the
All-NBA
First and Second Teams, was elected into the
NBA All-Star
Team 14  times, and was chosen as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year that he won the
only title of his career
. West holds the
NBA record
for the highest points per game average in a
playoff
series with 46.3. He was also a member of the first five
NBA All-Defensive Teams
(one second, followed by four firsts), which were introduced when he was 32 years old. Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to be named
Finals MVP
despite being on the losing team (1969). West was inducted into the
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
in 1980 and voted as one of the
50 Greatest Players in NBA history
in 1996.
After his playing career ended, West took over as head coach of the Lakers for three years. He led Los Angeles into the playoffs each year and earned a Western Conference Finals berth once. Working as a player-scout for three years, West was named
general manager
of the Lakers before the
1982–83 NBA season
. Under his reign, Los Angeles won six championship rings. In 2002, West became general manager of the
Memphis Grizzlies
and helped the franchise win their first-ever playoff berths. For his contributions, West won the
NBA Executive of the Year Award
twice, once as a Lakers manager (1995) and then as a Grizzlies manager (2004). West's son, Jonnie, played college basketball for
West Virginia
.