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1938-2024. Photo courtesy of x.com

A TRUE LEGEND NOT JUST IN LAKERS BASKETBALL AND THE NBA.

A TRUE LEGEND NOT JUST IN BASKETBALL IN GENERAL.

A TRUE LEGEND NOT JUST IN SOCAL SPORTS FOR THAT MATTER, BUT…

A TRUE LEGEND IN SPORTS, PERIOD.

I’m not going to go on about the nine NBA championships that he won – one as a player in 1972 and eight as an executive as he basically built the Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar “Showtime” dynasty in the 1980s.

Or how, along with Elgin Baylor, essentially started pro basketball in Los Angeles as his rookie year in 1960 was also the Laker’s first year in Southern California, having moved to the Sports Arena from Minneapolis that season.

Or any of the other stats and accolades that he attained over the course of his career.

Or how if Yankee Stadium was the House That Babe Ruth built,

Or if Dodger Stadium was the house that Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale built,

Or if Pauley Pavilion at UCLA was the House that John Wooden built,

Then the Forum in Inglewood, which opened in 1967, was the House that West and Baylor built;

I’ll leave that for ESPN, Fox Sports, and other sports channels and news sites to cover.

I’ll just say this…

Without Jerry West, there would have been no Los Angeles Lakers as we know them.

And I’m talking about off the court after his playing career was done as well as on.

That was my prominent thought when I heard about his death this morning.

And along with the surprise of me posting Laker-based stuff on this blog in the middle of baseball season,

That will be my prominent thought going forward.

Of course it goes without saying that this multiple Hall of Famer and a member of the NBA’s All-Time 35th, 50th, and 75th Anniversary Teams, whose impact was so big that he was and remains the model for the NBA’s logo,

Will be missed on an extremely pronounced scale.

REST IN PEACE, MR. WEST.

AND BE SURE TO GIVE BILL WALTON AND ALL THE OTHER HOOPS LEGENDS OUR PERSONAL WARM REGARDS

I can see why the NBA logo (at top right hand corner) was modeled after this man. Photo courtesy of si.com