Quicknation    Jerry West

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(born May 28, 1938 in Chelyan, West Virginia) has had one of the most successful careers ever in professional basketball, first as a player, then as a coach and finally as an executive. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, and his dribbling silhouette has long been used in the National Basketball Association's official logo.

Like most NBA players, West was a standout in high school and at college, attending West Virginia University and leading it to the 1959 NCAA championship game (of which he was named Most Valuable Player) before embarking on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He also played for the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team in Rome.

He nickname was "Mr. Clutch", for his skill and ability to make a shot in a clutch situation.

On November 26, 2005, his number 44 became the first basketball number to be retired by West Virginia University.

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Jerry West attended East Bank, West Virginia High School from 1952-1956, being named All-State from 1953-56, and All-American in 1956, when he was also named West Virginia Player of the Year after becoming the state's first high-school player to score more than 900 points in a season (32.2 ppg, 1956), and leading East Bank to a state championship.

He played for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, in Morgantown, West Virginia, from 1956-1960. Among his college highlights, he was named to the All-Southern Conference (1958-60), All-American Second Team (1958), and i All-America First Team (1959-60). In his WVU career, he averaged 24.8 points and 13.3 rebounds per game.

In addition to the Olympic Games, he was a member of the United States' Pan American Games gold medal-winning team (1959).

Drafted in the NBA, West began his pro career with the Los Angeles Lakers (1960-74), scoring 25,192 points, averaging 27.0 per game, and making 7,160 free throws and 6,238 assists.

West was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team four times, to the All-NBA First Team 10 times, to the All-Star team 14 times, and 1980 he was named to the NBA's 35th Anniversary All-Time Team.

A clutch shooter, West averaged 29.1 points per game in 153 playoff games, including 40.6 in 11 playoff games in 1965, and sunk one of the most famous shots in NBA history: a 60-footer with no time remaining to send a 1970 championship game into overtime. West played in nine NBA Finals, but finished his career with only one championship, won in 1972. He retired two years later, then became a coach who carried the Lakers into the playoffs in his three seasons 1976-1979, after which he was hired as an executive for the club in various positions.

In 1980, the Lakers won the NBA Championship led by Magic Johnson, who became the first and only rookie to be named the NBA Finals MVP.

In 1982, Jerry West was named general manager of the Lakers, and through shrewd trades and draft picks, maintained the Lakers status in the NBA elite for the rest of the decade. These teams were built around the core of Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy and would go on to win four more championships in 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988 becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since the great Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1960s did so in 1968 and 1969.

Following a slump in the early 1990s, West receieved the NBA Executive of the Year Award in 1995 after his Lakers reached the playoffs. West is credited for bringing Kobe Bryant onto the team and signing free agent Shaquille O'Neal to the team, which would later go on to win three NBA titles.

In 2002 he was hired as President of Basketball Operations by the Memphis Grizzlies. Although it was the worst team in the NBA at that time, West quietly rebuilt the team. In 2004, the Grizzlies won 50 games for the first time in their history, and West was named NBA Executive of the Year for the second time.

He currently lives in Memphis with his wife and 17-year-old son.