As you’re all most likely conscious, NBA legend (and the inspiration for the NBA brand), handed away this previous June twelfth. Much has been made, rightly so, of his large contributions to the NBA, each throughout and after his taking part in days.
The Los Angeles Lakers, for whom West performed, can be honoring West this season by carrying a No. 44 memorial band on their jerseys.
But West was already a star earlier than he’d ever performed a minute of basketball within the NBA. Born and raised in West Virginia, West was a standout highschool basketball participant, and whereas greater than 60 universities confirmed curiosity in him, he determined to keep in West Virginia and attended West Virginia University (WVU).
West performed for the Mountaineers for 4 seasons. According to Wikipedia
In his freshman 12 months (1956–57), West was a member of the WVU freshman squad that achieved an ideal document of 17 straight wins over the course of the season. … In his first varsity 12 months underneath head coach Fred Schaus, West scored 17.8 factors per sport and averaged 11.1 rebounds; he additionally began in all 28 video games whereas capturing 49.6% from the sphere and 73.2% from the free throw line. These performances earned him a large number of honors, amongst them an All-American Third Team call-up, First Team All-Southern Conference, Southern Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player Award and First Team honors, Chuck Taylor–Converse Second-team All-American honors, and Associated Press and United Press International Third-team All-America honors.The Mountaineers went 26–2 that 12 months, ending the season with a loss to Manhattan College in postseason match play.
During his junior 12 months (1958–59), West scored 26.6 factors per sport and grabbed 12.3 rebounds per sport. He tied the NCAA five-game match document of 160 factors (32 factors per sport) and led all scorers and rebounders in each West Virginia sport, together with getting 28 factors and 11 rebounds in a 71–70 loss to California within the last. West was named Most Outstanding Player of that 12 months’s Final Four. Further awards had been All-America, Southern Conference Tournament MVP and Southern Conference Player of the Year and Athlete of the Year. He was additionally named to be a member of the U.S. Pan American Games basketball staff that gained the gold medal.
In his last collegiate season (1959–60), West loved a number of profession highs, similar to scoring 29.3 factors per sport, a 134 season-assists, 16.5 rebounds per sport, and a capturing common of fifty.4% from the sphere, 76.6% from the free throw line. He was honored once more with a number of awards: a call-up to the All-America choice, and being voted Southern Conference MVP West’s finest efficiency was a sport in opposition to Virginia, wherein he grabbed 16 rebounds and scored 40 factors. Moreover, throughout that last 12 months, he had 30 double-doubles and fifteen 30-point video games. In his collegiate profession, West totaled 2,309 factors and 1,240 rebounds. He averaged 24.8 factors per sport and 13.3 rebounds.[19] As of 2011, West holds 12 WVU all-time data. West and Oscar Robertson co-captained the U.S. males’s basketball staff that gained the gold medal on the 1960 Summer Olympics.
In addition to all these accolades, West has been honored by the WVU with an impressive statue which stands outdoors the West Virginia University Coliseum.
So it’s solely becoming that the Mountaineers will keep in mind West’s profession at WVU by having the Mountaineers put on a West patch on their jerseys for the 2024-25 season. The patch is a circle, in WVU blue with gold lettering. It reads “WEST” above the No. 44.
The patch can be worn above the maker’s mark on the higher proper chest.
The staff put collectively a brief video displaying the putting of the patch and the stitching of the patch:
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) October 9, 2024
West was clearly an necessary determine for the Mountaineers, and clearly he was beloved by the University. So it’s becoming the staff will honor his reminiscence this manner.
West additionally most likely additionally has a singular distinction, uniform-wise, in sports activities. His identify was on the entrance of his jersey, each at West Virginia and within the NBA, with his choice to the NBA All-Star staff representing the West(ern) Conference.
RIP Mr. West. You’ll be fondly remembered, and generations of children could at some point ask, “Who’s that on the NBA logo?” Why, it’s Jerry West. Mr. Clutch.
