Jerry West, the human logo.

Everything Jerry West touches turns to gold.

Architect of five 1980’s titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise he represented in the NBA All-Star Game in all 14 seasons of his career, West even has had a hand in the Golden State Warriors’ recent success as a board member, reportedly blocking a trade a few years ago that would have sent Klay Thompson away for Kevin Love.

The NBA logo, of course, is the silhouette of West dribbling. He was a four-time All-Defensive team selection, a 10-time All-NBA first-team selection, Olympic gold medalist, NBA champion and the greatest athlete in the history of West Virginia, the state and the university.

So how does that decorated a winner shut off the competitive faucet and enjoy retirement? He doesn’t. He turns everything into a competition, even to the point of buying broken watches just to fix them.

West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins marvels at the competitiveness of the greatest Mountaineer ever.

“Jerry used to go to Riviera Country Club (in Los Angeles) and play cards with all the doctors and take their money,” Huggins said. “They’d all say, ‘Why don’t you play golf?’ ‘Why don’t you play golf?’ ‘Why don’t you play golf?’ So he took up golf and in a little bit over one year he was the club champion at Riviera.”

West was known as Mr. Clutch because of he won so many games with his picturesque jumper. NBA Hall of Fame guard Calvin Murphy didn’t hesitate when I asked him to name the toughest guard to score against: “Jerry West, quickest hands I’d ever seen.”

Huggins said of West: “Incredible hand-eye coordination. He’s an unbelievable hunter, a big-time bird hunter. That’s hand-eye coordination. His hobby is buying old pocket watches that don’t run, gets them at a sale or whatever, tears them all apart, lays everything out, greases it, puts it back together, makes them run. You need hands like a surgeon to do that, those wee little pieces.”

Even an athlete with such great physical gifts as West was able to point to a former teammate with greater ones: late Kansas great Wilt Chamberlain.

“Jerry says it’s incredible how strong Wilt was, how he could run,” Huggins said.
Wilt’s Jayhawks face West’s Mountaineers today at 6 p.m. at WVU Coliseum.