My late father awoke me on the morning of April 30, 1970 before he went to his job as a pressman at Regal Printing.
The night before, Jerry West had swished a halfcourt shot to send Game 3 of the NBA Finals into overtime. The New York Knicks would prevail and win the series in seven games but from that day on I was a Jerry West fan.
West passed away last week and I learned a few stories about him I had never heard.
Not knowing any Black people while growing up and then playing at West Virginia, West requested a Black roommate for road games during his rookie year with the Lakers. Folks, this was 1960.
The Lakers obliged and he was paired with Ray Felix, who was the NBA’s first Black Rookie of the Year.
“I learned more about race by being around him, about things he saw growing up,” West said during an nba.com interview.
“It was a different education for me. It affected my reading. I looked for books about all the incredible minority leaders, about Civil Rights, so that’s what I did after games. After he got to know me, we became friends.”
West coached Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after he arrived in L.A. from Milwaukee and later became the general manager of the “Showtime” Lakers, which won five NBA titles.
During an interview on Abdul-Jabbar’s podcast, West confided to his fellow Basketball Hall of Fame member “the most important people in my life were five Black men. Five.”
West said the five, which included Abdul-Jabbar, were men he played with in college and the pros.
While a Laker, Shaquille O’Neal was under much unfair scrutiny. West was not reluctant to share what he felt was the origin of some harsh criticism.
“I would hope that racism is something that just does not work in this day and age, but I know otherwise. I get horrible mail from people who, among other things, say I’m racist because we have no white players on the team. It’s absurd.”
West was known as “The Logo” because that’s his silhouette on the NBA shield. The league could not have selected a better representative on and off the hardwood.
The Reid Round up
Author and sports journalist Rob Parker launched the first all-Black sports radio station in the country last week in Detroit. Former NBA player turned agent B.J. Armstrong, and former college athletes Dave Kenney and Maurice “Moe” Ways are co-owners. Black listeners tune into sports radio in St. Louis and throughout the nation in droves, yet a 2020 survey of sports radio stations showed that just 10 to 14% of the on-air talent on nearly 800 sports radio stations around the country were Hispanic or Black…While I’m not a Kyrie Irving fan, the Dallas Mavericks guard demonstrated that he can be a class act. With the clock winding down and the Boston Celtics cruising to a 106-85 NBA Finals clinching victory, Irving congratulated Celtics players and coaches, sharing hugs with several of his opponents…Grambling State University football team will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on Ohio State on Sept. 6, 2025. Grambling will receive a $1 million payout for the game for the likely beat down it will receive. It will also be the first time Grambling takes on a Big Ten Conference member…Marquette King, Arlington Renegades punter, was the musical guest for the league’s championship game last Sunday in St. Louis. The former HBCU punter describes himself as a “Pop, Hip-Hop and EDM artist.”…LeSean McCoy, former NFL player and co-host of the FOX Sports program “Speak,” calls the WNBA must protect its savior, Caitlin Clark. “You have the Messiah there. No one was watching women’s basketball [before Clark.] You’ve got to monetize that and make sure she’s protected enough. It should be certain calls she should get…ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said Monday that numerous coaches did not like JJ Redick and LeBron James’ podcast, especially after Laker head coach Darvin Ham was fired. Redick is now the leading candidate to replace him.
