Frank Thomas

West Notable Sports Figures
Jerry West, right
and over the next three years coached Los Angeles to a
145-101 record and the team’s first return to the playoffs
since he had left the team as a player. After three years
as coach, West worked for another three years as a special
consultant and scout for the Lakers and in 1982
signed on as the team’s general manager. In that post he
played a pivotal role in building the Lakers dynasty of
the 1980s. West found that even off the court he was unable
to shake the nervous condition that had troubled
him in his years as a player. But he found that it was an
essential part of who he was and how he operated as an
executive. In a 1990 interview with the Orange County
Register, West observed: “If I’m not nervous, if I don’t
have at least a little bit of the same self-doubt and anxious
feelings I had when I started playing, then it will be
time for me to go on. I must have that tension.”
Named Executive Vice President
In 1995 West was named executive vice president of
the Lakers. During his years as an executive with the
Lakers organization, the team made it into the playoffs
eight times and won the NBA championship four times
(1985, 1987, 1988, and 2000). In 1995 West was named
the NBA Executive of the Year. Increasingly troubled by
an irregular heartbeat caused by nervous tension, West
retired from basketball in the summer of 2000. After two
years of relaxation away from the game, he returned to
basketball again, signing on as president of the Memphis
Grizzlies in October 2002.
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Awards and Accomplishments
1959 Named most valuable player at NCAA Final Four basketball
tournament
1960 Wins gold medal as member of U.S. Olympics men’s
basketball team
1969 Named most valuable player in NBA Finals
1972 Named most valuable player in NBA All-Star Game
1979 Inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
1995 Named NBA Executive of the Year by Sporting News
Whipping the hapless Grizzlies into a world-class
basketball team will pose a major challenge for West,
but if anybody can pull it off, he can. Shortly after moving
into his new post in Memphis, West told USA Today:
“I’m excited about going forward with this team in
terms of trying to have a team here that would be a playoff
team. In many ways, that would be something that
maybe would bring as much joy as I had when I worked
in Los Angeles as a player and as an executive.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
Address: c/o Memphis Grizzlies, 175 Toyota Pl., Ste.
150, Memphis, TN 38103. Fax: (901) 205-1235. Phone:
(901) 888-4667.
SELECTED WRITINGS BY WEST:
(With Bill Libby) Mr. Clutch: The Jerry West Story.
New York: Prentice Hall, 1969.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Books
“Jerry West.” Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement,
Volume 21. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
“Jerry West.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture,
5 volumes. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000.
Periodicals
Ballard, Chris. “Memphis Grizzlies: The Franchise Player
Here Is New Boss Jerry West, Who Is Trying to Recreate
the Magic (and Kareem) He Possessed with the
Lakers.” Sports Illustrated (October 28, 2002): 156.
Boeck, Greg. “Jerry West Enjoying New Challenge.”
USA Today (October 28, 2002).
Other
“Bill Sharman.” Basketball Hall of Fame. http://www.
hoophall.com/halloffamers/Sharman.htm (December
8, 2002).