Jerry West

Jerry West is my favorite athlete of all time – not one of but the favorite. That’s why I was disappointed when I read his new autobiography, West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life. I knew he had led a tortured life, but I thought this book would also be about his tremendous basketball exploits (Charmed) and his personal life (Tormented). I was wrong. Jerry goes into no details about his legendary exploits on the hardcourt. Instead, we read all about the legendary exploits in his head. The final score on a scale of 1-10 is Tormented, 8, Charmed 2.

          That’s okay. If talking about all his faults, insecurities, mistakes, fears, nightmares, depression and the fact he is just plain weird is cathartic for him, I am all for it. I can never be mad at West. But I am still waiting for his personal blow-by-blow account of  his achievements on the basketball court put into perspective by his more mature self. .

 I wanted to hear about how he personally views his heroics like having the fifth highest average (27) in NBA history and how he was elected to the all-NBA first team 10 times.  I wanted to read about making more free throws (840) in one season than anyone in history. He needed to tell me about having the fourth leading playoff average (29.1) of all time. I wanted him to tell me all about the six-game series against Baltimore in 1965 where he averaged 46.3 points per game – the best ever. (Neither Michael Jordan nor Wilt Chamberlain did that.) I wanted to know about always leading  the team in steals and assists and his experiences as a great shooter, great defender, great floor leader and great rebounder for his size (5.8 lifetime). And the game where he scored 63 points.

             I would have preferred to read about his exploits on the court from East Bank High School in West Virginia to the University of West Virginia to the Los Angeles Lakers. Jerry did write about his hoop playing in Mr Clutch: The Jerry West Story in 1969 with Bill Libby. But he was only 31 then. Roland Lazenby also wrote a fine biography, Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon in 2009 covering his hoop dreams quite well. That was fine, but a new book was needed from to put his fantastic career into perspective. I wanted to enjoy again his legendary battles with players like Oscar Robertson, Jerry Sloan, Walt Frazier and Richie Guerin. I wanted to know what it was like to play with Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain and against Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Rick Barry.

            Jerry was born in Cheylan, W. Va., about 14 miles south of Charleston. He blames his inability to find happiness basically on his parents – his abusive father who used to beat him and an apathetic mother - and the death of his idolized brother, David, in the Korean War.

            He himself has been married to two beautiful women and has five apparently happy and successful sons. He may never been paid an extraordinary salary as a player, but he has made millions as a basketball executive. He is a great golfer, and a person idolized and liked by millions. But all he does is go on and on about how he has never been satisfied and can never find peace with himself, and he keeps harking back to his father and brother. He says that therapy never has and never will do him any good. Why not?

Good grief, Jerry. Enough is enough. Methinks you protest too much. I feel your pain, and I hope you feel better. But it’s time to quit whining and get on with living. It’s time to bury the dead and the past. Please Jerry! Enjoy the rest of your life.

            The only things I really learned in the book that I didn’t know before is that Jerry is a clothes horse, he’s afraid of water, he loves to fish, and more about his non-relationship with Phil Jackson. (I know they are not bosom buddies, but I still don’t know the extent of their dislike for each other. I have a feeling that Phil was a little jealous of Jerry because he was not half the player West was.)  .

            The best part of the book is offered by his co-writer Jonathan Coleman.  Reading what Jerry’s friends and teammates had to say about him is almost more enjoyable than reading what he said about himself.

            Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “I will never forget listening to Richard Pryor make jokes about how Jerry would light up the black players who were supposed to be so superior. Jerry West killed all of that myth on a regular basis. Anybody who could make the black players have to work hard to keep up must be one hell of an athlete.”

            Mitch Kupchak: “I don’t think there’s anybody that’s had a greater impact on my life than Jerry. To this day it’s just hard for me to fathom that I have the relationship with him that I do. To this day I don’t exactly know why Jerry thought I was the right person to work with him. …He was much more of a big –picture person, so I thought we complemented each other very well. From day one, he never tried to protect his turf.”

            Pat Riley: (Looking back on his nine years with the Lakers) “I let our success go to my head, me thinking I’m better than God, and I had actually forgotten that Jerry was the one who made it possible for me to be there, and he was always there for me. He was the one who convinced Jerry Buss that I was the right choice. … (On his leaving the Lakers.) “The truth is, I had gotten too full of myself, too big for my britches…It was time for me to go.”

            Most people have been very impressed with West’s forthrightness and honesty. I appreciate it, too, and again I hope he feels better. But I can’t wait for his next book when he talks about all his great moments on the court and allows his fans to relive his thrills and success, not his misery.

            Don Lechman is a former reporter, critic and editor for the Daily Breeze. He teaches writing at Harbor College ion Wilmington.