Today in 1974, Los Angeles Lakers guard Jerry West retired from the NBA.
Even if you’re just a casual NBA fan, you probably know enough about Jerry West to know that the NBA logo is based on his silhouette.
Think about that for a second.
If you retired from your job at Initech, even if you were the VP or CEO, or someone like Bill Lumbergh, there is no way that the company would ditch its trademark three-square logo for a silhouette of you sitting at your cube, with a mouse in your hand.
That is exactly what the NBA did when Jerry West retired.
But he didn’t use a mouse; he used a basketball in his cube, which, being an NBA arena, was substantially larger than your cube, even the exaggerated proportions you tell your family because they could never verify it, so why not tell a little white lie to feel good about yourself?
I’m right there with you.
He was voted 12 times into the All-NBA First and Second Teams, was elected into the NBA All-Star Team 14 times, and was chosen as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year that he won the only title of his career.
West holds the NBA record for the highest points per game average in a playoff series with 46.3.
He was also a member of the first five NBA All-Defensive Teams (one second, followed by four firsts), which were introduced when he was 32 years old.
Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team (1969).
West was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980 and voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history in 1996.
If Jerry West were Milton, he would’ve never passed a piece of cake because he KNEW that you always miss 100% of the pieces of cake you DON’T take.
We can only assume that West never aligned himself with a TPS Report or has ever published a report on SharePoint.
And that is why he is a better man than both of us.
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