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Alright. [grunts]
You want a mic check or you got it?
[clapper] Shaq interview, take one.
[director] Thank you.
-Sure. -[director] And Jerry thanks you.
Alright, we're gonna get started. Quiet, please.
Quick slate.
-Great. -[soft music playing]
-[crew member 1] I'm now rolling. -[crew member 2] Do tech.
[director] Let's lock up the noise, guys.
-[board claps] -Okay.
Um...
[director] I thank you very much for your time.
Thank you, I know it's a game night.
Last question.
[soft music continues]
Jerry West... made all my dreams come true.
I would've loved to have played against Jerry
'cause in some ways, I would've been playing
against a mirror.
But in other ways, you know,
I'm pretty sure I could have learned
and been a better basketball player because of it.
He's one of the top ten basketball players
ever to play the game.
[Pat Riley] When people look at Jerry West's life,
they would say something like,
"What the hell's wrong with this guy?
What's wrong with his life," you know?
But they don't know.
-[light music playing] -[pen scratching]
[Joe Lacob] I've never met anybody as competitive
in every moment of his life.
[Jerry West] I played for the fans. I did.
[commentator] West throws it up...
-[crowd cheering] -[commentator] He makes it!
[Jerry] I didn't play for the franchise. I played for the fans.
Losing all those years in the finals...
[Michael Jordan] He was put to the test eight times,
he only won once,
and that's not who he really is.
[speaker] That would do something to you psychologically.
Absolutely. It would do something, and it did.
[Mitch Kupchak] That's the tormented part of him.
For a second there, he could feel good and enjoy things
and then all of a sudden, it'll flip
and something dark will come in.
[light music continues]
[Ryan West] He's a perfectionist
and I think he sees himself as a flawed individual.
-[interviewer] Can he be happy? -No.
[Michael Cooper] Been a lot of things out, a lot of things that have been said
that are definitely wrong.
I just want to tell my side of the truth about how I know Jerry West,
probably one of the greatest NBA players that's ever played this game,
and definitely one of the greatest GMs in history.
-[light music continues] -[pen scratching]
[club cracks against ball]
[Jerry] I learned so much from winning
but more from losing.
How you have to conduct yourself.
You know, you don't blame the referees,
you don't blame your teammates.
You got your fannies kicked.
It doesn't feel good.
You want the same thing.
You want to be recognized for all the hard work.
[Gary Vitti] One of the things that Jerry taught me
is that sports is not designed to win.
It's actually designed to lose.
There's only one team that can win the last game.
Everybody else goes home a loser.
[speaker] Jerry's one of the great athletes
this country's ever produced.
-Complex. -Logo.
-Intense. Passionate. -I'd describe my father as a...
-Loyal. -...very misunderstood person.
It's goddamn hard being Jerry West.
-Honest. -I don't know that I'd want
-to be Jerry West -Giving.
-An absolute icon in a logo. -Sincere.
Winning didn't just drive him.
-Obviously, he's a local. -Consumed him.
-[O'Neal] It upsets me when... -Crazy.
[O'Neal] ...they say Jerry West was crazy.
-This guy's crazy. -[O'Neal] I never saw that.
-He's a genius. -The most successful...
-Just an American icon. -...single individual in NBA history.
-The Logo. -He's The Logo.
[soft music continues]
[♪ Green Day playing "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"]
♪ I walk a lonely road ♪
♪ The only one that I have ever known...
[Jerry] Why now?
Well, I think sometimes all the things you kept private,
maybe you should talk about a little bit
to have a better understanding
with the people who have supported us,
but more importantly, your friends, particularly in the NBA,
and my personal friends, which are not too many.
♪ My shadow's the only one that walks beside me ♪
♪ My shallow heart's the only thing...
[Jerry] There's just things that I shake my head
and I see, I hear people say,
that is really difficult for me to understand.
♪ 'Til then, I walk alone ♪
♪ I walk this empty street ♪
♪ on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams... ♪♪
Watch your fingers.
-[crew member 1] Jerry. -[crew member 2 laughs]
Jerry West interview, take one, common mark.
[clapper clacks]
[soft music playing]
[pen scratching]
[soft music continues]
[crowd cheering]
[soft music continues]
[inaudible dialogue]
[soft music continues]
[pen scratching]
[soft music continues]
[light music playing]
[birds chirping]
[Jerry] This is the last house that I lived in.
I was in high school.
I think that one of the proudest things I did,
I paid the mortgage off on this house
for my mother and father.
It was $12,000.
We lived in that place there.
And there was a tree here
that I had a basketball hoop on, right here.
Really nice to see you.
-Yeah. -How you doing, young man?
-Nice to see you. -My pleasure.
My uncle was always said, talked about you.
So I knew it was like... I never mentioned it was like...
[laughs] Yeah. Well, I grew a lot, okay.
-[laughs] -Can I...
Can I have a picture?
Yeah, sure. Why not?
-Who's this for? -It's for my son Adam.
They loved watching you play basketball
and always wanted to be another Jerry West,
which, there is never gonna be another Jerry West.
I wish you guys well. Nice to talk to you.
-Nice to speak. -Thank you.
I wanted to play football
when I was in junior high school, and I'll never forget.
I couldn't play
because they didn't have anything to fit me.
I was so skinny and little.
They gave me shoulder pads,
gave me a helmet that was way too big.
You know, I didn't have friends,
so I gravitated to something that I could do by myself.
And you know, you got to the point where all of a sudden
you learn how to shoot the ball on your own.
How can I become more effective as a shooter?
Well, I can't tell you how many times I threw the ball up
-20 feet in the air. -[laughing]
I have a scar here today where I scratched my face
because I tried to keep it close to my face,
and so a very steady head and try to keep my eyes straight
and I would round my foot and turn my body so I could go up
and make sure that my body came down like a cylinder.
What would you say is the prettiest part of Jerry's game for you?
His pull-up.
His beautiful jump shot.
Jerry had a textbook jump shot.
His jumper.
[laughs] It's sweet.
Yeah, it was sweet and it went in a lot.
When you got that shot down,
did you know when it was going in?
-Oh, gosh, yeah. -[Kenya laughs]
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator] And Jerry West...
[commentator 2] West, setting the mood.
It's up.
Averaging 30 points in this playoff series,
taking the jumper and hitting.
[commentator 3] Jerry West, throwing about whatever he wants to.
He's got 20 points. He's...
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator 4] West is the one the Lakers will go to
to try and bring them back, and we can expect the Celtics
to try and double team West
try to keep him from getting the hot hand here.
[Klay Thompson] Jerry's jump shot is a thing of beauty, and it's timeless,
and players to this day still try to mimic it.
It's just the template of what perfect fundamentals look like.
He was one of the guys who was, like, trying to change the game.
He was more advanced at what he was doing.
He was also big as heck.
The hesi cross or the hesi fatal A to get to your spot,
shoot over you like nobody's there.
But Jerry was, like, unstoppable.
I mean, honestly, he really was that good.
One thing a shooter knows
is that there's certain principles that are non-negotiables
in terms of shooting the ball at a high level.
You know, when it comes to your balance, it comes to your confidence,
it comes to your ability to repeat the same motion
over and over and over again.
And if you watch footage of him or you hear him talk about it,
the level of obsession of how to shoot the basketball
comes out pretty clear.
That's what shooters do.
He held every Laker assist record,
until he let me break 'em.
[both laughing]
[Kenya] Is it West Virginia?
Do you think this is the difference maker for you?
The thing that made you who you are?
I would say that's true. Yeah.
I've been coming here, my goodness, for...
67 years of my life.
There's an allure to this place that,
I don't know if some people miss it when they leave.
I definitely have.
But it was a pretty nondescript place to grow up.
It wasn't the perfect place to raise a kid, okay?
There was nothing special there.
♪ Got tears in my eyes ♪
♪ Tryin' to read a letter from my home ♪
♪ If this train runs me right ♪
♪ I'll be home Saturday night ♪
♪ I'm nine hundred miles from my home ♪♪
Living below the poverty line,
had no money, no clothes.
It was awful. I just felt so inferior to everyone.
I wanted to quit school. I hated school.
I didn't feel like I belonged there.
I was socially inept.
I grew up in a household of three boys and three girls.
I was fifth in line.
My father was difficult.
You know, he would raise his voice a lot.
My sister said this was the ice house we were living in.
[somber music playing]
But one of my brothers, David, I was very close to him.
He was really respectful. Everyone loved him.
Never saw him be anything but a great person.
Someone that I felt truly cared about me.
So, he was the one who played basketball in the family,
and he was soon called
to represent our country as a serviceman.
I was excited that he was, you know, in the service.
He'd grown up, and what was he gonna be?
What, you know, what the heck was gonna happen?
So, he goes away to training,
and he was immediately shipped to Korea.
-[guns firing] -[shells explode]
[gunfire]
I remember the day my mother asked me to go and get the mail.
And a lady said to me,
"I heard your brother got killed in Korea."
And I was like, "What?"
I immediately took off running,
and it was probably at least a half a mile.
[somber music continues]
And when I got to where we were living that time,
uh, I could hear my mother...
-[panting] -[mother screams]
[Jerry] ...like, screaming.
[somber music continues]
[David West] It was hope. I think he represented hope
about getting out of a difficult position around poverty.
And Dad idolized his brother, and when he passed,
that was brutal for him.
[Ryan] And he said to me,
"Why would God take away
such a perfect person from this world?"
[Jerry] You think the shock of him being killed was horrible.
Well, you can't imagine
when they brought the casket to our house.
[soft music playing]
[Kenya] That was by request of your father?
-Yes. -[Kenya] To have the casket brought
and set next to the Christmas tree.
[Jerry] Well, that was even more bizarre.
I do remember one thing. I-- I placed my hand on it, okay. I do.
And at night trying to sleep,
knowing my brother, who was my buddy, was invincible,
who was laying in a metal box next to the Christmas tree...
and to know-- and to know that...
we're gonna put him...
in the ground...
it was...
[soft music continues]
...almost...
[sighs]
...indescribable...
um...
to even walk by this casket.
And there's something about that day
that made our house worse than it was before.
My dad was very abusive toward me.
For some reason, I guess the way I was
when things weren't very good at the house...
um... I was the one who was...
He wanted to make an example of me. I couldn't defend myself.
[Karen West] There's no doubt in my mind
that his mother was in a deep depression.
His father became angry.
I think they-- you know,
his father took it out on the younger kids.
You became the protector of your little sister.
-Yes. -[Kenya] Right.
That was something that you felt like you needed to do.
-That was gonna be your job. -Yeah.
My dad hit her with the handle of a hammer,
and this really set me off.
I witnessed it, and it was awful.
"You son of a bitch, you," I said to him,
"You leave her alone."
He was a vicious man.
I don't even remember what it was about.
He had a violent temper
and it was an ugly way to live a life.
You don't ever touch a woman.
You don't.
And when I see men today,
we see a lot of it because there's so much more publicity.
It just bothers me, and I-- I don't get it.
You know, women are sacred.
That's an absolute no-no.
That started this change in me where, you know, I didn't care.
I did not care.
I told him, I threatened him.
I said, "You ever do that again," I said, "It's not gonna be fun."
As I say, I didn't care, you know.
Whatever happened, I had a shotgun.
I felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean.
But right beside my bed,
I had these little short letters from David,
and he said, "Keep working hard on whatever you're doing."
And he knew I liked basketball and mentioned,
"I hope your basketball is going well."
That's when I really started to practice out there.
And I used to go out by myself
because no one liked to play basketball.
And I think it was so simple, you had a ball and a hoop.
You didn't need people,
but you did need an imagination, okay?
And so, I was the player, I was the coach,
-I was a referee. -[whistle blows]
I was the best player in the world.
I was gonna make a last-second shot.
When I picked this basketball up...
it was almost like picking up a good luck charm.
Well, I started to grow, and I started to get a little bit better
and finally got to play on my ninth grade team.
[Jonnie West] The two major instances in his childhood
were his relationship with his father
and his brother being killed in the Korean War.
Those two things drove him to search for an outlet,
and basketball became that outlet.
[Jerry] My life changed.
All of a sudden, I wasn't this little kid anymore.
Having said that, I would not let my mother
let my father go to games.
I didn't want him to watch me play.
The thing that I got the most joy out of
was playing and competing.
And to think that I wanted to share that with my father?
No. I could not erase what had happened in the past.
-[bright music playing] -[people cheering]
My senior year, we won the state championship.
I have no idea how. We weren't the best team.
But I was scoring a lot of points every night,
-and our team-- -[Kenya] What's a lot?
Do you remember how many points?
[Jerry] [chuckling] Minimum 35.
-[Kenya] What? -[Jerry] Minimum 35.
-[Kenya laughs] -[Jerry] Yeah.
I don't think anyone's ever broken those records,
rebounding and scoring.
I went to East Bank High School,
and one day and one year after that,
they changed the name to West Bank.
It was such a important feeling...
and to even think that it was possible
that I could go to college?
[triumphant music playing]
I was a sophomore playing on the number one team in the country,
which is difficult to do.
You know, I would always be nervous,
water dripping off my hands.
♪ I put that work in, I'm serving my service ♪
♪ I go get it done...
[Jerry] But I said, "Oh, my gosh, maybe I am pretty good
and not just a common player."
[commentator] Jerry West, sensational sophomore, scored 28 points.
Growing up in West Virginia,
from the time I was a freshman in high school,
I became aware of Jerry.
And then at West Virginia University,
I was matched up with him, and that was an experience.
You know, I was supposed to be the next Jerry West,
and quickly found out that might not happen.
[commentator] Here's West with two from close in for West Virginia.
♪ I show up and show out, they say I'm the leader...
[commentator] ...pass to Jerry West, and West scores.
♪ Like it's on back of jerseys I'm worthy to some...
[Jerry] I became very confident.
Leading the team in scoring.
My game just escalated real quickly.
[commentator] And a pass to West. He breaks into the circle,
puts up the winning bucket with only three seconds remaining.
Jerry West, the 6'3" Cabin Creek sophomore
has 8,000 fans looking on in disbelief.
Keep your eye on number 44.
♪ I show up and show out, they say I'm the leader ♪
♪ I know I'm the one ♪♪
[Jerry] To go from this extreme,
when you didn't believe anything about yourself,
to being selected for the Olympic team,
first of all, I thought was a huge honor.
[triumphant music playing]
I can't tell you how beautiful it was.
You know, being from West Virginia, except for Mary Lou Retton...
-[Kenya laughs] -[Jerry] ...there hasn't...
there haven't been very many people
that got to represent the state.
It was even more eye-opening
because my brother had been killed in Korea.
[Ryan] For my father, it wasn't just about representing the country,
but also representing his brother.
As somebody that fought for this country,
it really meant a lot to him in multiple ways.
That Olympics in general,
is a pretty significant Olympics.
There was a lot of historical figures that were involved.
[Ryan] Some of the biggest names in the history of sports,
Wilma Rudolph, Oscar Robertson, Rafer Johnson.
I remember my dad telling me he'd be in his room
and he'd hear this guy just yelling and screaming
and running his mouth.
He'd look out the window, it was Cassius Clay.
It was Muhammad Ali.
[commentator] And Jerry West of West Virginia,
the United States Olympic team.
The first night we played against the Italian team.
[commentator speaking Italian]
[Jerry] They scored the first two baskets of the game.
This place was going crazy.
[chanting in Italian]
At that point in time, there was a lot going on in the war.
[John F. Kennedy] Ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country.
[Jerry] You had all the racists in the South,
you had the threat of nuclear war.
You had the Cold War.
And so, you almost felt like you were, uh, participating
in a mini war yourself.
[crowd cheering]
All of a sudden, it got pretty quiet.
I think the next time I looked at the scoreboard,
it was like 26 to 4.
[commentator] West. Rebound by Big Jerry Lucas.
[Jerry] After that, regardless of who we were playing,
oh, my gosh, the score was horrendous in our favor.
[commentator] Jerry West has really been hot.
He averaged about 28 a game as collegiate... [indistinct].
[commentator 2] Oscar Robertson, he fakes the dot drive,
jumps and hits.
-[Jerry] Above all... -[commentator 3] Oscar Robertson...
[Jerry] ...it was really exciting just having a chance to play
with Oscar Robertson, the Big O.
[commentator] West to Robertson.
He just dominated games.
It was hard to measure yourself against someone like him.
-[upbeat music playing] -[commentator] USA ball
with seven and a half minutes remaining here.
USA on top.
And won a gold medal, which frankly,
was the greatest sports shield I've ever had.
[orchestral "The Star-Spangled Banner" playing]
[George Raveling] To go to Rome and to win the gold medal,
inside yourself, there's like a little invisible t-shirt
saying, "Mission accomplished."
Dad's never been much for trophies...
but that one for sure is super important to him.
["The Star-Spangled Banner" continues]
[Jerry] And then, you know, all of a sudden,
a big change in my life to go from... [chuckles softly]
a town of about 500 people to Los Angeles, California...
♪ Are you ready? ♪
[Jerry] ...where I started my basketball career with the Lakers.
♪ Are you ready now ♪♪
[Jerry] The NBA was in its infancy.
It was just so different from the game today.
You know, there was no publicity when we played. None.
Games were rarely on television.
Most of the people followed games by radio, by newspaper.
[Jerry] Teams had to move because no one would come watch 'em play.
There was no exposure, no social media.
There was not a lot of interest.
[Raveling] Teams didn't have large coaching staffs.
The coaching staffs were one head coach and an assistant.
We had nothing when it came to a strength coach,
an agility coach, a dietitian.
It was a totally different world.
[Jerry] Our mode of transportation were cars,
which the players were driving, the coach were driving,
and we'd go stay in these little motels
out in the middle of nowhere.
I said to myself, "My gosh, this is the NBA?"
[David] I remember the Lakers would play on Friday and Sundays
and on Saturday, he worked.
He was at Sears in the parking lot somewhere
promoting basketball, which had just come to the West Coast.
[Jerry] So, here I am in Los Angeles.
All of a sudden, instead of being important
in your own state, it was different.
Our first two games were against the New York Knicks.
Like, 4,820 people in the audience.
Every one of 'em were Knicks fans.
We weren't the attraction, we were kind of a second-class act.
We almost felt like,
what's the purpose of moving to Los Angeles
to draw more people?
But now, started to build a life away from West Virginia.
And it was an eye-opener.
-[upbeat music playing] -[car horn blasts]
It was really weird.
[upbeat music continues]
I'm saying to myself, "My gosh, I don't even know where I was."
I had a wife and three young boys with me.
They put me in a little motel.
I'm not sure it's still there,
but you would not have wanted to be...
-[Kenya laughs] -...even then.
I mean, I'm having a hard time breathing. It, like, hurt.
And somebody said it's smog.
Well, I was so bad in our practice.
"Oh, my gosh," I says, "I'm lost."
I didn't feel like I belonged, I mean, I was trembling. It was awful.
And I said to myself, "My God, am I gonna be good enough
to do something that I love to do?"
[upbeat music continues]
About midway in the season, we weren't very good,
struggling like crazy,
playing 82 games and winning 20.
But then, Coach changed our back work.
[Kenya] What'd he change it to?
Frank Selvy, he was leading scorer in the country...
and, uh, myself.
[commentator] Jerry West of West Virginia
taking the jumper and hitting.
Sand has switched over, this time to West,
and West goes in and makes it.
Lakers maintain possession as West goes...
[Jerry] I started to get to play a little bit more,
and all of a sudden, I said, "You know, I'm gonna be okay."
If you look at how he was as a pro,
he got better and better, you know, as he went along.
And it was because of being very bright,
understanding what he needed to do to make the team better.
[Jerry] We started winning games, and we became a formidable team.
[Kenya] How long did that take?
Just a year.
-[Kenya] One year? -One year.
[commentator] Listen to 'em count it off.
The Lakers have done it!
The crowd is standing at their feet.
They are not fighting to get out as usual.
[Jerry] It was fun to see the change, but particularly the fans.
[Bob] Game night.
The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
[Jerry] But the place was rockin', completely sold out.
The press started to pay attention to us.
This is the Mar Vista Playground in West Los Angeles, California.
Working out with the youngsters is Jerry West,
Los Angeles Lakers' red-hot sharpshooter from West Virginia.
-Hi, Jerry, how are you? -Hello, Bob. How are you today?
[Bob] NBA stars like West receive hundreds and hundreds
of letters from fans every week, and often...
[Jerry] It was like, oh, my gosh, you know,
you're something special now.
-It felt good. -[people applauding]
[Richard Pryor] You know, niggas and white people fight,
I'll always be rooting for the nigga, even if he bad.
Please whoop the white folks.
I don't want white folks to win nothing. Even Jerry West.
I wish that motherfucker couldn't play basketball.
[audience laughing]
[Pryor] That's it. But that motherfucker can play some basketball.
-[laughs] -[audience laughing]
I mean, niggas be out here, and Jerry would make 22 points.
-It's embarrassing, really. -[audience laughing]
When I first heard it, I've said to myself,
"Oh, my God, I think I've arrived in the Black community." [laughing]
Mr. West was, excuse my French, a cold-ass white boy.
What they say? You know, Jerry was giving it to all races back then.
-[laughs] -No matter what you was,
Jerry was scoring on everybody.
Jerry came from West Virginia
at a time when, you know,
it was Black Panthers, it was Black Power,
it was "I'm Black and I'm proud."
It was civil rights.
For him to be as good as he was during an era
where Black players was becoming more dominant athletically
and getting their own identity.
-♪ Say it loud ♪ -♪ I'm Black and I'm proud...
And yet, this dude went toe to toe with them
and they had to respect him based on his talent,
not his color, his talent.
This dude, he was good.
In my neighborhood, you say
Jerry was a bad motherfucker, man. You know what I mean?
♪ Alright now ♪♪
[Kenya] So, what am I looking at here? What is this place?
This was a, uh, Black school.
The schools were segregated here, which is so stupid.
West Virginia was very segregated when I was a kid.
Didn't go to school with anyone Black.
You know, I have seen on one occasion,
uh, sitting outside at night looking over,
there was a cross burning over on the hillside.
-[Kenya] Oh, shit. -[Jerry] And it actually scared me.
I didn't play with any Black athlete when I was in West Virginia.
-[Kenya] Right. -I played against Black athletes.
[Kenya] Mm-hmm.
The first time I ever heard the name Jerry West,
is we're preparing to go down to play West Virginia,
and our coach is telling us they're gonna have
probably the best player we're gonna play against
all season long, named Jerry West.
I mean, it made Jerry sound like he was God.
So, I walked up to-- to my coach and I said,
"Coach, is Jerry West white or Black?"
-And he says, "He's white." -[gentle music playing]
So I said, "Coach, let me guard Jerry West."
And as the record will show,
it was a bad request, 'cause he lit me up.
-[crowd cheers] -[Raveling] We arrived at Morgantown,
and now the first big revelation takes place.
No one on the West Virginia team
knew that Villanova had two Black players.
Of course, that caused a little stir.
[crowd cheering]
[Raveling] And then they did the introductions,
and number 44, Jerry West.
And you might as well just said,
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Lord is playing tonight."
I had never played in a game where an opposing player
got the adoration that Jerry did.
[commentator] Riding the crest of 11 straight wins,
West Virginia, ranked number one, moves in against Villanova.
-The underdog... -So, the game is progressing.
I'm running it behind him,
and I'm coming so fast, and I hit him.
And I knocked him into the first row of seats.
[gasps]
The place was utter silent.
It seemed like Jerry was down there forever.
And I'm thinking to myself,
"Dear God, please let this boy get up."
He looks up at me...
and he puts his hand out...
[gentle music playing]
...and I help him up.
I always say he probably saved my life. [chuckles]
[commentator] In professional basketball, there are certain players
who are especially admired by their teammates.
Jerry West is one.
Another is Lakers captain Elgin Baylor.
[Jerry] I had two great mentors
in Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain,
and particularly nights after games, we would play cards,
and there was always four or five Black guys
and one white guy, and that was me.
And I've said it's the greatest learning experience of my life.
My first roommate was Ray Felix.
So, you're rooming with this Black guy, it's 1960.
That wasn't a thing?
No.
And he was constantly, Ray, encouraging me
and he was telling me all the time,
"You gonna be one of the greatest players of all time."
That was so uplifting to me.
I never had anyone say anything like that to me.
I learned more in those conversations
than I've ever known to exist about their feelings,
about things they were exposed to.
I learned it was okay to laugh.
It was okay to make fun of yourself.
It drew me out of a shell.
All of a sudden, I felt confidence in myself
where I-- honestly, I couldn't believe it.
[birds chirping]
Oh, yeah, I see her.
Hey, Makenna.
What are you doing?
-[Makenna] I'm blowing bubbles. -[chuckles]
Oh, boy, big bubbles. [laughs]
The game of basketball brought me so much,
but the good times were far overshadowed by the bad times.
I just hated losing.
But I always felt you have to learn how to lose
and you have to learn how to win.
Um...
I darn sure learn-- learned how to lose.
[fanfare music playing]
[commentator] This is it. The Los Angeles Lakers
and the white-shirted Boston Celtics.
Both teams alert for the breaks.
[Jerry] Lakers versus the World Champion Boston Celtics.
They have all these very famous names.
Bill Russell and Bob Cousy.
[crowd cheering]
The '60s was truly like the Boston Celtic era,
just winning year after year after year.
[Riley] In competition, sometimes you carry these rivalries,
but the Celtics and the Lakers
were not just a heated rivalry, it was a hated rivalry.
-[whistle blows] -[commentator] A pushing foul,
and, boy, the whistle screams again.
And it still is to this day.
[commentator] To Worthy. Rambis.
And now, let's watch it.
Cooper and the Celtics, and now the bench is empty.
[commentator speaks indistinctly]
Pierce and Artest already grappling.
It took 27 seconds for these two to go at it a bit.
[Jerry] You sort of inherit that when you become part of the Lakers,
that you become anti-Celtics.
And Jerry being the perfectionist that he always has been,
it was like a personal thing to beat Boston.
The scenes we are about to see were videotaped
during the playing of the seventh and final game
of the world championship series
between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
[commentator] Six-point lead for the Celtics.
This is the final half.
[Jerry] The first year we played in the finals
was really kind of an epic battle.
[commentator] 58-53.
Baylor with a rebound. The eighth.
Stolen by Ramsey.
Cousy with daylight.
[crowd cheers]
60 to 54.
[Jerry] But our ultimate goal,
something that was part of your mental process
since the time you started playing professional basketball,
you know, how can we win this first championship?
[commentator] West shooting over Loscutoff and hitting.
This is Huntley. Stolen by Ramsey, to Jones.
And the Garden is going crazy.
[Jerry] We had a shot to win the game in regulation,
and it didn't go in...
[commentator] And time runs out.
[Jerry] And so, we went into overtime.
[commentator] Bob Cousy to Russell.
[dramatic musical thud]
The Celtics have it wrapped up, 110 to 107.
[Jerry] It hurt.
Little did I know, that was gonna be the start
of a very painful period involving the Celtics and the Lakers.
[commentator] Boston Celtics gunning for an unprecedented
fifth world championship in a row.
Taken by West of the Lakers.
[Jerry] It just seemed like no matter how we played,
usually when I was at my best...
[commentator] West again.
[Jerry] And Elgin was at his best.
[commentator] He and Baylor, of course,
are the two big men for the Lakers.
[Jerry] But we just could not get a bounce.
-[commentator] With a second to go... -[horn blows]
Cousy throws it high in the air,
and the Boston Celtics are the world champions.
[commentator 2] Boston Celtics get off to a bouncy start.
The Lakers managed to stay within striking distance
for the first quarter.
[Jerry] And there was a game that seemed like
everything that you'd worked so hard for, everything...
-[whistle blows] -...it didn't work.
[commentator 2] With the final whistle, Celtics make record book history tonight.
[commentator 3] Fourteen thousand fans jam Boston Garden
for the final Celtics-Lakers NBA playoff game.
[Jerry] I was questioning everything.
[commentator 3] But it's all in vain.
The Celtics win it 95 to 93 for their eighth straight title
and their ninth in 10 years.
[Jerry] Myself, our players, were we good enough?
[commentator 4] This is the fifth time in seven years
that these two have faced in the NBA final.
Jerry West. He drives around and lays it in.
Man, is he great?
[Kupchak] You're kinda like,
"I'm supposed to be one of the greatest players ever.
I'm averaging 28 points a game, and I can't win."
What do you think that does to a person?
[commentator 4] And the never-say-die Boston team
wins the world's professional basketball crown.
[Kupchak] He was tortured when it came to those games.
I was angry.
I mean, you want to just... scream,
"Why, why, why, why?"
[commentator 5] Boston, trying for its 11th championship
in 13 years
and the Lakers trying to end it.
Game seven of the '69 finals.
I mean, it was one of the great performances of his career.
[Punter] You gotta get that ball down and get a quick move.
[commentator 5] A beautiful move by Jerry West.
Jerry West. Another one.
Powell switches off on West.
[Jerry] That was the one I think our whole team
was confident we were gonna win.
[commentator] This superstar.
[Punter] Superstar he is,
and the Celtics are doing everything they can.
[commentator 5] George. Rebound.
And Jerry West.
-[crowd cheers] -And the Lakers come back.
Forty points for Jerry West.
[Punter] The Celtics double-teaming. They would have-- rather have
-Egan or Erickson take the shot than West. -[whistle blows]
[commentator 5] 108 to 104, seven seconds.
Four, three...
And time has run out, and the Boston Celtics have done it again.
[Jerry sighs]
[commentator 5] Another jewel in that crown.
The 1969 loss was brutal.
[commentator 5] A two-point victory by Boston.
That was probably the-- the worst day of his life.
I felt so horrible...
that we had let our fans down.
It was just...
um... [clears throat]
devastating.
[commentator] Rivalry renewed as Los Angeles and Boston
have been in the finals six of the last eight years
and now the Lakers have lost all six.
I'm on here to hit the floor with Red Auerbach...
-Who else? -And Sam Jones.
Just seeing that clip with Red Auerbach...
I want to say that Jerry West was absolutely fantastic.
That was one of the greatest exhibitions I ever saw in my life.
[Jonnie] Like, they had just won a championship,
and that was one of the first things out of his mouth.
Jerry's not...
he doesn't care if you think he's the greatest.
He doesn't care if you think if he did this or did that.
All Jerry wanted to do was win.
And that's all great players want to do, is win.
Like me, I'm the Shaq.
You think I care about being the Shaq
if I don't got those three rings in LA?
No.
[commentator] And tonight, a Most Valuable Player award
will be given for the man most valuable
during the entire seven games.
And Jerry West has won it.
[Vitti] The other thing that haunted him
was being the MVP on a losing team,
the only one in the history of the NBA.
That doesn't bring him any joy at all.
It just poured more salts on the wound.
"Don't insult me," you know,
"and give me this MVP award when the trophy is being soaked
in champagne in the other locker room."
[Kenya] MVP of the finals without winning a final.
Also did it in college.
Well, in college, um,
you know, we lost the NCAA finals by one point,
and I have the ball in my hand at mid-court
and couldn't get a shot.
Uh, I didn't get over that for a long time.
And then, the NBA finals, um...
He and I would've definitely not liked that trophy
on a losing scenario.
You know, I-- I totally understand it.
It's like you're rewarding me for losing.
[David] It didn't matter. He could be the best player on the court,
but it wasn't enough to beat the Celtics
and, uh, it was so bad that even to this day,
nobody in our family ever wears green.
Jerry West, congratulations on being named the Most Valuable Player.
[Ryan] When I went to New York not long after,
to accept my booby prize,
a brand-new souped-up Dodge Charger-- green, no less--
it was probably intended for a Celtic.
I felt like putting a stick of dynamite in it
and blowing it up right there in Manhattan.
When you expect to win something and you don't win something,
then it's even harder to accept.
We felt we were the better team,
but it didn't prove to be that way.
And I know that it's gonna be particularly hard
for me to understand this summer.
[birds chirping]
Losing all those years to the Celtics,
I started thinking to myself...
"I can't deal with this anymore. It's just too hard."
[Riley] When you're the kind of competitor that Jerry was,
losing all those years,
that would do something to you psychologically.
Absolutely. It would do something. And it did.
[Thorn] Jerry took it personally.
It was like, "I am the failure here, not the team."
When the actuality was, it was the team.
[Ryan] I think there are certain holes in his heart
that can never be filled, the loss of David being one,
and I think all the losses to the Celtics, to this day,
it's something that he can't get over.
[Rick Barry] He always tagged himself in a way that was not the truth.
As a loser.
[reporter] Throughout your whole career,
you were almost as famous for the amount of injuries
that you had as almost about your basketball playing ability.
The 1970, '71 season, you had a knee injury, was operated on,
missed the last couple of weeks of the season,
missed the playoffs.
[Jerry] When it happened, the doctor told me
that I had torn this ligament
and that they're gonna have to operate on it.
I basically thought my career was over.
[reporter] Los Angeles fans turned out in your honor
for the Jerry West Nights.
Well, that was one of the things I think
every athlete probably dreams of having.
The night was really a very special night in more ways than one.
The night...
really meant nothing.
To me, it wasn't a night of celebration.
It felt like a farewell night. I didn't want that.
But... it helped for one reason.
I became more defiant.
You're not gonna break me.
There's no way.
And so, through encouragement
and almost a miracle,
started me to realize that maybe I could get back and play.
[commentator] Chamberlain blocks another one.
Wilt stops it. And West.
Frazier with 32, Jerry West 20.
Jerry West now with 22 points.
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator] Lakers trying to pressure the inbound pass,
and it comes in to Walt Frazier
with ten seconds now showing on the clock.
Eight seconds left to go on the clock. Seven, six, five.
The Butcher shoots.
He had epic battles with the Knicks,
and in that particular finals game,
he knew the-- the pressures that were being put upon him.
Probably in his mind, you know, he's thinking, "Oh, here we go again."
[commentator] With three seconds to go.
Two seconds, one second, West throws it up.
-[crowd roars] -He makes it!
West throws it up and makes it.
The half-court shot in the finals against the Knicks.
That's my image that's seared in my brain from my childhood.
[Cooper] I'll never forget the Chicag--
"Jerry West, the kid from Cabin Creek,
throws it up, and it's good, it's good."
And you know, the game goes into overtime.
[commentator] With a minute 27 remaining in the overtime,
Dick Barnett closed out the scoring
to give New York a 111 to 108 victory.
[Cooper] If the three-point line was in play at that time,
that half-court shot he threw in would've beaten the Knicks.
I told him, I said, you know,
"I died a thousand deaths when you hit that shot."
And he looked at me with this really serious face and said,
"I wish I never made that shot,"
and turned around and walked away.
Be-- because they ended up losing anyway.
So, everybody talks about the shot.
All he remembers is-- is the loss.
[Riley] He couldn't deal with it that well,
and it affected him immensely.
But then, in '71, '72, he had such a great year.
It was a storybook year.
[commentator] And the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers,
Bill Sharman.
[Riley] And the irony was that his two greatest nemesis,
Bill Sharman and Casey Jones,
who played for the Celtics, were our head coaches.
So, I'm just tremendously pleased
and looking forward to this opportunity.
Jerry was not happy. He says, "I'm gonna quit. [laughing]
You know, I-- I ain't gonna play for those guys."
Eventually, he was very, very respectful of Bill.
[Tom] Jerry, what's your opinion of your new coach, Bill Sharman?
Well, Tom, he is a stickler for conditioning.
And I say, we have had about four nightly workouts so far,
and I'm kinda sore right now.
[Jerry] At the start of the season, Bill Sharman said,
you know, "I want you to lead the league in assists."
I'd never played that way, and I said, "Well, I'll try."
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator] November 5th, 1971.
The Lakers now have their longest win streak
of the year at five games.
And all of a sudden, we didn't lose a game for two and a half months.
[commentator] Wilt Chamberlain wears number 13,
and he stars in his 13th straight victory.
The Los Angeles Lakers achieving their 15th consecutive victory.
-[upbeat music continues] -[Jerry] It was beautiful to watch.
You're invincible.
[commentator] West with a fast break to Goodrich.
Another assist for Jerry West
who leads the league averaging nine a game.
[Jerry] I led the league in assists.
[commentator] The Lakers win their 18th game in a row.
If the Los Angeles Lakers tonight defeat the Atlanta Hawks,
they will have won 21 consecutive games.
[David] In the early '70s, it was all very surreal
because everyone wanted a piece of his time...
and you see all the attention that he's getting.
After the games, he would sign autographs forever.
I really enjoyed watching him be idolized by so many of the fans.
We had season tickets, and more and more people
kept coming over, introducing themselves, and saying hi.
And then you started seeing more of the movie stars show up.
[Jerry] It just got easier and easier and easier,
and the team just kept getting better and better and better.
We won one, then we won two, and then we won 33 in a row.
[commentator] The Los Angeles Lakers are the greatest winning team
in the history of basketball for consecutive wins.
The team that can play nearly the way that they want to play
is gonna be the winner of this series.
[interviewer] What about your team morale?
Well, I think that if you're in this locker room tonight,
it's pretty good, don't you think?
And I really thought that this would be the chance
for us to win a championship.
[commentator] The Forum in Inglewood, California,
tonight, game number five of the NBA championship playoffs,
with the Los Angeles Lakers leading in the series three games to one.
Can the Lakers handle the Knicks?
Yes, they can, but will they is the question.
Will the Lakers work so hard that they can overcome
the injuries to the key guys?
[announcer] Jerry West.
[Ryan] I think '72 was the ultimate paradox for him.
At 33, he knew he wasn't the same as a player anymore.
[announcer] And at guard, Walt Frazier.
[Ryan] Playing against Walt Frazier, who's seven years younger than him,
somebody that was becoming one of the best guards in the league.
[commentator] The tip is controlled by Gail Goodrich,
deep in the corner.
-Jerry West. -[crowd cheers]
This is a man who is one of the superstars of the NBA.
He's never enjoyed the taste of a championship.
Frazier. Good.
The New York Knicks have the lead for the first time.
Walt Frazier gets the basket.
The Knicks go back on top by two.
Here's Frazier. Walter hits a beauty.
Jerry West loses, it's picked up by Frazier.
So, the score at halftime, 53 apiece.
Ball game that is just as rugged and tough as we thought it would be.
[commentator] Chamberlain tips, Hairston has it slapped away from him,
and the New York Knicks get the ball.
And Walt Frazier now with 16 points.
We're tied at 57.
West.
After three, Los Angeles 83, New York 78.
[commentator 2] The crowd is going berserk
in anticipation of what they hope will be the final game.
I've never heard anything like this in Los Angeles.
[commentator] Five, four...
-[crowd cheers] -...three, two...
[indistinct]
And they run it out.
And the Los Angeles Lakers have won their first NBA title ever.
[Ryan] After all my dad had been through,
all the defeats, all the losses, all the disappointments,
finally they win.
They won.
[commentator 2] And the Los Angeles Lakers
are the world champions of basketball.
[David] Winning matters and rings matter. And he was able to overcome.
I was more happy for Jerry than I was for myself,
that he could finally get his world championship.
[Kupchak] It would've been just horrible
for one of the all-time greats to go through a career
and not have won a championship.
[Thorn] To go to the finals nine times, ten times.
I mean, LeBron's been there a lot.
You know, other than Russell and maybe some of those guys
who've played with the Celtics, I mean,
nobody's been to the finals that many times.
[commentator] And the Lakers conclude their basketball season
with a record of 81 victories and only 16 defeats.
If you would have asked me before the season started,
"Could that ever be done by any team?"
I would have thought that you were crazy.
All the times that we let them down here in Los Angeles,
we lost in the finals,
what, eight times or nine times.
-But you got there. -One time.
[Ryan] I don't even know how excited he is
that he won one championship.
It's something that doesn't make sense in his mind.
When you lost in the finals, you know,
seven or eight times in a row before you won it,
winning the championship in '71, '72 was like a Band-Aid.
-It was a Band-Aid. -[soft music playing]
[Jerry] We have beaten everyone they asked us to beat.
But I get in the locker room
and I said, "Oh, my God, is that all there is?"
He was used to losing, and he hated it,
but when he won,
it was difficult to enjoy because he didn't grow up winning
and he didn't know how to handle it.
In the newspaper, there was an unbelievable derogatory column
written about me,
talking about it looked like I was done as a player.
Basketball was my life, my love, what I cared about deeply.
But after I read that article...
that was like a real wake-up call to me.
[soft music continues]
It brought me back to growing up.
-[soft music continues] -[insects chirping]
You know, am I gonna be discarded?
I think that, uh...
that when you set standards for yourself...
and when you are willing to...
sacrifice some of those standards,
then you're not being very honest with yourself.
And, uh, I know myself that, uh,
I didn't want to sacrifice those standards.
[Rosen] Jerry certainly could have continued to play
at a really high level, and I'm sorry he retired,
but, you know, when he decides on something, he does it.
[soft music playing]
[pen scratching]
I have thought long and hard
that if I would've left the game and said, "Hell with this..."
w-where would my life have been? I have no clue.
[commentator] Jerry West has stayed close to the game
and the team that he loves since retiring in 1974 at the age of 36.
[Jerry] Now, all of a sudden, I was responsible for 11 players
and I thought we had a great chance to win.
[upbeat music playing]
Even though we had a winning record...
and we're in the playoffs, injuries,
everything you think could happen, down we go.
♪ Living hell ♪♪
[Jerry] That was extremely difficult.
[Cooper] There's an old saying in the NBA,
"Great players don't make great coaches,"
and that's very true. Jerry West was not a good coach.
He couldn't handle the players making mediocre mistakes.
[Abdul-Jabbar] Jerry felt everybody could improve.
If he had something to tell you about how you could improve,
he'd let you know.
[Jerry] When I got to the third year,
my inability to not only communicate with these players
but to be kind of friendly with 'em, that was gone.
One night in the locker room, I said,
"I know you don't want me to be your coach.
I wouldn't want to play for myself either."
Do you have fun as a coach?
Uh, Scott, it's probably the most unenjoyable three years
-I've ever had in my life. -[Scott laughing]
I-- I simply emotionally was not cut out to be a coach.
I-I just did not like it at all.
I couldn't do it anymore. I-I just... I was done.
[newscaster] Now, in related news tonight,
Jerry West has resigned as coach of the Lakers...
[Jerry] Thinking back about that, it served me well.
I couldn't be the solver of every problem
because I couldn't even solve my own problem.
[Kenya] Mm-hmm.
One of the things that I'm drawn to
is the idea of family.
You know what I'm saying? And, like, marriage,
being a father, going through a divorce.
How was that time in your life?
That's... [sighs]
I guess probably the...
thing that I beat myself up more than anything about.
[interviewer] Did you say you haven't seen Jerry
for... for a while?
[Martha] For weeks.
[interviewer] What time do they practice when--
For instance, today did they practice?
[Martha] Practiced at 11 o'clock to about quarter of one.
Then he had a pre-game meal out,
and then he came home and took a nap,
and then he left for the game.
[interviewer] When does he think the season's gonna be over?
[Martha] [laughs] I don't know anything.
[interviewer] What does he really think about Chicago, for instance?
-Does he... -[Jerry] Because you're giving your life
and your heart and soul to this,
there's things that you have to neglect,
and it wasn't because...
I didn't enjoy being a father.
It was because my calling in life kept me away...
and my crazy desire to win
kept me concentrating on that
instead of concentrating on my older children.
[David] What I remember most about the '60s and growing up
was going to the airport and wishing Dad
good luck on the trip.
He wasn't around a lot.
[interviewer] If you're gonna pick the great moments in your life,
would they be out on the court?
[Jerry] Oh, I don't think there's any question that--
maybe unfortunately so,
that most of the high and low moments in my life
have really involved basketball.
[Barry] You have to go to practice all the time.
Then you're off on the road.
You spend more time during the course of an NBA season
with your teammates than you do with your family
if you have a family.
[David] My earliest reflection was really more about
did they win or lose the night before
and what his mood was gonna be like.
If they lost on a Friday night,
Saturday morning was not gonna be too much fun.
He could be really tough at times
and get very quiet and grouchy.
[Jerry] It was all consuming for me. That's all I cared about.
The day of the game, no noise in my house.
I don't want to hear any noise, none.
Quiet. Basically, don't talk to me.
[David] He could be unfairly tough at times,
and he expected a lot out of us.
He ran a tight ship and, you know, he, um...
uh...
it wa-- it was a little tough.
[kids shouting indistinctly]
[Jerry] Three young boys,
very awkward period of life to grow up,
and today when I'm around,
I just see damage that the father wasn't around.
After we've separated,
I couldn't sleep at night wondering how my kids were doing.
I would drive by my former house.
I drove by every night.
Everything I was doing, I was blaming myself,
and that was probably the most depressed period
I've ever had in my life...
where I just loathed anything about me.
[Kenya] I think that's really understandable.
I felt that way myself. My biggest regret, you know.
My-- it's like a death in the family
going through a divorce,
and I'm asking this personally, like,
what then gave you the courage to do it again?
-[gentle music playing] -[Karen] When I first met Jerry
in the hour and a half that I spent with him,
he, you know, basically told me his whole life story.
[laughs]
[Jerry] I remember how happy,
how cheerful, how spirited she was,
something that I was missing.
She was willing to listen to some of the things
that I would never have been able to express to anyone else.
[Karen] I did live in Los Angeles, I knew him as that superstar.
But he was intelligent, intense, emotional.
He was very serious, but he had a funny side to him.
Three years later, we got married.
He said he would not ever wear a tuxedo.
But he did.
-[soft music playing] -[reporter] After years of ups and downs,
Jerry West appears to have it all.
Happiness as a father and as a husband.
[giggling]
Two years ago, Jerry West became a new father.
Meet future slam dunker Jonathan West
and his older brother Ryan.
[Jerry] I don't think you ever dream you're gonna be a father when you're 50.
We have a-- a little boy who's a lot of fun.
It's fun to watch him grow up, but I'm home more now.
[Kenya] So, how would you describe him?
I'd-- I'd describe my father as a...
probably very misunderstood person.
You know, when we first met,
I felt like he was a very sad man.
I sort of felt sorry for him.
-[David] Hi. -[Karen] Hi.
-Perfect timing. -[Jerry] Oh, yeah.
-Surprise, surprise. -Just got back from Sacramento.
[Karen] When I first met Jerry's older sons...
it was so awkward to me
that as they entered the room, they shook hands.
Jerry shook their hand, and I thought, "Gosh, my dad would never do that."
You said, you never heard your father say, "I love you."
Right.
-Did you ever-- -I don't use, "I love you."
I don't know if it's in-- inside of me. I really don't.
We were with a friend one time,
and they had him look it up in the dictionary
and, you know, Jerry was still...
-It-it's like... -...he can't put his finger around that.
...three words... I'm afraid of.
"I love you." I'm afraid of those three words.
[Karen] I think Jerry deals with inner demons.
He'll go to his own quiet place, and you sorta just let him.
[Jerry] Used to love to fish, and I just fished off the shore
and I could stay out here forever.
I just-- I love the serenity of it,
and I've always been attracted to the outdoors,
and this is the thing that probably I've carried most with me
as I've gotten older, but I love fishing.
It's, uh, solitary, and I'm a very solitary person.
[David] When he's going through things, he has a tendency
to withdraw and really keep to himself.
As a young wife, it felt very, um, uncomfortable.
He took his work home.
There were times when he just would go into a shell
and not speak for days.
I didn't know how to act.
I-I'd go in my closet and cry because I thought it was me.
I thought I did something wrong.
[birds chirping]
There is a real affable, genuine, humorous side to Jerry,
and then there is the other side,
a very dark, depressive side.
[Kupchak] The title of his book is perfect,
My Charmed and Tormented Life.
That tells you a lot of what you need to know.
I think he deals with it as best he could.
He's-- he's not a simple person.
[Arn Tellem] Battling depression,
battling all the ups and downs of his career,
even his personal life,
these are hard issues to navigate.
[exhales sharply] Some days I don't function very well.
You know, if I happen to get in a mood like that...
um...
[soft music continues]
What would turn this switch, you know,
where I felt fantastic about things and then the next,
I feel the bottom of the ocean?
All the books I've read, self-help books,
I have never come to grips with that.
You know, it's really an honor to meet you. [laughing]
[Ryan] Some days, you'll call him,
and he'll be in a very talkative mood
and you can't get him off the phone.
Other days, he'll say,
"I'm so depressed, I don't want to live."
And you don't know what triggers it.
It's painful.
[Karen] I know deep in his heart who he loves.
I just, you know, I just support him when I can.
Reports persist that Jack Kent Cooke has sold the Lakers,
the Kings, and his Fabulous Forum
to ex-world team tennis mogul Jerry Buss.
The price being bandied about is $67 million.
That would make it by far
the biggest deal in the history of sports.
[Jerry] Jerry Buss wanted me to coach the team
when he bought it from Jack Cooke.
I told him I'm not doing it.
There was no way.
So, he hired me as a consultant,
and from there things changed.
All of a sudden, I'm the general manager.
Going from a player to an executive,
it was really the start of a whole new life,
and I guess, career.
I didn't look at it like that.
To me, it was an extension of what I loved.
I loved basketball.
[upbeat music continues]
[Jonnie] To be a great general manager,
like, you obviously have to have this ability
to lead great athletes.
That's the number one thing.
This ability to identify talent,
whether that's young players...
new players you're adding to your team, coaches,
like, there's so much that goes into it.
He sees, like, the puzzle piece of team building
better than anybody ever has.
[Kenya] As an executive, what do you think that part for you is
that has made you sort of be able to be
as successful as you've been?
Very much like a player.
I'm not afraid to make a mistake.
I trust my instincts.
Jerry West is synonymous with several organizations now.
They've all trended upwards due to his tutelage,
due to his tenacity, due to his presence.
And there's not many people that can say that in the NBA.
There's not many people that can say that in the world.
I almost call it the Midas Touch.
It's not luck. That's-- that's Jerry West.
Jerry could have went anywhere, but he's gonna always make those moves.
I always compare him to a professional chess player.
You know how Magic has the magic?
Well, Jerry has that same magic from the front office side.
[Riley] Jerry was an ex-player,
and so he had a tremendous knowledge of talent.
He could see talent.
[whistle blows]
He was constantly on the road
going to every 500 population town in this country
to find players, high school players, college players.
[Jordan] He would go to every gym that you can think of to find talent.
But at some point in time, you gotta make a decision on that talent.
That's what Jerry really, really was good at.
What, to me, separated Jerry...
was his willingness to speak truth.
If he thought a player was not playing at a certain level,
he said it.
What made him such a credible GM
was his ability to look into people
and have a sense of what was really making them tick.
He's the best executive in the history of the NBA.
To accomplish what he accomplished
as an executive at the Lakers...
can't be matched.
As long as there's an organization,
Jerry West will be with it. When he's no longer here,
we'll probably throw away the organization.
[Jerry] Now all of a sudden, I had a chance
to run the Lakers through my eyes.
We had Abdul-Jabbar back there who was anchoring our defense,
and certainly adding Earvin Johnson
to that group was special.
Yeah, the first time I met him,
was actually when I flew to Los Angeles
to really talk about the possibility of me
coming out of school and the Lakers drafting me,
and I was in awe to be able to shake his hand, to meet him.
I was calling everybody.
I said, "Man, I just had lunch with Jerry West.
-I met with him," You know? -[Kenya laughs]
Okay, so there's a question I've been dying to ask you.
Something I heard throughout the years, you know,
about you and Magic.
You-- they were like, you didn't know if you wanted Magic.
Is that true?
[Jerry] Oh, gosh, no.
A writer started this, okay?
A writer started it.
And he said he knew for a fact.
It wasn't true.
-[laughs] -It wasn't true.
The Los Angeles Lakers select Earvin Magic Johnson.
[Johnson] It just means so much to me.
It's undescribable how much the billing means to me.
And, um, I would just like to have it, and I'm-- I'm gonna go get it.
[upbeat music playing]
[Jerry] Now, we needed someone to play a high-risk offense.
[Johnson] The biggest decision he made-- this is really something,
I don't know how he did this.
When you got Terry Cummings, Dominique Wilkins,
and James Worthy, and you got to pick one of 'em.
[all laughing]
All three of those guys were first-rate.
[announcer] For the first pick...
[Abdul-Jabbar] Jerry had it figured out
as to who was gonna be a winner and who was not.
James Worthy.
[Johnson] So, he brought another champion
into a championship locker room.
The next biggest move was to decide
whether to trade Norm Nixon.
Norm was very popular.
I was like, "Wow, that's-- that's a-- that's a big trade."
Guy's part of the fast break.
He's had a lot of success here in LA.
Dating Debbie Allen. I mean, that's star power.
We all thought he was-- he was wrong.
Norm was our boy.
But Jerry West said, "Mm, I-- I don't care if he popular.
We gotta get better and trade for Byron Scott."
[Byron Scott] When Jerry made the trade for me,
most people said it was the worst trade he ever made.
This man is losing it.
[Jerry] Some people are afraid to be criticized.
I'm not, because when I grew up, I was criticized all the time.
-[Kenya] Right. -For nothing.
And they can think what they-- I don't give a fuck what they think.
I don't. I could care less.
[Johnson] Jerry absolutely was right.
Byron Scott was the guy we needed.
[upbeat music playing]
And boy, we were off and running,
-I tell you. -[laughs]
♪ California, no doubt about it ♪
♪ California...
[Johnson laughing]
[Johnson] And it was full speed every single night.
♪ ...of LA, in the city...
And then, you know, I just started dancing.
You know, I was... [vocalizes] It's on now.
♪ They pop locking, whoo! ♪
[Jerry] The crowds were absolutely electric.
The team was beloved.
[Johnson] We would hit you with it so fast
that the crowd gave us one standing ovation.
By the time we came back,
we hit you with another 18-0 run,
and now they still going goo-goo ga-ga.
Teams would start saying,
"Don't go for the offensive rebound against the Lakers."
And we would still beat 'em down the court.
-[indistinct commentary] -[crowd cheering]
Magic...
And Jerry was the architect of Showtime.
There's no Showtime without Jerry West,
because he's the one who brought us all together.
And making sure that you understood,
if you come to the Lakers,
you gotta be about winning and you gotta be unselfish.
[Jerry] People have to complement each other.
There's nothing that beats chemistry.
Nothing beats chemistry.
You have some guys in a locker room that won't say a word.
All of a sudden, he'll come up with something really funny,
and everyone in the whole room is laughing.
"Where have you been?" You know?
Those are the things that are truly chemistry,
and it brings closeness to players.
But, as I say, I love to laugh
because I never did a lot of it in my life.
[commentator] And the Lakers also know, Tom,
that they-- if they're going to win the title,
they've gotta win it in the lair of the Celtics.
-[crowd cheering] -The Green will be really out in force
at the Boston Garden.
-They got to win two... -[Ryan] As a kid,
I had never been to Boston Garden,
so he arranged for he and I to go.
We walked into the arena and I looked at him,
and he was starting to panic.
[soft music playing]
And I said, you know, "Dad, what's wrong?"
And he said, "Ryan, I can't be in this building.
I have to leave right now."
And even as an 11-year-old,
it's something that always hit me.
And it-- it still resonates with me to this day
just how painful those losses were to him.
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator] And welcome to the Boston Garden,
which through the years, has been the home court advantage.
The fans here don't hope, they believe,
and they're already making plans for a game seven Tuesday night.
But inside, the Los Angeles Lakers are making other plans.
It's game six, and the Lakers are just one victory away
from a world championship and ending
one of the longest jinxes in the history of professional sport.
[Riley] In '85, all of a sudden,
that whole dilemma was foisted on our back,
that we were the team
that had to get rid of this Boston Celtic hex.
[commentator] Nothing could be sweeter for Pat Riley
and the Lakers to win it here.
Can they handle the aggressiveness and intimidation
and confrontation that the Celtics put on them last year?
Especially because we went through two real bad losses in '83 and '84.
[commentator] Fifteenth world championship for the Boston Celtics,
the best record in the league
beating the team with the second best record in the league.
[Riley] In '84, we actually choked away a championship
and further got pounded for it in the media.
Whatever happened to the Los Angeles dynasty?
Here's where it is, right here!
But in '85, I really felt comfortable and confident
that we could finally beat the Celtics.
[Jerry] The playoffs, of course, is a very special time
and a very nervous time, and those are the times
when you always feel that you need to win.
You need to win for your franchise to keep it growing
and give your fans some hope that you can beat
those bullies from Boston.
[commentator] ...continues. The tip controlled by Boston...
[Jerry] And I happen to remember that day very well.
It's my son's birthday. His name is Ryan.
Surprisingly, that day,
we had a birthday party at my house.
[party horn squeaking]
[Jerry] And we sat here in this room
and watched this basketball game.
The TV went out.
[Ryan] No TV reception, nothing.
[commentator] [on radio] They asked him, he had his...
[Ryan] So, he had to listen to the rest of the game on the radio.
[indistinct radio commentary]
We're trying to listen to something.
[Ryan] But he got to listen to Chick Hearn
call the rest of the game.
[Chick] Good. And it's 47 to 45, the Lakers trailing.
The Celtics have led twice.
[Ryan] We get behind late in the ball game.
That's ten for Bird, eight in this quarter.
The Celtics lead by two...
And all of a sudden, the momentum changed.
[commentator] If you ask Pat Riley,
"How would you like a nine-point lead
going into the fourth period and a chance to close it out,
he'd say, 'I'd take it.'"
[Jerry] And suddenly, this very hungry team
made all the plays a championship team has to make to win.
[commentator] The Lakers are winning it.
Three in six years.
LA comes to Boston and wins the world title.
[triumphant music playing]
[Jerry] That was a day,
that was the happiest day of my athletic life.
[commentator] And Red Auerbach and Alan Cohen walk off.
[players cheering]
Whoo! Yeah, it feels good.
[commentator] They finally snapped the jinx
underneath the banners of the Boston Garden.
Hey, look at this, huh?
[inaudible dialogue]
[Kupchak] A lot of demons were exorcized
when the Lakers finally beat the Celtics.
It can never again be said
that the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics.
-[cheering] -[players chanting]
It was probably the happiest day of my life,
even though I wasn't there.
And of all the years of frustration,
and that gave me the greatest sense of accomplishment
of anything I've ever done in Los Angeles.
It is my pleasure to be here tonight
to present to them their championship rings.
That was the one championship ring that he wore forever.
When I turned 25, we were out at dinner,
he was being very sentimental,
and we were talking about that day
and talking about me growing up, and me as a man.
And he gifted me that ring for my 25th birthday.
And it's something that I'll cherish forever.
[Vitti] I'm sure Jerry had a quick good feeling about the win,
but he was already on to the next-- the next thing.
In competitive sports...
it's the most difficult thing that you can do,
to try to win a championship.
-[upbeat music playing] -[crowd]: Five, four,
three, two, one!
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Final celebration belongs here.
The champagne is flowing in the locker room
of the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
And if you do, can you repeat?
[upbeat music continues]
[commentator] The game ends. The Lakers have won it again.
The Lakers are back-to-back champions.
The first team to do so in 19 years.
♪ We love it ♪
♪ I love LA ♪
♪ We love it ♪♪
[somber music playing]
[Rosen] The Lakers were on their way to play
in a exhibition game, and I got a call saying
um, there's an issue with Earvin's life insurance.
Sorry, we can't give you any information.
The only one we can give information to is Earvin Johnson.
I then called Earvin and said, "Earvin, I got this call.
Um, you need to come back."
And I decide I can't wait in my office.
So, I drive to The Forum, I drive to see Jerry and Mitch,
and we sat there for an hour and a half.
What could this be?
You know, just running things through our head
like what could be go-- what could be going on, right?
And of course, your mind, you know, goes into bad places.
I pick Earvin up at the airport,
we drive to the doctor's office.
Uh, the doctor calls Earvin, um,
and it ended up being me into his office.
And, um, he gave Earvin the news,
the devastating news that he was HIV-positive
and he needs to, um...
he needs to retire from basketball.
[somber music continues]
[inhales sharply]
Um, Earvin asked a number of different questions,
and-- and he said, "I-- I want you to tell two people.
"I want you to tell Jerry West,
and I want you to tell Jerry Buss."
It was probably ten o'clock at night,
and I had woken up, and as I'm-- I'm passing in the hall,
I look downstairs, and I see my dad and Lon
sitting on the couch, and I said, "Why is Lon here so late?"
[Rosen] I remember sitting in the office Jerry and Karen had there,
and I remember staring at the Olympic Gold medal
and telling Jerry... what we just learned.
And Jerry was devastated.
Earvin meant so much to him.
[Kenya] I don't know if you know this story,
but when you announced, made the announcement,
Lon Rosen the night before had come, um, to Jerry's house
-Mm. -[Kenya] ...and you know,
told Jerry what was gonna happen.
Jerry's wife was so-- the kids were so, you know,
enraptured with you and loved you.
She went and took them out of school.
Mm.
And we have the clip of that?
Um, it's really interesting.
-[indistinct chatter] -Mm-hmm.
[Karen] [on screen] Jerry had gone to a meeting with the doctor,
and I'll never forget, he came home...
and he-- he went right into his bathroom and just sobbed.
And, I-I mean, I-- it was the first time really
that I'd ever seen him cry.
And he was just, um... It was very difficult.
And I'll never forget, I-I heard it,
and I raced out of the house, and-- and I was in tears and I said,
"I've gotta get to school. I've gotta get the kids."
I didn't want them to hear it at school,
because by then, it was-- it was getting out.
My mom comes bursting into the classroom
hysterically crying, and my first thought was
a family member died, my father died.
Something tragic happened.
We went to my parents' house,
and we watched the announcement on TV.
[newscaster] From the NBA to Wall Street, to Capitol Hill,
to neighborhoods, to playgrounds,
shock waves from Magic Johnson's stunning announcement
that he has the virus that causes AIDS.
I just want to make clear, first of all,
that I do not have the AIDS disease,
'cause I know a lot of you I guess want to know that,
but the HIV virus.
[Rosen] I remember the press conference that we had at The Forum.
[Magic] She's fine, she's negative...
Just seeing the look in Jerry's eyes.
Well, obviously, this comes as a huge shock to us, um...
I think when you're trying to, um...
find out the condition of a player,
obviously, you assume that player's gonna be back.
And to be real candid with you,
um, I haven't even thought about it.
-[somber music playing] -[Vitti] It hit him hard.
You know, sometimes you'd see him... in his office,
it would just be dark in there with one little lamp on his desk.
[Johnson] The moment we had was in his office,
and he started crying right away.
And then I started crying right away, you know?
And, um, we've always had that type of relationship.
He just hugged me and, uh...
and really told me how he loved me,
and-- and, uh, "They say everything should be okay."
We really want what's best for him.
Uh, there's a life after basketball for Earvin Johnson
and we want him to go on with his life
and lead a healthy, successful life,
and, uh, which frankly it didn't look like he could do.
The relationship that Earvin had with Jerry helped him get well.
There wasn't a moment where Jerry wasn't on his side
and wasn't afraid to talk to him, and wasn't afraid to hug him,
and wasn't afraid to be around him.
To be here 32 years later, you need a support system.
And Jerry was a major, major support system.
[Jerry] How you treat your people really matters.
I took an interest. They just weren't players.
-[Kenya] Yeah. -And it's important to me.
And, you know, a lot of people hear you talk,
and, "Oh, that's bullshit." Well, it's not.
I know how I feel about people.
I know how I care about people.
[pen scratching]
[Vitti] The Lakers were like the Roman Empire.
You had those championship years
and then we went into the Dark Ages.
-[dramatic music playing] -[commentator] And the Lakers are really
in a cold slump right now.
[commentator 2] Lakers hit rock bottom,
missing the playoffs for the first time in 18 years.
[Jerry] Everyone had written us off. Everyone.
And I knew if we worked hard enough...
if we did the right things,
that we were gonna be very competitive,
and we can do this, and we will do it again.
And then we came back and we had the Renaissance.
-[upbeat music playing] -[crowd cheering]
Would you say that that, as a executive,
that Shaq-Kobe was your sort of...
greatest moment?
Well, for me, it was the most exciting.
You know, we wanted to reach for the moon.
[Kupchak] The first part of that summer was the first workout
with Kobe by himself with Jerry in a gym.
And Jerry was just like really, really excited.
[Thorn] I remember getting a call from Jerry, and he said,
"I just worked out this high school kid
from Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant.
He's the best player I've ever worked out,
and I have to get him."
All we knew about Kobe Bryant at that time
was he was playing high school ball.
Jerry saw it. I didn't.
I saw a 17-year-old kid trying to mimic Michael Jordan
but wasn't Michael Jordan.
Everybody is saying, well, it may take him a couple years,
but Jerry West said, "Mm-mm, this guy named Kobe Bryant,
he gonna be a superstar in this league."
[Vitti] Jerry really believed in this 17-year-old kid so much,
that he traded Vlade Divac to get him.
Vlade was a legitimate, great, talented center.
[Scott] If you're gonna make a trade like he was making
with Kobe for Vlade Divac, you gotta be right.
You got to be right.
'Cause if you're wrong, you just set
the whole franchise back, you know,
three, four, five years
[Vlade Divac] Back then, I was upset, you know, and I didn't like it,
but I trust Jerry that he s-- he saw something
that nobody see it before.
And Kobe, uh, this is for you.
-Thank you very much. -[camera shutter clicks]
When I became a GM, I would trade myself for Kobe Bryant.
-[laughs] -So, he did good decision.
But now, we got a 17-year-old, and we don't have a center.
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator] Shaquille O'Neal has exploded onto the scene
and taken a place alongside Jordan
as perhaps the NBA's two most popular players.
Shaquille O'Neal became a free agent unexpectedly.
[crowd cheering]
[Jerry] For Shaquille O'Neal,
he just intimidated every player he played.
[commentator] Oh, my goodness!
He went flying through the air.
He would dunk them out of the game.
[commentator] You ever see a man that big fly?
He'd destroy their soul.
He would destroy a team's soul.
-[gantry crashes] -[crowd cheering]
We maxed out with what we could offer him,
and then Orlando jumped in front of us
with what they could offer him.
So, we had to make the offer to top Orlando's offer.
Every day, you know, they thought that they were gonna get him.
The next day, something would happen
and they didn't feel like they were gonna get him.
It was an emotional roller coaster for him, for sure.
The pursuit of Shaquille O'Neal
was the most difficult thing.
You know, there was a bunch of free agents out there,
and everyone had a lot of money to spend.
[upbeat rap music playing]
[O'Neal] I'm in a strip club by the name of Magic City,
partying, having a good time,
and I had the big dope man phone,
-and it just keeps going off. -[Kenya] [laughs] The brick!
I had the brick phone, it keeps going off.
-[phone chiming] -It was my agent, Leonard Armato.
"Jerry West wants to meet you."
I was like, "Okay, set it up for tomorrow."
"No, now".
It's 3:00 a.m., keep in mind.
I was like, "What do you mean now?"
"We got something you want."
And he wouldn't tell me, and I was like, "But my man, I'm--"
He's like, "No, you need to get over here."
Up until that moment, you know,
I don't think Jerry really believed we were gonna get him.
-[O'Neal] In a hotel... -[elevator bell dings]
...go to the penthouse,
...and Mr. West has on this Versace robe and he's smiling,
and he says, "Shaquille O'Neal, I know you don't know me,
but I'm gonna get you what you want."
When he slapped that piece of paper down,
never seen so many zeroes in my life.
And I was like...
And he was smart, he said, "But you got to sign right now."
So, when the great Mr. Jerry West came
and said, "We got you," I signed.
Shaquille, uh, I'm gonna present you with your new jersey
-and also a hat. -[audience applauds]
It was just a masterpiece, you know,
that somebody can make a decision on a 17-year-old
and then at the same time, you know,
get a 24-year-old All Star in Shaquille O'Neal.
It was just a master stroke of genius.
That relationship that you fostered.
-Two alphas. -[chuckles] Very, yeah. Alpha, at least.
-[Kenya] [laughs] Exactly! -Alpha, at least.
[Johnson] The hardest thing when you got two young guys
who got egos is to make sure that they understand
they need each other to be successful.
[Kupchak] Players of that stature, a lot of their makeup is similar.
Like, they're both impatient, both opinionated,
obsessively competitive.
[Cooper] You got a young kid who is ready to rear his head up
and be the leader of the team.
You had Shaq who felt no one could win
because he's the biggest, baddest dude on the planet Earth.
The kid and I were similar.
I want it, I want it now. This is my shit.
That's where the friction, you know, started to come in play.
[Johnson] Shaq wanted that ball down low.
Kobe said, "Uh-uh, I'm taking this jump shot."
I think that Jerry was really good at getting them both
sort of the equilibrium to line up.
Yeah, and being the peacemaker between them.
-Yes. -Because they both like winning.
[Cooper] One of the things that Jerry West has always been great at
is his ability to squash inter-team turmoil.
[O'Neal] He would let us try to figure it out.
Then it got to a boiling point.
It'd be out here, come back in.
Uh-oh, got to go to the principal's office.
[Johnson] If two guys had a problem,
you gonna be meeting with Jerry West, both of you,
and he gonna squash it right away.
"Alright, say what you want to say, both of you.
"Okay, now when we leave here, I don't want to hear nothing."
And he said it in some different words.
[all laughing]
Jerry West.
I thought at one time, Jerry West was from the hood.
[all laughing]
[Johnson] Finally, he worked it out with 'em.
[O'Neal] He helped me with patience with the kid.
So, our compromise was,
give me the ball, let me dominate.
Fourth quarter is yours. And it worked.
[commentator] Shaq double-teamed, back to Kobe,
fires a three.
Looking for Shaq. He takes it in deep.
-Kobe finds Shaq. -[whistle blows]
[Jerry] When those two guys played together,
it was a combination that was kinda scary.
[commentator] Kobe. Hands it inside to O'Neal.
Kobe Bryant flips it to Shaq who has... [indistinct]
[Riley] That trade that he made for Kobe,
and then getting Shaq that same year
is what built that championship team.
[commentator] Reggie defending. Kobe finds Shaq.
Kobe Bryant.
Off the rim, and the Lakers...
are the 2000 NBA champions.
[commentator 2] And the Los Angeles Lakers will make it
a second straight NBA crown.
The best all-time playoff winning percentage
in the history of the league.
[commentator 3] The Los Angeles Lakers have made it
three straight NBA championships.
They wrap it up in the four-game sweep.
Kobe Bryant coming up big in the fourth.
Shaq, 34 points, two rebounds.
[indistinct chatter]
[Rosen] But Jerry was getting itchy. He wanted something more.
He called me and said, "I'm done, I'm retiring."
And I was like, "Yeah, right." "No, I'm re-- I'm-- today."
I would never want to do anything to hurt this franchise.
This franchise has been
the most special thing in the world for me.
It's just hard to imagine what my life would be without it.
I-- I need to get away from this game for a while. I do.
There's no question.
And that was it.
[rumbling]
[Jerry] Pull over in this way. Oh, well.
If we can get off here, I'll pee.
-[director] Here? -Go find a tree. [chuckles]
I don't give a shit.
[director] We're gonna wait in the car.
-Yeah, we'll... -[Jerry] Yeah.
[director] You don't want to film him doing this?
[Jerry] Hell no. Who gives a shit?
Jerry West is blunt honest. [laughs]
That's the one thing that I love about him,
'cause he gonna tell you just how he feels.
No sugarcoating it at all.
He wears it on his sleeves, man. He's intense.
But if you know basketball, if you know Jerry,
really what it boils down to, he just wants to fucking win.
It's no different than when he was a player or playing golf.
-[upbeat music playing] -[reporter] Bel Air Country Club.
When West is not at The Forum or at home,
you can find him here.
This used to be escape.
Now it's-- it's gotten to be a lot easier for me mentally.
I-I don't get as upset with it as I used to.
Don't let his humbleness fool you. Okay?
Yes, he is humble.
But put him on the golf course, and it changes.
[Jordan] Golf, you know, we-- we learned not to compete against each other.
-[Kenya] Why? Why you say that? -Just because I-- I think
we didn't want to ruin the relationship that we had.
-[laughs] -[Jordan] Let's-- you know,
-let's just be teammates. -[Kenya] Yeah.
Oh, my God, it's absolutely ridiculous.
Like... [chuckles]
He is so good. I mean, you can tell.
I mean, he has such great feel around the greens.
He is competitive as hell, and he always wins money.
He never loses money on the golf course.
[Kupchak] I was just starting, right?
He introduced me to the game, and he hit a ball
down the fairway, right?
And we're looking for the ball for, like, 20 minutes.
So finally, he had to drop a ball, and he was pissed.
-[Kenya laughing] -[Kupchak] And he's playing by himself.
But he got so upset with himself
that he couldn't find the ball.
When he hates losing, uh, he-- he shows it.
-[whistle blows frantically] -[crowd roars]
[Worthy] Not too many athletes can get to that assassination level,
but a GM to be that way.
And it was around the clock.
[Rosen] I think it was probably 2001.
I said, "Jerry, why don't you go back to work?"
"Well, who's gonna want me?"
I go, "Everybody's gonna want you."
And all of a sudden, boom. [snaps]
It was like Elvis was back.
-[crowd applauds] -[upbeat music playing]
[cheering]
[Jerry] Small market teams in the NBA
have created a special niche for themselves.
And I see no reason why we can't create
that same kind of niche here in Memphis.
His success in Memphis was immediate.
His decision-making was quick, well thought out.
He knew what he wanted to do, and he knew what he wanted to build.
This is gonna be a fun time for our players
because they will get better.
They will get better.
[Ryan] Before my dad worked there,
the first year, they won 23 games.
The following season, they won 50 games.
[commentator] The foul lines. The sw--
[newscaster] The Memphis Grizzlies.
These are not only the good old days,
they look to be the start of something entirely new.
Believe it or not,
the road to the finals goes through Memphis.
[Kupchak] He got into the playoffs all three years.
[Ryan] They're a perennial playoff team
and they're a legit threat in the West.
[Rosen] He made them important.
He helped get an arena built there.
He put the Memphis Grizzlies on the map.
[Ryan] Winning the Executive of the Year award.
I believe it was Rod Thorn that joked
that it's almost ridiculous that they would give him the award.
They should name it after him.
But he never accepts a victory as just a victory.
He wants to top that victory.
[reporter] Seven NBA titles as a player and as executive
and 14 time All Star, I mean, the list goes on.
Why come to the Warriors? Why take on this challenge?
Well, another great quote.
Confucius said, "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
I've never worked a day in my life.
I love to win. I hate to lose.
-That's why I'm here -[reporter] Alright, thank you very much.
They were considered one of the worst franchises in the league.
[Kerr] There was a 15, 16-year period
where the Warriors didn't make the playoffs.
So, who better to bring in than The Logo?
It was a-- a group of people that had bought the team.
And one gentleman, Joe Lacob, was very enthusiastic.
Oh, my goodness.
He wanted the best team in the league immediately.
We knew that, uh, we were gonna be pretty aggressive
and do some perhaps exciting but also controversial things.
And so, we thought Jerry West would not only be a great advisor,
but he would also give us what he called
"The Cover of Darkness."
[Bob Myers] He brought a level of credibility,
a level of seriousness.
He taught me never to operate out of fear,
which I think is an important lesson.
They listened to him.
I could see his fingerprints all over every draft pick.
On trades. I remember when the Iguodala trade was made,
I said, "That's Jerry." [chuckles]
He's very, uh, meticulous on how he wants to see the game
or how it should be played.
Very constructive in his criticism.
He's constantly providing his insight,
and he's just looking for his next win.
You know, they had some really good pieces.
Steph Curry, who is one of the most unique players I've ever seen.
[commentator] Here's Curry. He turns,
-and he hits! -[commentator 2] We have a time out.
[commentator] ...decide not to use it. Curry.
Right on top. Bang! Bang!
[Jerry] You know, people look at him, this little baby face.
Well, that baby face is an assassin.
[Kenya] [laughs] Killer.
[Jerry] And Draymond Green, he's a tremendous player,
because he does the little dirty work thing.
Klay Thompson, who I absolutely loved,
I just thought he was great.
Team just fit together.
[commentator] Klay Thompson, another triple!
[Jerry] We killed teams on the board.
[crowd cheering]
But they were thinking about making a trade.
A potential blockbuster trade
is about to go down in the Western Conference.
The Warriors and the Timberwolves are working on a deal
that would send Kevin Love to Golden State
in exchange for Klay Thompson in their 20...
[Lacob] You know, we had a lot of discussions internally.
You know, Jerry was a big Klay Thompson fan
from the beginning and maintained that.
Remember, in the Warriors organization,
there's four voices who have a say at the top,
and not all of them agree that Klay Thompson
should be involved in this trade package for...
My dad said, like, that you can't do this trade,
but if you do this, I-- I'm gonna quit.
His conviction on what he sees
and the direction of where things are going
is so strong in those moments.
Jerry's a huge reason why I'm here.
When I heard that Jerry put his stamp of approval on me,
that gave me the ultimate confidence
when I was a young player.
[Jerry] They have a great situation there,
and it's because of really good drafting
and not making trades...
that could have been a disaster for 'em.
[commentator] If you're wondering what the NBA record is
for most points in a quarter, you just watched it.
And Klay Thompson, 37 in a quarter!
[commentator 2] This is a moment of history here.
[Rosen] Jerry was adamant they shouldn't get rid of that player,
and they didn't.
[commentator] What a perfect pass from Steph Curry.
We get style and substance.
Having that regular season for the agent.
James on Curry, spinning,
puts it up, puts it in!
[Curry] Jerry's idea of what great basketball is
and what a great team is,
it allowed us to have confidence
that what we were building was gonna work.
[commentator] And the Golden State Warriors
are the 2015 NBA champions, their first title in 40 years.
[announcer] Executive board member,
Hall of Famer Jerry West!
[crowd cheering]
[buzzer blares]
-[crowd cheering] -[commentator] The greatest regular season
in NBA history now belongs
to the 2016 Golden State Warriors,
73 and 9.
[Kevin Durant] 2016, I was in between making a decision
on leaving OKC to go to Golden State.
Jerry was on the phone with me for, like, an hour,
and Jerry understood that Steph, Klay, Draymond,
our games worked together perfectly.
So, he was just telling me how much I can add to it
and how much I can turn what they did up to another level.
[commentator] Celebration tonight here in Oakland.
There it is.
One of the great playoff runs of all time is complete.
The Warriors are NBA champions again.
There's a new dynasty in the NBA,
the Golden State Warriors, champions once again,
back-to-back titles, three in four years.
[Jerry] One of the best times I ever had in my life
was with the Golden State Warriors.
It was really fun.
[Kerr] Jerry had a huge impact on helping build the foundation
for what would become four championships
for this organization.
[upbeat music playing]
[Rosen] It was a successful thing for him, and then he decided,
"Okay, I'm done."
And he came back to Los Angeles.
[upbeat music playing]
The new consultant for the LA Clippers, Jerry West,
joins us right now, the Hall of Famer.
Why was this team the right choice for you
at this time in your career?
You know, here in my backyard, I started here.
Gives me a chance to-- to end my career here.
[Karen] It was an exciting time. It was a new change.
We're home, we don't-- he doesn't have to go anywhere.
And, you know, the Clippers had a new owner,
and it was a good thing.
[announcer] He doesn't really need an introduction.
We're really excited to-- to have Jerry here with us.
Thank both of you for those kind words, but, uh...
[Steve Ballmer] When Jerry took this consulting gig,
I'd been talking with my partner in the business,
and he kept saying, "Jeez, we should have somebody like Jerry West.
Jerry's done such a great job for the-- the Warriors."
And I said, "Well, how about Jerry West?"
One of the hardest things to do in the NBA
is to get one superstar, let alone two superstars.
But there are a couple vital members that had a huge part.
Jerry West, the greatest architect there is in the game.
[all cheering, applauding]
[Green] Jerry goes somewhere else and they immediately get
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
[upbeat music playing]
Pretty cool! Pretty damn cool!
Whoo!
[interviewer] By the way, h-how the Laker fans
reacting to you now?
You know what? I really don't know.
-[interviewers laugh] -He don't care.
Jerry being at the Clippers, for me, was hard.
But I'm a Jerry West man. I'm a-- I'm a fan, I'm a--
I love him, so I can hate everybody but Jerry. [laughs]
[Rosen] At the end of the day, he's a Laker.
When he went to Golden State,
he was still Jerry West of the Lakers.
He's at the Clippers. He's still Jerry West of the Lakers.
I mean, he's Mr. Laker.
And we will have a friend...
that'll put his life on the line for you.
That's who Jerry West is.
If he your friend, he's your friend all the way,
and do anything for you.
[weather presenter] Good morning, everybody.
We are looking at a pretty gloomy morning
across the southland.
Patchy dense fog, low visibility. Because...
[Karen] I was driving home from the desert early that morning,
and I kept coming upon these fo-- pockets of fog and I thought,
"This is so unusual."
And by the time I got home, it was pretty foggy.
And Jerry and I were watching something on television,
I don't even remember,
and he got a phone call from his son, Mark.
And he said... "What!"
I heard-- you know, I heard him say, "What? Where?
He's dead?"
I was asleep, and my phone was ringing.
I picked up the phone, it was my dad calling.
And he said, "Did you hear what happened?"
And I said, "No, what are you talking about?"
-[somber music playing] -I was in Europe scouting...
and, uh, I was at dinner.
Michael sent a text like,
"Did you hear anything about Kobe?"
And, um... I said no.
Well, obviously, I said, "Well, I'm gonna call Jerry and find out."
And that's what Jerry told me.
[siren wailing]
[newscaster] We're coming on the air with breaking news.
Very sad news that 41-year-old Kobe Bryant
has been killed in a helicopter crash.
And we've just learned his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna,
was also on that helicopter, and she also died.
Any moment now, we are expecting to hear from the Los Angeles...
[somber music continues]
[Jerry] This is a godawful day.
[sighs] I'm just devastated...
by... this news.
We were mad. Both of us were mad.
We were absolutely angry, you know,
because of how it happened.
Not fair.
I think that was his attitude. Just "Why him?"
[Jonnie] Like, their relationship and what-- what they had,
for him, it's like losing a child.
[Karen] Jerry took Kobe under his wing.
We met him as a teenager, he was Ryan's age.
He and Ryan hung out, and at the time, Kobe didn't drive.
Ryan would drive him around.
You know, Kobe's nine months older than me.
I went on several road trips with the Lakers
when Kobe was young.
We would hang out in his room, play video games.
[Karen] Kobe would come over for dinner
every once in a while, and he liked my spaghetti.
So, really, he was part of the family.
Jerry and Kobe kept in contact.
Kobe would call him for advice.
They were-- they were very close.
[Jerry] Uh, saddest day of my life.
[somber music playing]
I lost a brother in Korea,
and the only thing that compares to this, to me.
[Kupchak] When Jerry and I spoke, he couldn't talk much.
He went dark.
You know, one of the few times that I did want to talk about something,
you know, he couldn't do it.
And he was-- I-I can't even tell you
how distraught we both were.
We became, you know, each other's comfort zones,
you know, to get through it all.
Honestly, I felt like his father for ten years.
[sobs]
[exhales]
[somber music continues]
I don't know if I can get over this. I really don't.
[Kenya] So, your dad was no longer with the Lakers
when this unimaginable tragedy happened.
How do you think it affected him?
Well, I think when you have something as tragic as that,
something as shocking as that,
you know, you always wish you had more time.
W-With my dad, I'm sure it probably hit him hard that he wasn't there.
[soft music playing]
[Riley] The people who were there from 1970 to 1990,
we all rode this thing together.
From 1990 to 2010,
there was another generation of people there.
There's a change. You don't have the same heartfelt emotions
for the people who really created something,
and-- and Jerry created everything from the '80s to 2000.
[Karen] Jerry Buss was a father figure to him.
And it was very disappointing to him, because in the end,
I don't think he was appreciated.
I know I'll get some criticism for this, but I say this.
I think it was-- history will show
that it was the biggest mistake the Lakers ever made
was to-- to allow, uh, Jerry to get away.
[Riley] He loved that team. He was there for 40 years.
And so, when Jerry left the Lakers,
it was probably the deepest wound, probably ever,
that he had to endure.
[crewmember] That good?
-[Kenya] Okay. Hey. [laughs] -Hi. [laughs]
Thank you so much for doing this. Honestly, that means a lot.
Um, there's so many banners behind you I'm looking at.
Um, since Jerry left, you know, it was complicated.
The relationship between the Lakers and-- and Jerry was complicated.
No one can really, truthfully-- and I've asked--
nobody really can actually explain it.
-He spoke at your dad's funeral. -Mm-hmm.
He said that graveyards are full of people
who wish they had more time.
You know, and I felt like if he was here, what do you think,
you know, you would say to him?
I-- I mean, I would say, like,
thank you for making my job easier,
because what you established,
the-- the bar that you set with the Lakers
continues to feed into the player's desire
to come here and play.
You know, I remember dedicating the statue,
and, you know, and him being part of tying the new arena
to the history of the Lakers was so important.
[Jerry Buss] How many people have a statue made to honor them?
One in a million?
Well, Jerry's certainly one of those.
[Jeanie] Jerry Buss and Jerry West coming together
created a brand that continues.
Two other young ladies I've watched mature
and become very competent executives in their own right,
-who gave me great support... -[crowd applauds]
Laker girl Jeanie Buss, I so greatly admired.
I wish my dad owned the team when Jerry was still playing.
'cause there was probably a lot more winning
that would've happened instead of the frustration
that drove Jerry, you know,
losing to the Celtics so many times.
And the match of those two men
really made something special.
So, I am just humbled that we continue
to build on that legacy.
You know, when we're talking,
I-- I see 44, you know,
in my mind and his jersey.
And I mean, I-- I just-- I would want to thank him
for everything that he did
and that I continue
to honor his legacy
and what he meant to this team.
Because the players that are part of the Lakers now
are not playing for Jeanie Buss.
They're playing to be part of the legacy
Jerry West and Jerry Buss created for me
and my ability to do my job,
because they created the-- the history
that now is-- is the attraction
for the top free agent to come and sign
and be part of what you created.
You're in the fabric of what makes the Lakers the Lakers.
You're The Logo.
[gentle music playing]
[Ryan] I was probably six or seven
when it really started to make sense for me who he was.
There was this mysterious thing,
maybe it is, maybe it isn't him.
But it was something that the NBA would never come out
and officially announce that he was.
I know for years it's been a touchy topic
that, you know, Jerry West was the logo.
The NBA has never publicly acknowledged that
because of business reasons and legal reasons, I'm sure.
But Jerry, even when I brought it up to him, he-- he said,
"You know, Dan, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."
[speaker] He wouldn't have asked for anything.
-No. -But it'd be nice if the NBA today
announced that this is and will be the logo.
[Kenya] Just to get into this,
what was your favorite Jerry nickname?
He had a few.
I think The Logo.
-We already know, The Logo. -Logo.
An absolute icon and The Logo.
Obviously, he's The Logo.
-He's The Logo. -Oh, absolutely.
[upbeat music playing]
[Silver] I think he and I both got a kick over the stories of,
was he the logo, was he not the logo?
I think David Stern, the consummate lawyer,
never wanted to acknowledge that Jerry was the logo.
I-I happen to have talked to Alan Siegel,
who's the creator of the logo, and, um...
-He says it. [laughs] -He-- he says it.
[Alan Siegel] NBA wanted to have a symbol
for the identity for the league.
We probably did about 30 different takes, you know,
from, uh, multiple players with their hands above the rim
to stylized shooting.
While I was doing it, I went to Sport Magazine
and I found this picture of Jerry West, and I had grown up
you know, as a great fan of the NBA and Jerry West.
And I thought this picture that I found of him dribbling up the court
was very elegant,
very classic, showed a dynamic motion.
Uh, and I used that as the basis for designing the symbol.
They immediately gravitated toward this design direction,
and it was approved and put into use.
The media picked up on it,
and then it became a cause célèbre
because Jerry was uncomfortable with being the symbol.
[Jerry] You know, first of all, I wish that...
had never gotten out about the logo.
-[all laughing] -I do, really.
-Uh, no, I-I really do. -Hey, it's the best nickname ever,
-by the way. -And I've said it more than once
and, you know, it's flattering if that's me and I know it is me.
-Yes. -But it is flattering, and, uh,
but I don't like to do anything to call attention to myself.
That's just not who I am. Period.
[Kenya] He would say he doesn't care.
But then at the same time, he'd hand me a hat that says Logo.
I'm like, sure, you care. I would say. [laughs]
Knowing Jerry the way I know him,
I think that there's a part of him that he's very proud
that the logo was based after him.
But he's not the kind of guy that would go around
telling everybody, "That's me."
I mean, there's a lot of people that could have been the logo, right?
Wilt could have been the logo.
-[Kenya] You could have been the logo. -[Abdul-Jabbar] I could've been, or Oscar.
But making Jerry, the great master of the game,
that wasn't a bad choice, okay? That was a good choice.
[Ryan] Given his longevity in the NBA...
given what he's meant to the NBA,
being a part of it for 60-something years,
for Adam to confirm it now to the world
uh, means everything to us.
[Riley] That is one that they should never change.
Until he takes his last breath,
nobody else deserves to be The Logo.
[bright music playing]
[crowd applauds]
[host] Presenting Jerry West to the Hall of Fame
for the third time is Jerry's son, Jonnie West.
[audience applauds]
[Jonnie] The truth is, my dad would have struggled
to accept all this recognition.
He had a habit of tuning out all the praise
and hearing only criticism.
But I'm here today to talk about how good he was at his job,
whether he likes it or not...
because Jerry Alan West,
once an overlooked kid from little Chelyan, West Virginia,
is a hall of famer for a historic third time.
[audience applauding]
Dad, I want to thank you
for everything you have done for the game of basketball...
and for everyone within the game.
[bright music continues]
[speaker] As an everlasting tribute to Jerry West,
no WVU athlete in any sport will ever again
wear the number 44.
[Ryan] I don't think my dad realized
how many people cared about him as deeply as they do.
So, I'm gonna read you a quote from Bill Russell.
This one stood out for me.
I just want to thank everybody for coming.
Jerry West was a very, very dear friend of mine.
I've known since 1970.
The door opened at Loyola, in walked Jerry West.
He had a ball underneath his arm.
He said, "Pat, welcome to the Lakers.
You're really gonna help us."
And that was it.
You have no idea what that did for me.
[Kenya] He said, "The greatest honor a man can have
"is the respect and friendship of his peers.
"You have that more than any man I know.
"If I could have one wish granted,
it would be that you would always be happy."
[uplifting music playing]
[Vitti] Jerry's legacy is having
the morals, values, and ethics,
the ethos that was created by the Greeks,
and he lived that way.
[Curry] The greatest talents and the greatest legends of the game,
they don't need to necessarily pat themselves on the back.
They know they're respected because their name means something.
And I feel like he didn't need to say anything
other than "I'm Jerry West."
He was a complicated person.
[sobs softly] He was a fighter.
He had incredible empathy, compassion, kindness...
and wanting to do the right thing for all.
[Tellem] I think about him every day.
His words, his thoughts echo within me.
And I think what makes him to me such a...
so impactful, is that we all know...
in the end that we're gonna die. There's a finality to life.
And he certainly did, and he talked about it.
But it's being able to express your vulnerabilities,
transcend your vulnerabilities,
is what gives your life meaning.
And that's how he would help me, or any player,
or anyone else that he came to know,
was that he could open up, talk to them, help them.
That's why his life was so meaningful,
it's the impact he had on everyone else.
"There is nothing to be sad about anymore, young man.
You have did it, and you did it your way."
And that's the one thing I'll always appreciate
and love you forever, Mr. Clutch.
Jerry West, I love you like a brother, man.
And I wish I could've played with you.
Playing against you, I'm pretty sure I would've whipped your ass.
-[Kenya laughs] -[Jordan] Uh, but playing with you,
I know we would've dominated.
[Johnson] Jerry was a special player, special executive,
special everything, father, husband, friend, confidant,
supporter, mentor.
Jerry, you are like my father.
A man who I respect.
A man that who has made me who I am.
So, thank you, sir.
[Kenya] That's awesome.
That's how you end a motherfucking interview.
[crew laughs]
Take this goddamn mic off.
[gentle music playing]
[Kenya] The kids are innocent.
Hey, Makenna.
Where's my Makenna?
Where's my girlfriend?
[Jerry] Hey.
[Kenya chuckles]
-[Jerry] Say hi. -Look at that big smile.
-[laughing] -Come on.
[Kenya laughs]
Oh, I love that.
[laughs] Aw!
How's my girlfriend?
How was school?
They're taking a picture of you.
[Jonnie] With him and Makenna, he says "I love you" to her.
He kisses her.
Somebody told me recently, "When you're a parent,
"like, you have no idea what it is to be a parent.
When you're a grandparent, you know how to be a parent,"
and how you put everything into your grandchildren,
I think shows more who you are as a parent.
[Kenya] You know what-- you know what granddad's doing right now?
He's talking about some questions. Can we...
Can-- can you say hi? You want to say hi?
[gentle music continues]