Letters to the Editor: Readers remember Jerry West as the kindest of Laker superstars
To the editor: Jerry West, who died Wednesday, was an all-time great basketball player and general manager. We all know that.
He was also a hall of fame person, in my book.
I will always remember the time as a kid in the 1960s when I rode with friends on our bikes to Sears in Pomona to see West. We were a little late, and store employees told us he was gone.
As we walked toward the exit, heads down, a man came up from behind us and said, “Were you looking to see me?” We turned around, and there was West.
He signed our basketball and walked us to his Laker-gold Porsche. He was so kind and humble. He told us he had just gotten the car and was trying to figure it out.
We were three poor kids from Pomona, but West treated us as equals. Decades later, I still try to live up to the example West set for us that morning.
Thank you, Jerry West, for all the basketball memories — but also mostly for showing us how to treat people.
Stephen Blum, Ventura
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To the editor: Back in 1965, a buddy and I were visiting some friends to watch that year’s Oscars on April 5. Shortly after the telecast, one of the girls at the party informed us that she would often babysit Jerry West’s kids next door.
As die-hard Laker fans, my buddy and I begged for an introduction to West.
It was a bit after 11 p.m. when West returned home from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena following a close NBA playoff victory. After we were introduced to him and his wife, the two of us kids proceeded to pepper West with questions about the team, even the condition of Elgin Baylor’s sore knee.
West answered our questions thoroughly and honestly, and he showed us the utmost respect. We will never forget that episode in our young lives — a couple of 16-year-olds hanging out with “Mr. Clutch.”
Fred Gober, Playa Vista
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To the editor: I don’t often both shed a tear and smile when I read the newspaper, but Mike Kupper’s fine obituary of Mr. Laker Jerry West reminded me not only of the greatness and heartbreak of West’s life and career, but also of that golden era of Los Angeles sports.
The NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball were all still new to Los Angeles, with the Rams first in 1946.
We kids of that golden era were maybe lucky to catch Lakers highlights on big screens at theaters in downtown L.A.; or maybe lucky to have caught a game of the Dodgers’ World Series victory over the Chicago White Sox in 1959; or maybe lucky to have sat for free at one of The Times’ charity games watching the Rams from nosebleed seats at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Duke Snider, Dick “Night Train” Lane and so many more were part of that special time. And if we were not lucky to catch a game, we had Jim Murray to read in The Times.
Life was good.
Robert Ferguson, Atascadero, Calif.
