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Six facts you might not know about Jerry West's iconic NBA logo
Jerry West, "The Logo," died on Wednesday.
For over 50 years, West's silhouette has been the defining image of the NBA, but the story behind the clean red, white and blue logo we all know is a lot messier than you might realize.
Here are six facts about West's iconic logo.
1. The NBA's pre-Jerry West logos were ghastly.
It's hard to imagine a world without West's iconic logo, but one existed, and it wasn't pretty. In 1950, the league took its first crack at a logo with a design that looked more like a baseball, which was followed three years late by a seemingly deflated basketball.
Then, in 1962, the league offered another redesign, this time looking like something someone scribbled 10 minutes before the assignment was due.
2. It was created in 1969, West's ninth year in the league.
Per Andscape, then-NBA commissioner J. Walter Kennedy, inspired by MLB's logo redesign the previous year, commissioned the same brand consultant, Alan Siegel, to design his league's next logo.
At the time, West was coming off an epic seven-game NBA Finals loss to the Celtics when he averaged 37.9 points per game. In Game 1 of the series, he scored 53 points, making him just the fourth player at the time (and seventh in league history) to score at last 50 points in an NBA Finals game. He went on to win Finals MVP that season.
The NBA officially adopted the logo in 1971, which coincided with West's lone league championship during the 1971-72 season.
3. West had competition for the silhouette...
In an interview with Andscape's Aaron Dodson in 2017, Siegel revealed other NBA players who were under consideration for the iconic silhouette.
"I looked at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's hook shot. I looked at Wilt Chamberlain, Tom Havlicek, Tom Gola and a few others," he said.
Siegel told Dodson he was drawn to West's photo "because it was nice and vertical, and it had him leaning and dribbling...had a little motion to it."
"I presented it to the NBA, and they approved it immediately," he revealed.
4. ...and wasn't necessarily a fan.
"Jerry's proud of the logo, but it's also embarrassing to him, in equal measure," Siegel said.
In a 2017 interview on ESPN's "The Jump," West expressed that he wished the NBA would would change it.
"I wish that it never got out that I'm the logo, I really do," he said. "I played in the time when they started to try to market the league. There were five people they were going to consider...I don't like to do anything to call attention to myself...that's just not who I am," he added.
Siegler recalled a couple of awkward interactions he had with West following the logo's reveal, including at a restaurant, when, after asking Siegler a question, West "looked down and started eating and didn't speak to me," and another time before a Lakers game when West "was gruff and didn't say anything."
Those exchanges left Siegler cold.
"No, I don't care about West saying anything to me," he said in his interview with Andscape.
"I don't feel an affinity to him or any interest in him," he added. "I was glad to watch him play."
5. The NBA has never confirmed that West is the logo.
Perhaps West might have been uncomfortable with his likeness being used to promote the league for the simple reason the NBA has never acknowledged him as the logo's inspiration.
"I met commissioner David Stern when I was on vacation," Siegler told Andscape, "and I talked to him about it. He didn't want to recognize that it was based on a West picture, for whatever reason."
TMZ Sports caught up with West following a birthday dinner in 2014 and asked him if he's ever received any compensation from the league, and a clearly uncomfortable West gave a half-hearted laugh as he said he hadn't.
6. Siegler got a raw deal, too
The NBA didn't just stiff West with its iconic logo. Siegler, too, was given a short stick, although he doesn't appear as bothered by it.
In a 2019 interview with Under Consideration, Siegler revealed he only charged $14,000 to design the iconic logo, which he admitted was "not a lot of money, but it was a prestigious assignment, and I never gave it a second thought."
More must-reads:
- Four Jerry West feats that will likely never be replicated
- LeBron James pays tribute to Jerry West in social media post
- The '2024 NFL rushing TD leaders' quiz
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