How Did Late Jerry West Become “The Logo”? Digging Deeper Into NBA’s Historical Moment From 55 Years Ago

In 2024, Jerry West became the first member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to be inducted as both a player and a contributor. And today the tragic news of death has left a massive loss to the entire basketball community. West was a three-time Hall of Famer, iconic as a player and as an executive. His presence on the court was so high that he was the only player to win the NBA finals MVP on a losing team.

The former champion was a responsible figure on the Los Angeles sports landscape for more than 60 years. West passed away at the age of 86 with his wife Karen by his side. Further, he was nicknamed ‘The Logo’ after his silhouette of dribbling a basketball, which was introduced by the league in 1969. So let’s deep dive into how this logo came into existence.

Jerry West and “The Logo” origin story

It was Alan Siegel who designed the famous logo back in 1969, While speaking with Jerry Crowe of the LA Times, Siegel explained why he chose West. He had previously overseen the development of Major League Baseball’s logo. And then he got the opportunity to create one for the NBA. After going back and forth with a few designs with the then NBA’s commissioner J. Walter Kennedy, he faced rejection until he reached out to his friend to search for the perfect photo.

His childhood friend Dick Schaap was a late sportswriter and broadcaster. Schaap handed him over a few archives from a sport magazine where he was working at the time.”I found this picture of Jerry West dribbling down the court,” Siegel said, “and, of course, growing up in New York and my father having season tickets for college and pro games at Madison Square Garden, I’d seen West play a lot.”

West was one of his favorite players along with John Havlicek and Oscar Robertson. Yet it was not the favoritism for the selection criteria. “It had a nice flavor to it,” he said. “So I took that picture and we traced it. It was perfect, it was vertical and it had a sense of movement. It was just one of those things that clicked.” Kennedy who was the commissioner from 1963 to 1975 also agreed. But nobody for the longest time made a thing of West being the logo. It was probably an idea of Kennedy not to acknowledge who the inspiration behind the Logo was.

Jerry West and the anonymity with “The Logo”

To date, the NBA hasn’t confirmed if Jerry West was the inspiration behind the silhouette. “They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it,” felt Siegel. “It’s become such a ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal point of their identity and their licensing program that they don’t necessarily want to identify it with one player.”

The fans and the players later caught on the fact it was West. Siegel met West during lunch and gave him details about the situation. “I introduced myself and told him I’d designed the logo. And he said, ‘Who was the commissioner then?’ I said, ‘Kennedy,’ and he said, ‘OK,’ and went on with his lunch.” But West was happy even with no official acknowledgment. “I don’t like publicity,” he said on Podcast P with Paul George.

The episode was premiered on June 12, 2023, a year ago. West said, “I will tell you one thing, the greatest thing about being a logo, you get paid a lot of money for it, Yeah, oh my God, I probably made about two cents off of it.” And when he was asked if the Logo would ever be changed, he had a similar response to what Siegel had said. He explained how it was a marketing thing and the NBA would never popularise a player more. Plus, the current media contracts would definitely cost a lot to the NBA. Even with a logo or not the logo, Jerry West is not bothered.

In the podcast, he said, ” I have often thought what would I like for people to think about me ‘he was a good guy and he cared’. That would be it, nothing more.”

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.