He is the symbol of the NBA. He is the face of the Mountaineer statue that sits in front of the Mountainlair on campus. He is one of the greatest basketball players to ever take the court, whether it be in college or the NBA. He is also a native West Virginian.

The legend of Jerry West has been told many times, but it's always a story worth revisiting. As a small, frail child, he was required to take vitamin injections and was told to stay away from sports so he wouldn't be injured. He was a loner, not having many friends, and spent most of his time shooting a basketball alone at a hoop his neighbor had nailed to his shed. When he reached high school, he decided basketball could be a worthwhile sport to participate in. He was benched for most of his freshman year at East Bank High School because he was so small.

Despite dealing with those hardships growing up, West developed an incredible competitive edge and told himself that he would never give up.

The summer of 1953 saw West grow to 6' tall and things were never the same. West was the first player to score 900 points in a single season in West Virginia and was named All-State from 1953-56. He won East Bank High School a state championship in 1956 and was named an All-American. He had offers from over 60 different colleges, but chose to attend WVU. His freshman year he led the Mountaineers to a perfect 17-0 record. After that, well he did pretty well as a starter on the varsity team as well.

The succinct version of West's success at WVU goes something like this: He was named to the Southern Conference First Team three times, Southern Conference Tournament MVP three times, Southern Conference Player and Athlete of the Year twice, two time All-American selection, and led WVU to it's only national championship game appearance, losing 71-70 to Cal in 1959. West was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four that year because of his play. West scored a total of 2,309 points, snagged 1,240 rebounds, and holds 12 all-time WVU records. He accomplished all of that playing on the varsity squad for only three seasons.

After graduating, West was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers where he won one championship in 1972 and was named the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 despite losing to the Celtics. He won a gold medal with Team USA in Rome in 1960. Even with all of these incredible accomplishments, it's something in college that West finds one of his most remarkable achievements.

“Looking back at it, I think it was pretty remarkable with all the traveling, that I was able to graduate in four years," West said in his soft southern drawl.
 

"At that point in time almost all students graduated in four years. We’d come to summer school and take maybe one class."

Since West would only take one or two classes in the summer, he would spend a large amount of his time working out. One summer, he and his best friend Willie Akers found a way to stay in shape and get some cash.

"I used to work for the Department of Building and Grounds and we had some interesting jobs. I had one to keep the people off the football field. That one summer in particular it was like 400 degrees so no one would even go outside. All I did was walk around the track, run the stairs at the stadium, and get a sun tan. That was my job and no one got on the football field. That was a pretty easy job."

West is a huge success story for many West Virginians. Despite being mocked for his accent and being called "Zeke from Cabin Creek", West perserved and is one of the most successful men to ever emerge from the Mountain State. West has had the privilege of returning to his alma mater to deliver inspirational graduation speeches, but he says graduating is something he never wanted to do in college.

“I didn’t even want to go to graduation. I’ll tell you why, I didn’t want to wear that silly little hat. I never felt comfortable with things like that, but again I never really considered myself a student even though I received an education."

Stay tuned for part two of "Always a Mountaineer: Jerry West"