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Co-director’s Son Recalls His Visits Here
During and after his playing career, NBA legend Jerry West, who died last Wednesday at age 86, spent some time in Lexington when he ran a summer basketball camp at Virginia Military Institute in the 1960s and 1970s.
West, who was from the small town o f C helyan, W.Va., w as a guard for the Los Angeles Lakers before he became a coach and later an executive.
He ran the Jerry West Basketball Camp with David Miller, who was a former announcer and coach at VMI and Washington and Lee University. Miller, who died in 2003, was coaching for VMI when West played for West Virginia, and they met when the two teams played each other.
The camp started at the Miller School of Albemarle, a boarding school in Charlottesville, and was known as Camp Wahoo, and it involved other sports and games, in addition to basketball.
After four or five years, recalled Miller’s son David, the name of the camp was changed to the Jerry West Basketball Camp. When Bill Blair became head coach at VMI, the camp was moved there.
Other coaches who helped out were Billy McCann, who coached basketball at Hampden-Sydney, Washington and Lee University and the University of Virginia; Bones McKinney, who played for the NBA’s Boston Celtics and later coached at Wake Forest University; and Gene Corrigan, the former men’s lacrosse and soccer coach at W&L and the former athletic director for the University of Virginia. The camp also had appearances from NBA legend “Pistol Pete” Maravich.
Among the youths who took part in the camp were Bryan Stinespring, current head football coach at Roanoke College and former Lexington High School football coach; and Debbie Ryan, former longtime UVa head women’s basketball coach.
The younger Miller, who is the head golf coach at Rockbridge County High School and was inducted into the RC Athletic Hall of Fame last year, was glad to meet West and see him at the camp.
“He’d give a speech every once in a while,” said Miller. “He was on the courts doing drills.”
Miller noted that NBA salaries back in the 1960s and 1970s weren’t nearly what they are today, so West took the summer job working with the campers, for income as well as to give back.
Miller added that West was “a heck of a golfer,” and he could often be seen at the Lexington Golf & Country Club.
During his NBA career, West was a 12-time All-NBA player who was an all-star 14 times. He was drafted second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1960. With West as a consistent contributor offensively and defensively, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals nine times, but they only won once during that stretch, in 1972 over the New York Knicks. During his playing career, the Lakers lost six times in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics, led by Bill Russell. In 1969, when the Lakers lost to the Celtics, West was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals, the first time a member of the losing team had been given the award. In game 7, West posted a triple-double with 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists while playing with a limp.
West retired as a player in 1974 and was later named to three exclusive teams – the NBA’s 35th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams. His nicknames included “the Logo,” in reference to his silhouette being the basis for the NBA logo; “Mr. Clutch,” for his ability to make a big play in a key situation such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; “Mr. Outside,” in reference to his perimeter play with the Lakers and “Zeke from Cabin Creek” for the creek near his birthplace.
After his playing years were over, West stayed with the Lakers, first as a coach for three seasons, then as a scout, and later the general manager. With West in the front office, the Lakers won five championships in the 1980s and introduced excitement and style with their “Showtime” approach to winning and entertainment.
After several mediocre years, West lured free agent center Shaquille O’Neal from the Orlando Magic and swung a draft-day trade for guard Kobe Bryant. With O’Neal and Bryant leading them, the Lakers won three consecutive NBA titles from 2000 to 2002.
West stepped from his position with the Lakers to become general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies from 2002 to 2007, giving himself a challenge of guiding a team that hadn’t had much success, and he was named NBA Executive Year in 2004 after leading the team to several respectable seasons. After temporarily retiring, West became a consultant to the Golden State Warriors and put that dynasty on pace to win three titles in four years. West left that position to join the Los Angeles Clippers in a similar capacity, making them a title contender during his time there.
