I just finished reading NBA legend Jerry West’s acclaimed new book: West By West: My Charmed, Tormented Life. As a boy, I came to regard West as the quintessential competitor. I saw him play several times at the old Boston Garden, and his brilliance on the court was fueled by his unrelenting effort. Several members of the Boston Celtics, including Bill Russell and John Havlicek, regarded West as the most admirable of all Celtics opponents. One well chronicled example occurred minutes after the Celtics won the 1969 World Championship Series over the Lakers, when Russell and Havlicek visited the Lakers locker room to seek out West and convey their unqualified respect for him.
The book is compelling. It is sad, profound, honest, and surprising… but absolutely engaging throughout. West dug deep into his psyche to disabuse the reader of any notion that this is a superstar who has glided through life. On the contrary, he has faced haunting experiences that have affected him in the most profound ways. As a result of the dark place in which he has often resided, he readily admits that he was not emotionally present in the way “a husband and father should ideally be.”
West is unsparing in his criticism of his parents and several others, including Coach Phil Jackson. But I did not get the sense that this is done with any spirit of meanness, rather as a cathartic journey. As Magic Johnson points out in the book, “Jerry needs therapy, and I have to believe doing this [book] is good therapy, that it could really help him.”
Among the strengths of the book is that it causes the reader to consider the difference between the healthy pursuit of excellence and the debilitating obsession to win. In Jerry West’s case, I don’t believe he had any choice in his intense obsession - such were the demons invading him at an early age and controlling him throughout his adult life.
Readers will surely come away with an altered view of West, but I doubt, a negative one. In fact, if you admired him before you read the book, you will probably still admire him, perhaps even more so… but in a different way. You will also know him intimately, perhaps as intimately as anyone you have ever read about but did not know personally.
Bill Russell seemed to understand West’s melancholia when he appeared as a surprise guest at “Jerry West Night” in 1971 and said, “If I could have one wish granted, it would be that you would always be happy.”
I feel the same way, as do, I imagine, countless others who marveled at his skill, effort and uncommon dignity on the court.