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3 Guys Before The Game - Remembering Jerry West (Episode 557) · 3 Guys Before The Game

0:17
Hey there, everybody, welcome in. It is time for three guys before
0:21
the game, and this is a special episode. We are remembering the all
0:27
time greatest basketball player in West Virginia history, Jerry West, who passed away
0:33
on Wednesday, the twelfth of June at the age of eighty six. Thanks
0:38
for being with us, Tony Caridi, along with Brad Howe, coming up
0:42
on our program, we'll look back and share some stories about the legend Jerry
0:49
West. John Beeline will join us here in just a couple of minutes.
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We'll also give you a deep West Virginia perspective from a voice that you know
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well, and that's Jeff Jenkins, the news director of wv metronews dot Com.
1:04
Attended the same high school, East Bank as Jerry West and grew up
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obviously right there, knowing all the folks that knew him and idolized him growing
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up. Also, we'll hear from Willie Akers, a teammate of Jerry's at
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West Virginia, and the two of them remained their remained friends, I mean,
1:25
the closest of friends their entire lives. Also, John Antonic, the
1:30
person in charge of content for WV Sports, with some historical perspective. Chris
1:36
Wallace, who is a two time general manager in the NBA now with the
1:40
Houston Rockets organization of but Cannon native, shares his thoughts and how Jerry West
1:46
helped him through the years, Plus a couple of emails that we received over
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the last twenty four hours from folks in which Jerry had an impact on their
1:57
lives as young West Virginians. Three Guys before the Game is brought to us
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premiere pontoon boat dealer in our state of West Virginia. All right, Senator,
2:31
what do you say? We just jump right on in. Let's go.
2:34
Got a great guest waiting, Yes we do. Ladies and gentlemen,
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please welcome to the program. Former WVU head basketball coach John Beeline. Hello,
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sir, how are you hello? Everybody? It's great to talk with
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you. Brad's eye as well, right, yes, sir, coach,
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good to talk with you. Yeah, hi, Brad. Hey, you
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know, I just spent three days in West Virginia, believe it or how,
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down in Maine Valley doing some on a three day golf trip. The
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first golf trip of my life ever, first one ever ever. I've never
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gone on a golf trip. And what a beautiful spot they had down there
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in Canang Valley. Good, good, gracious, wonderful. So just did
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that. But they heard about the passion of Jerry while I was there,
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and sad, But I thought, what a spectacular life that man led,
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from where he came from to how it all has finished up. Uh,
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man, it's a life many of us would like to lead. I think
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right absolutely. And you know, Johnny, I've made it remain in contact
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with Johnny because it recruited him and coached him a little bit. But I
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got sent him a message, and uh, it's a but it's it's sad
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to lose such a incredible man and influence on so many in basketball. So
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it's it's great. It's great to hear a few stories. I'd love to
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and I think this, since your life has been the game of basketball,
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let's go all the way back, little kid growing up Western New York.
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I mean, Jerry West was when you were a relatively young kid, right,
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he is coming, he's done with college, sixty into the league and
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plays, you know, a decade plus. And so what was your just
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initial before you ever knew that you were ever going to know Jerry West?
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What was Jerry West to you as a kid growing up? It's one of
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my stories. I like a young kid growing up black and white TV,
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and we were lucky if we ever got a Sunday NBA game back in those
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days in the sixties, low sixties. You're lucky if you got an NBA
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game. And I remember seeing this play which I still called Jerry West the
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rest of my life is Jerry coming off in some type of ball screen by
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wilchair Imberlin goes in and gets to like the right elbow and just shoots it
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in and then a few more times down the court. Here I am probably
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ten or twelve years old. The next time down he comes down and he
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looks like he's gonna shoot it, and he like fires it down to Will
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who dunks it. And from then on that right elbow jump shot, which
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you saw so many of our players hit for years. We used to train
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it and I used to actually say, get to Jerry West, Get to
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Jerry West against a drop coverage in a ball screen. So I had to
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change it, of course when I went to Michigan, but I loved it
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when I got to do it at West Virginia. But I still see that
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grainy black and white TV and him coming off, and that jump shot had
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such a high release that nobody could get to it. It was amazing how
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Felf taught perfect jump shot he had. And we obviously know that when you
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look at the NBA logo every day, you and he do share something in
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the sense that both of you were incredible evaluators of talent. He had that
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knack. You had that knack. We've seen the guys that you were able
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to say, Hey, I think this kid's got a chance, right,
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yeah, all right, So put your head on in that regard. And
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why was Jerry West so good when you evaluated his game? What made him
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one of the all time greatest? What was he doing? I think he
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wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and I'll tell you about that, and
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trust his instincts. He didn't like go out and look for confirmation from others.
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He knew what he saw and he wasn't afraid to be wrong, and
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it led to some great decisions. With so many teams, I think character
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was a big issue as well, and he was looking for the right guys,
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and even people that he'd have played for him played for him or that
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he chose, uh, they usually had the right character about them. But
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I'll tell you the first time that I ever met him, he actually met
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Kathleen before me Madison Square Garden. First year at Michigan. We're struggling.
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We're struggling, right. He meets my wife somewhere. Now Patrick's on the
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team. He meets my wife somewhere in the stands, you know, probably
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just as sitting next near him or something, and she and the first thing
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he says is your son, your your husband's guy. To get better players.
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And then he sees me afterwards. Now Patrick's one of the players.
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Now he says to me, you got to get better players, or they
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got to get a whole lot better. And we didn't get better players,
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but they got a whole lot better there in the four years. So he's
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this is talking about J. D. Collins and Johannes and Patrick and Kevin
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Pisknock when everybody, but he wasn't afraid just to speak that. No,
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you're you're exactly right. I think that's one thing that maybe a majority of
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people don't know he was. He was. He was brutally honest. He
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wouldn't sugarcoat. He wouldn't sugarcoat anything. And that was the thing to any
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one. Yeah, I mean it didn't matter who he was speaking to,
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coach, right, I mean he was one hundred percent. I've heard him
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speak on that is he thought that was one of his magic sources. What
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he just said, I'll never lie to a player. I will be brutally
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honest every time. Well this was later in my thoughts of my stories.
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But when I took the Cavaliers job, it was the combine. Like the
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next day, so I go to the combine. I'm sitting with Mike Gansey,
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general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He sees us from across the room
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and he starts right for me, and I said, watch, Mike,
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he's gonna tell me I'm expative crazy. So sure enough, he walks up
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to me and said, coach, what are you thattive? Crazy? And
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it was like it wasn't like congratulations, you know, good luck. It
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was like, you're not why are you doing this? He said the same
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thing about about Johnny. He questioned whether Johnny was good enough when I when
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I was recruiting him, I mean, that's that's like you don't see many
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parents doing that. Yeah, And I just said, now, Johnny's got
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Johnny's got a chance because he had a young birthday, Skinny, and I
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trusted the DNA a lot too. I said this he could He's got that
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same high rise in his jump shots. Uh no, incredible, incredible.
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I'm gonna keep going. Can I just yeah, keep going? Yes,
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you're retired? Going another another like the incredible story of him telling the truth
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and being ready just to do something. So I'm with the Pistons. It's
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my second first year with the Pistons. I'm working somewhat with Kay Cunningham on
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his jump shot. He has a really low release and I've been working with
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him. It's like mid season, and you know, guys are very sensitive
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about their shooting. They don't like you like it's like telling somebody they're not
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dressing well or something. You know, they don't want to change things.
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And he's in. Then he goes back to his old habits. He's in,
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he goes back to his old habits. So he's not getting his elbow
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up high enough or getting the right release. So I'm but I'm not.
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He's in his shoot around right now and I'm just sort of watching him again,
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and all of a sudden, Jerry walks up and he says to me,
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he's not getting a high enough release, he's not getting enough spin.
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So I just said, hey, Dave, come over here, Dave,
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come over here. This is the number one pick in the draft. And
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he see Jerry West and Jerry just tells him, like it is, you're
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not going to get that shot up in the NBA. You got to get
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your elbow up higher. I'm just like sitting there like a like a father,
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so proud listening to Jerry talk to him. But what well, again,
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it wasn't number one pick in the draft. Hey how you doing?
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You know? Hey, are you doing? Okay? He wanted it,
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he went, he went right away, you got to get better. You
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had to get that ball up it's amazing. He used to take a dribble
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that was a hard dribble that you wouldn't pick up at his waist. He'd
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pick it all the way up at his shoulder, and now you're already your
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elbows already up and you're into your jump shot. It was the most beautiful
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jump shot I think that I've ever seen in my life personally. Coachy,
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That's an interesting story about Kay Cunningham because it ties into what I think is
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one of the more remarkable things about Jerry in that think about how relevant he
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stayed for how long. I mean, it's sixty years of being culturally and
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actually relevant every day. And the fact that a Cade Cunningham that can come
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along just a couple of years ago and have that reverence and respect for him
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is pretty remarkable, isn't it. The longevity of Jerry West. Yeah,
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so he must have been eighty three or eighty four at the time. His
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walks into walks in the Staples Center like he owns it, and he probably
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should. He probably did literally own it from the way that people respected him
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and just was not afraid to talk about anything. Just amazing, but really
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a proud West Virginian and you know this is a guy that here he goes
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to La right, and that's changed his infleet life star from where he came
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from in Morgantown. And man, he flourished, He really flourished. So
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great great person. I'm glad I had I got to have the association,
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not when he was the head coach at West Virginia University, but also getting
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to know him as a father and coaching his son a little bit that it
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was special. Coach. Let me ask you this. We were making this
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point last night when we started to try to put things into perspective. Obviously,
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he's in the category of one of the all time greatest players, whatever
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number you want to put on him, find whatever it is, one of
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the all time greatest ever. But wouldn't you couldn't you make a case that
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he was unparalleled when it came to an NBA executive with the deals that he
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put together and the teams that he put together, and the hiring of pat
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Riley and Phil Jackson and the whole thing. I mean, has anyone ever
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assembled like that before? Well, and that's another one. It's such so
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rare. So he can evaluate players and then he can evaluate coaches and get
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to and they have those two guys coaching the Lakers. I mean, it's
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that is unparallel, that is, there's no one that's been able to certainly
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have a career that he had. We're certainly a top five player. Let's
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let's talk about something else. This is a time with no charter flights,
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games of the every other day, wearing Converse canvas shoes. And I have
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this, I have this chalk that I have this photo I keep and show
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people. It's a Jack Ramsey, the Brave Buffalo brais coach, absolutely and
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he's got his shirt off, some plaid pants. He's sitting on the trainer's
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table and you can see on the chalkboard in the back U A six ten
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he's got the flight number UA flag time. What do you guys think that
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meant? United Airlines? Am? That was what he had to tell the
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players, that you better be there at six ten am. Now in the
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NBA on that night, you know they're they get finished with their games two
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hours and two hours later they're they're up in the air in a charter flight
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with seventy first class seats and they're landing and they're landing at one in the
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New City and getting a good night's sleep and sleep until twelve. And Jerry
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was doing that forty one games a year and playing, you know, forty
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minutes a night. Just put that into perspective his whole career. I don't
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know if they ever chartered his whole career. Yeah, it's it's a great
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in LA. They're flying, they're flying to New York, they're flying to
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you know, to not to San Antonio, but they're flying all over the
15:39
place during that time. Just amazing when you put that, because I watched
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the wear and tear of the NBA players and it's hard, and for him
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and Dale Gudridge and Wilt, they just let's go do it. I don't
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even know if they flew first class, yeah, you know, and certainly
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Jerry probably did by the end, and Wilt did, but I don't know
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about the other guys. And you know what, it was such a different
16:00
style of playback then. I mean that was physical, it was dirty,
16:07
it was hard, it was yeah. I mean, there was no such
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thing as body recovery, there was no such thing as dieticians. It was
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just like for those guys, they truly were the pioneers of what this thing
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has become, and it's them. You look back at those guys, those
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were the founding fathers of this unbelievable, multi billion dollar industry that this has
16:26
become. It's what's said. And I think we have to do a better
16:32
job of and continue to educate the young players, the young fans. They
16:38
have an appreciation for what pioneers they were, how good they were, they
16:45
were not paid. I was being around in the NBA for three years around
16:51
a lot of old players that don't love a lot of the new players today
16:56
because of the lack of appreciation for what they built. And it is that
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I think we had to continue to educate those guys. Executives in today's pro
17:11
basketball should make sure that their coaches and their their administer at their front of
17:15
office is educating people so that having an appreciation of what you do is a
17:21
super strength when you go out and actually actually perform, when you appreciate how
17:27
lucky you are, and instead of worrying about some agent, you know,
17:33
telling you you got to get more shots up. You know, so we
17:34
got a contract coming up in two years. You know, it's a big
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difference. Coach, We've we've talked over the last twenty four hours about the
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incredible love that Jerry had for this state and how he kept that and kept
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it front and center. He wasn't just a guy from West Virginia. He
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was a West Virginian all the way up until the day he passed yesterday.
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So you saw that, as you mentioned in different ways, not only the
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basketball Jerry West and not only watching Jerry West when you were growing up.
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But you mentioned as a dad when Johnny arrived, how was he as a
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as a parent of someone in that program. Could you talk to him more,
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did you talk to him less? Did you ever call upon him for
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advice? How was he during that time? Well, you know, I
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hope Johnny won't get mad at me for telling this, but we had a
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really difficult thing that really it was more mind than body of making a five
18:25
thirty mile to be able to start practicing, and Johnny had never done anything
18:30
like this before, like most of our freshmen, and Johnny was hitting the
18:36
wall and really struggling with it. It was almost a mind thing for john
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because it's hard to do it. It's really hard to do and all our
18:44
freshmen had troubles, but Johnny seemed to have being more trouble than anybody else.
18:48
So I called Jerry and I said, Jerry, I'm just telling you.
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If he doesn't make this, I can't break the rules. He's not
18:52
going to be on a team. And Jerry just said, do what you
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do, coach, You're not They no issues with it, right, that's
19:02
you just keep outing them. Make it. Become a player. And if
19:04
he's gotta, you know, take a secuitus route to get on the roster,
19:10
but one day by taking a year or something just to get himself really
19:15
with his mind to be able to get out, get over these obstacles,
19:18
do it. Guess what, two weeks later Johnny made it. So I
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think there might have been a side kind of that sidebar. Jerry. Yeah,
19:29
it probably wasn't as soft as my interpretation of it. I'm certain of
19:34
that. And Johnny flew through it about two weeks later and got it.
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So. But but he other than that, Brad, and it was only
19:41
one year, he was hands off. I don't think he. I can
19:45
still remember Willie Akers on that last in the last first game we played my
19:49
last year at West Virginia, we beat Mount Saint Mary's because Deshaun Butler had
19:56
two foul shots with uh, you know, like with two seconds to go
20:00
in the game, tie game for us to win. And I saw Willie
20:03
Akers afterwards, because Willie Acres told the truth too. He said, John,
20:08
I think that's the only game you're going to win this year. And
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you know what if Jerry was there, and Jerry would have said the same
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damn thing. And so I was, you know, and I was thinking
20:23
to Willie, you might be right, Willie. We got long ways to
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go with this team. It turned out better than that. So just his
20:33
generation obviously of basketball players, you know, when you think he's in there
20:37
with Oscar and Wilt, you know, amazing, amazing players. I think
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there was a stat I saw we had to Xavier Simpsons going his first NBA
20:51
games and they started and they were just trying Loklahoma City was trying to lose,
20:56
and they put him in the game and at the end of the game,
20:59
he was the fifth player in history to win a game and play forty
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minutes in that first play forty minutes and score ten points in his first game.
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And the other guy the other four were Jerry West, Oscar Robinson,
21:18
Jerry Lucas, and somebody else. I don't know who it was, but
21:22
those dudes used to go into their first game in the NBA and play forty
21:26
minutes the first game. Yeah, there was. There was not any minute
21:30
restrictions for those dudes. Amazing. Yeah, no load management. No,
21:37
it was like, hey, I've got another game, let's go, stretch
21:41
and let's go. And there wasn't a lot of video either. There was
21:45
two assistant They would travel then with you know, thirteen players, a trainer,
21:52
two coaches, and that that was a travel party. I mean it
21:56
might it might get to fifteen or eighteen when I was proudly both with a
22:02
treatment with the Pistons and then the Candler's seventy people on that plane seventy wow.
22:08
And these dudes were going on the road with eighteen, you know,
22:12
eighteen people. Maybe what a world? What what? It was simple?
22:18
It was simple, get get to the game. You know, those rookies
22:21
should miss that six am flight, get fined a thousand dollars and they're only
22:26
making fifty maybe, I mean only that was a lot. Then it's fine,
22:30
get to the next flight and then show up for the game. It
22:33
was it was different. I don't think Jerry missed many of those flights.
22:37
No, he was the guy that was always always on time. Well listen,
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man, those are great, great stories. We really do appreciate it.
22:44
I'm glad that you had those opportunities to interact with him through the years,
22:49
and we really do appreciate it. By the way, what did you
22:52
what did you shoot when you golfed at Canade? I am I have.
22:56
I have golfed Tony like one or two times a year for the past for
23:03
up until two years ago. And I started golfing two years ago. I
23:07
love it. But those are some long, long, long uphill things.
23:12
So I hit a forty seven and a forty seven for a ninety four.
23:18
I'm chasing ninety right now. I'm chasing ninety a boy, But three days
23:23
of in a row, I can hardly touch my toes to that. I'm
23:27
a sore man. But I loved it back with some of my Wheeling college
23:33
former teammates. Eight of us got together, most mostly teammates are guys that
23:38
were with us at college. It was a great time that being back in
23:41
West Virginia as it was when I was in Charleston with you. Yeah,
23:45
that was back in April. Hey, one one last last thing. As
23:51
we record, the Boston Celtics are on the cusp of winning a world championship,
23:57
and the gentleman that you were cruited to come play at West Virginia is
24:02
the head coach. I would imagine there have been times during this series that
24:04
you're looking there and you're watching Jie Missoula, and you've got to be just
24:08
like overcome with emotions as to what this kid has become. He he and
24:15
he's done it the right way. Fairmont State coach. He started in the
24:18
film room with the Celtics at the lowest levels with them, and you know
24:25
what I'm going to I got to get this out there. Jeff Neubauer sent
24:29
me the other day, my former assistant, jeffyr the report on him with
24:37
that we did on players we're really serious about, and he talked about his
24:41
talent and his quickness and all these things. But Jeff said in this last
24:48
paragraph the number one reason we have to recruit this kid is he is our
24:53
type of young man. He is a team first guy. He will be
25:00
tremendous for our culture because he's a winner. And it's it's like the greatest
25:06
it's the greatest prophecy, one of the greatest prophecies I've ever seen coming out
25:11
of the First the First Testament or something. It's something said this guy is
25:18
gonna be special and and he said that Josh Merkle, who's the coach at
25:23
Randolph making now a great coach, was the GA founded and just sent it
25:29
to us. I also thought, uh, I saw Joe this it's last
25:36
year, the season before this with with and I went back and I showed
25:38
him. I found a mid year report that I gave him as a freshman,
25:44
and it was like trying to be you basically said, you're really doing
25:48
well for freshmen. You're doing anything, but you you got to practice at
25:52
game speed. Uh and because you're playing a game speed, but you got
25:56
to practice more to be better. And so when I said, I showed
26:00
it to him at our game, we got a good laugh about it.
26:04
But I also wanted to make sure that it's all a few of the Celtics
26:11
players got to see it as well, and they laughed. They laughed a
26:15
lot about it. You know. So just a special young man, a
26:18
special young man that has stayed close with all his former teammates, that group
26:23
that that freshman class that I was speaking about in two thousand and six seven.
26:27
They've stayed together day Shawan and Alex Ruh, not Alex Ruwe, but
26:33
day Sean and all these guys they have stayed together over all this time.
26:37
So and very proud of Joe, very proud of Joe. So all right,
26:41
my friend, stay well. We really appreciate it, and hopefully our
26:45
paths will cross on the not too distant future. I hope so. I'm
26:52
Ren Baker is arranging. We hope it can come all together to bring back
26:56
that that two thousand and five twenty anniversary team this year, Tony and honor
27:02
them, and I hope of it. I hope I'm there and we can
27:07
get as many of those guys back. It's tough for a basketball game,
27:10
but so many of them are coaching, so we're trying to find some other
27:12
way of honoring them that they all can make it. That'd be perfectly awesome.
27:18
Yep, could be good. All right, buddy, Thank you so
27:21
much. Thanks there is John Bline his thoughts on the passing of West Virginia's
27:29
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Wendelmarine dot Com. So from the perspective of John Bline, let's get a
28:47
perspective from a young fella who grew up in West Virginia, attended Jerry West's
28:53
high school East Bank, right before it consolidated and became Riverside and Jeff Jenkins
29:00
joined us. He's the news director at Metro News and JJ for years,
29:06
Right, there was always that feel or that Jerry West presence, even though
29:14
he was long gone, well you were growing up. He had this unbelievable
29:18
aura in the Canal Valley and it never left. Well yeah, I mean,
29:22
you know, Tony, he I was from where Jerry West was from,
29:26
and that meant a lot to me. I don't know if it did
29:30
everyone, but it meant a lot to me because you know, just you
29:33
know, for some reason, I hooked on to Jerry West. You know,
29:37
I was a little guy, and you know, you know, he
29:41
went to my high school. I went to his high school, and you
29:44
know, I had an aunt who was in his high school class. My
29:45
father was just a couple of years ahead of him, so you know,
29:48
there was always this this kind of connection, and you know, he was
29:55
my first you know, I'm a big Reds fan, but he was my
29:57
He was really my first basketball or my first sports kind of hero. Right.
30:04
And and I remember, and I've told this story just a couple of
30:08
times, you know, he he had a he had a book called Basketball
30:12
My Way by Jerry West, and it was a teaching book and it had
30:18
great photos in it, just great photos of and we've actually seen some of
30:22
those photos in the last day or two here. Uh. And he he
30:26
would teach in the book, so you had you had these great color photos
30:30
of action. Plus there would be like teaching photos of Jerry, pat Riley,
30:37
hot Rod, Hundry Hunley, and they were I don't guess they were
30:40
allowed to wear like Lakers stuff. So they had on like white T shirts
30:44
and white shorts. And he's teaching like the pick and roll and he's teaching,
30:52
you know, how to I remember in one part of the book it
30:53
was like, you know, the best way to the best place on the
30:57
basketball court to steal from somebody if they're near the mid court line, over
31:02
by the over by the sideline, because you got them trapped and you can
31:06
steal the ball from them. You know. Just stuff like that was like
31:08
my favorite book growing up. So I like, I'm in Prette Elementary School,
31:11
and I'm constantly going to the place. I knew exactly where it was,
31:15
and I'm constantly going there when I when you know, like third grade
31:19
or fourth grade or second grade, you've got time in the library to see
31:22
if that book's there. And it was a pretty popular book because I only
31:26
got to check it out like a couple of times, right, so,
31:30
you know, so I got to check out the book and uh. And
31:33
so it was that. And then you know, I think about his sister,
31:37
Pat. I don't know if you ever met her, Tony Pat Pat
31:41
West Coast to the other day, Mom, exactly exactly, so Pat and
31:45
Ole. She was the postmaster in pract my hometown. So I would talk
31:51
to her constantly about Jerry, you know, about Jerry, and and uh
31:55
and uh. I remember one time, you know, and I don't know
31:59
what year it was, I wasn't very old, and it may have been
32:01
after he retired, that he was coming to Charleston to sign autographs or something,
32:07
and I just thought that maybe he would come to Pratt, you know,
32:08
maybe he would come like the thirty some miles up to see his sister.
32:13
You know, I had no idea. So I remember I think it
32:15
was on Saturday, because you know, where my parents lived and my mother
32:20
still lives today is like across the railroad tracks in Pratt where you can see
32:24
everybody come into town, you know. Uh. And so I like stood
32:29
on my porch for it seemed like hours to see if he was if he
32:32
came into town, wow, you know. And and then and so I
32:37
thought, well, maybe I missed him. So I got on my bike.
32:39
I like rode over to Pat's house because I knew exactly where she lived.
32:44
Like it's like a ride and pass. See there's a strange car.
32:46
Yeah, I'm doing to drive by. And I don't know, like I
32:50
don't know what I would have said or anything if I would have met him,
32:53
but I mean that didn't come about actually, but it was. It
32:57
was just yeah, I think you're right. It was just constantly present that
33:00
this is where you know Jerry West was from. You're reminded at the school
33:06
because there was his photo, there was his jersey is high school jersey,
33:09
and it was just kind of a constant reminder. You know, I'm going
33:13
to add to that, like you had the most literally you're in the same
33:19
school but I think your story is in existence in all fifty five counties for
33:27
kids growing up, like we had John antonic on and we'll hear from John
33:30
coming up here in just a little bit. He basically said the same thing
33:34
when you when you're young and you say, hey, this guy here that
33:37
he's from your state. Now for you, this is from your high school.
33:39
Now this guy do you count them in a stay. There's kids all
33:43
over the state who just had this Jerry West seed that planted in them.
33:49
And I think he truly respected that. He loved that, and that's why
33:53
I think to this day, right long after his career was long and over,
33:58
it's like he is so present. But isn't that why he's He was
34:01
such a valuable resource for generations of the state. Is is Jeff the ability
34:07
to see what he became from where he is from. It provided a blueprint
34:13
and obviously no one else gets to that level. But to whatever level of
34:16
success people had throughout the state, he provided a great example of you can
34:22
come from this. It can be as small as possible and still achieve absolute
34:25
greatness. That had to be amazingly powerful for generations of West Virginia kids.
34:30
You included, Yeah, I mean I agree with that. I you know,
34:32
I and I became you know, I became a Laker fan because of
34:36
Jerry West. I mean there's no doubt. I mean I was only nine
34:38
years old and I was one of these guys and I heard Coach Bline talk.
34:42
I'm as one of these guys. You caught like an ABC game on
34:44
Sunday, yep, you know. And I may have seen West play maybe
34:47
just a couple of times live. But but you know, I became a
34:52
Lakers fan and always hooked to Jerry West. And I told this story earlier,
34:58
like I really never got to meet him until one of these years that
35:00
you know, Metro News was doing the high school basketball tournament at the at
35:05
the coliseum there in Charleston, and I was a timeout coordinator, so it
35:08
must have been like the first couple of years or something. So like he
35:13
came to the tournament and he sat in those SSAC reserve seats like right behind
35:19
the score stable, right, so he's like right behind me, and I'm
35:22
going like, oh, I got to say something to Jerry West. Got
35:23
to say something, got to say something. It's like I turn around and
35:27
I said something like we got a lot in common me, and you said
35:34
same high school. You went to WVU. I went to WVU. I
35:37
know your sister, you know all this, and I kind of bumbled over
35:42
my words and stuff and he was just very gracious and he said, oh,
35:45
that's great, you know, and shook my hand. So whatever.
35:49
But you know, so that's you know that that was actually kind of neat.
35:52
That's kind of funny. But yeah, I mean, I you know,
35:55
I still remember, like as a kid grown up, every time,
35:59
I'm not kidding you, every time we drove through Shillion because he was from
36:02
Chillion. I know, some place people call it, you know, I
36:06
can get into semantics there about Cavin Creek and show you. But he's from
36:07
Chillion. And every time we drove through Shillion, which was like all the
36:13
time because this on the other side of East Mangle on the way to Charleston,
36:17
there was a sign undercause Chillion was unincorporated, so you had the Chillion
36:22
unincorporated sign, the green sign, and underneath it was just a black sign
36:25
and it just said black and white sign lettering and white has said home of
36:30
Jerry West, all pro all American. That's all. That's all. I
36:35
said. That's awesome, that's all I said. And I saw that sign
36:38
what seemed like a million times, and I always would think about Jerry West
36:43
and then I would and they said he lived kind of his mother's house,
36:47
you know, where he grew up was like near like the Shillion Bridge,
36:51
the old Chillion Bridge, kind of underneath near underneath the bridge, and I
36:53
would always like to look over there, you know. You know, stuff
36:57
is a kid that you do. And uh, you know, I remember
37:00
one of his in you know, one of his tragedy. He had a
37:04
lot of tragy, one of his tragedies, and this was something could be
37:07
replaced, was his you know, after he won the Olympic gold medal,
37:09
his mother's house burned down and he lost his original gold medal in the fire
37:15
and had to get a replacement from the Roman Olympics because of the fire destroyed
37:20
that gold medal. That's you know, it's just just another thing there.
37:23
But yeah, so it was just part I think, you're right, it's
37:27
just part of the fabric of my growing up. And Jeff, think about
37:30
that because I do think, and I said this yesterday, he's one of
37:34
the rare individuals. There's so much to say about him, You almost don't
37:37
know where to start the conversation. There's just so many facets of it.
37:40
But let's hit the West Virginia angle for a second, because that's the one
37:43
that continues to amaze me. For a guy that was in Los Angeles for
37:47
whatever that was, what sixty some years of his life, that's what he's
37:51
associated with his la a couple of things. Remains best friends with a guy
37:54
that lives in Logan in Willie Acres and we're gonna hear from Willy coming up
37:58
and state kept that connection. He never he not only didn't run from his
38:01
West Virginia heritage, he was proud of that and mentioned it, and it
38:04
was part of his fabric of his life. It wasn't he wasn't from West
38:08
Virginian. And I said this yestually, he wasn't from West Virginia. He
38:10
was a West Virginian right up until the day he died. Came back here
38:14
and he visited. And think how amazing that is, Jeff. You're what
38:17
near sixty years old, your entire your entire life, right childhood adulthood.
38:23
You had this guy to follow and look up to. And I think his
38:28
love for West Virginia was so evident and probably the most special part about him.
38:32
And I'll Tony, I'll give you this quick story. I don't know
38:35
if I've told you this part. And Jeff, I don't know if you've
38:37
heard this. When I worked in the athletic department, we were going to
38:39
do one year, we got to the point where we wanted to do a
38:42
Jerry West throwback Jersey, and we had the meeting and I was tasked with
38:47
calling him and asking for permission. Were just letting him know we were going
38:52
to do it. He was going to say yes. But you know,
38:53
back in those times, guys, if you needed something from Jerry, or
38:57
you wanted to ask Jerry for something, or Jerry needed to be involved in
38:59
something, you ran through Gary McPherson, Right. Gary and Jerry were close
39:02
for a long, long time, and so you didn't make a call to
39:05
Jerry West. She called Gary and had a meeting and here's what we need,
39:07
and then Gary would call Jerry. So you didn't have fifteen different people
39:09
calling. This is one of the first times I can remember somebody calling Jerry
39:13
West. And I got a call, I'm calling Jerry West. So guys,
39:15
I sat there for a good ten or fifteen minutes before I made the
39:19
call, Like, and we've been fortunate enough in this business. You've been
39:22
around a lot of people. That was one where you got a little bit
39:24
like, I'm going to get ready to call Jerry What like? What do
39:27
I ask for Jerry? Do I ask for Jerry West? Do I ask
39:29
for mister West? What the hell do I even say when I call?
39:31
So finally I get ready to make the call on the Secretary Answers and needs
39:35
not available UTI, I leave a message, which I kind of expected the
39:37
chances you get Jerry West in the first call. So I leave my message,
39:40
Brad, how WV Athletic Department, here's my number. Just had something
39:44
real quick. I wanted to run by and I won't take more than ten
39:45
minutes. She said, Okay, great, he'll get right back to you.
39:47
I thought, okay's going to get right back to me. Sure,
39:50
he's gonna get right back to me. It's probably in a couple of days,
39:52
or I'll have to call back in about a week. So I leave,
39:53
go out do something else, had a meeting, come back in voicemail
39:57
flashing Jerry West return my call, Like within the hour. I kept that
40:00
voicemail for every bit to eight to ten years. I wish I had known
40:05
technology well enough to be able to transfer that somewhere else. Right, Jerry
40:07
West saying, Hi, Brad, Jerry West, caller returning your call.
40:10
Jerry West says, So I call him back immediately, and I get through
40:14
and I get him and so he couldn't have been nicer, right, He
40:16
couldn't have been nicer. And I explained what we wanted to do. And
40:21
I was thinking about this last night. It's not like this was sixty years
40:23
ago. This wasn't this wasn't that long. This less than twenty years ago.
40:27
There were no marketing companies involved, We weren't in a room full of
40:30
lawyers on either side. He didn't he didn't pass me off to somebody else.
40:34
He didn't have somebody else return the call. He didn't even need to
40:37
really get on the phone, right, And he calls me directly, and
40:39
we talked for ten minutes and I told him what we wanted and he ended
40:43
with this, guys, and I thought about this all day yesterday. He
40:45
said, the only thing he asked me, asked me one question when I
40:47
asked if he was okay, if we did a throwback jersey because I remember
40:51
to throw back jersey is a different color. It was a totally different look.
40:53
That more royal blue exactly than the Navy, so it's totally different look.
40:57
He asked one question the whole conversation. He said, is it good
41:00
for West Virginia? That's all he said. And I said, mister West,
41:05
it is. I think this would be very good for us. He
41:07
said, I'm all behind it. Go ahead and do it. You have
41:09
my blessing. How about that? I thought, that's a great line from
41:13
Jerry. That's all he said, Is it good for West Virginia? How
41:16
appropriate is that from him? Perfect spot on? Two real quick things,
41:21
Tony. And there's a good When I was in junior high, there is
41:25
a substitute teacher who would come in every now and then. His name was
41:29
Duke Shaver all right, and his or sha or Duke Shaver and his claim
41:34
to fame, and he would braggle on this as a substitute teacher, that
41:37
he cut Jerry West from like the junior high team early in the junior high.
41:42
How about that, Duke Shawver? Yeah, he would tell that story.
41:45
He said, How smart am I? He said, I cut,
41:47
he said, I cut Jerry West, you know, from the Shillion junior
41:51
high school team, because Schillion had a junior high And actually I saw some
41:54
photos of that last night, and of Jerry on the team. I think
41:59
maybe in the m's have been eighth grade maybe or something, and he was
42:02
a guy holding the ball in the team picture. Uh. But yeah.
42:07
And then and then in that in that nixt game in the championship, in
42:13
the finals, when he hit that shot right mid court, hit mid court
42:17
to send it into overtime right. And in the in the book Basketball My
42:22
Way, there's a great shot on over sports illustrator whomever. It's underneath the
42:27
basket looking back toward the midcourt of Jerry on the follow through and the in
42:31
the ball going through the basket. And so this is again this is a
42:35
teaching book. It's like a textbook, is a teaching book. And he
42:37
comments on all the photos, he tells what's going on, and in this
42:40
photo he just simply says, this is what happened. And then the last
42:45
line of the book, the last photo on the book, it says,
42:47
I do not teach this shot. That's that's what it's said. Us use
42:52
only as needed. Yeah, exactly exactly. We had last night. I
42:58
had got I got a call after the show sportslumb was over from Gail Catlet
43:04
and he shared a couple of stories and one of those stories was when he
43:08
came as a freshman. Jerry Uh you know was here but Gail had a
43:15
red shirt season and he came in and Fred Schau said, Okay, this
43:17
is what I want you to do. I want you to guard weston practice
43:21
because you're big physically, You're stronger than he is right now. And I
43:25
really want him to develop his left hand. And he said, you understand.
43:29
They said, yeah, he said, now here. Here's the thing
43:30
I said, I want you to you know, I want you to be
43:32
physical with him. He said. But he said, if you heard him,
43:36
you will lose your scholarship. And he said, and I said,
43:40
coach, coach Shause, I completely understand on that. But he Coach Catlett
43:45
said, he was just you know, the the athleticism, the speed,
43:47
the quickness, the ability to play the game. It was just it was
43:51
breathtaking and you could just see it right from there. So and then and
43:54
then one more I just I just I was thinking of this too. Was
43:57
one more thing is that. You know, Jerry played the field House and
44:00
which is later called Stansbury Hall. And you know they chopped up in the
44:05
classrooms but left the courts, you know for intermurals and different things after they
44:08
moved into the coliseum. Where is my first class ever at WVU, very
44:14
first class stand freshman year Stansbury Annex. So he went through Stansbury Hall,
44:20
went into Stansbury Annex for English one. I had it. I was like,
44:22
oh man, this is great. This is where Jerry West played,
44:27
right, yeah, right, there's my first class. Yes, hi,
44:29
JJ. We appreciate your time greatly, Thank you very much. All right,
44:32
talk to you guys. All right, I appreciate that. There is
44:35
Jeff Jenkins, News Director, vice president of News of Metro News, East
44:38
Bank High School graduate and a guy that grew up obviously right in that area.
44:45
And uh, you know, Jerry West was a huge, huge part
44:49
of his life. Three guys before. The game is brought to us in
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45:43
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45:45
Maart. Early on, we mentioned that one of Jerry's teammates was Willie Akers,
45:53
and those two southern West Virginia guys. Willie Bourne raised in Mullins and
46:00
Jerry obviously in eastern Kannah County, and they hooked up together when they were
46:06
still in high school and it formed a relationship that never broke, never broke.
46:12
They were just the best of friends, went through all life experiences over
46:17
the last sixty plus years. And we had the opportunity to bring Willie Akers
46:24
on sports Line and let's listen into a little bit of that. As Willie
46:29
looks back toward his relationship with Jerry West, did you see that greatness at
46:34
Boys State when he was at East Bank and you were at Mones. Was
46:37
it evident and you knew what course he was going to take? Or did
46:39
it take a while once you guys got to WU for that to come out.
46:43
Well, that's a funny story. My friend from Mullins went to Borg
46:50
State. He was in a cabin with Jerry and I was in another cabin.
46:53
We had least three or four all state players, but Jerry wasn't an
47:00
All state player. He was an honorable mention and and led scoring in Kenol
47:07
Valley. Well, this guy brought him over to meet the en. We
47:10
met and he said he wanted to play with us, and so he and
47:15
I kind of teamed up and played on the court. And so we were
47:22
playing defense right off till then and one of our teammates went up to shoot
47:29
and Jerry slapped the ball out, dropped blocked it with eve and I went,
47:34
well, that's pretty good. Then Rick Cannel and played the game.
47:37
He was outstanding. He could play defense, he could shoot, he could
47:42
jump, uh, he was a pass just every day, so I got
47:45
with him. I stayed with Jerry from that time till they until we left
47:52
West Virginia University. I played with him all the time, and I knew
47:58
what to do to help him, and he knew what I needed to do.
48:02
I played off defense and rebound, and I was a scorer when I
48:07
left in high school, but I ended up playing defense and passing. So
48:13
it was just one of those things. And like I said before, he
48:19
was unreal when it come playing. When the going was good, we were
48:23
way ahead. He didn't score at all, and the Renther team members would
48:30
score, and we turned right around. In one school, we beat him
48:35
pretty bad. I had sixteen and he had fifteen. Well that's kind of
48:38
unusual. And but we went on to Tennessee and Tennessee was ranked in the
48:45
top ten and we were two and Jerry scored forty four. So you can
48:52
that's the way it went. You know. That is a great, great
48:54
story from Willie, because when it comes to the greatest of the greats,
48:59
what they do when it gets the most challenging and the most difficult, the
49:04
greatest of all players make the unbelievable great plays. And yet, as he
49:08
said, when they know the situation's under control, they're more than happy to
49:13
defer. But when it comes time to like here we go, got to
49:15
make a play, right, he was that guy like give me the ball.
49:20
We all often talk on this show like we want guys that say or
49:23
girls, give me the ball. I got this, give it to me.
49:27
I gotta take care of That's true. Great, Now he might have
49:29
been the greatest example of that. There's been a lot and he's talked about
49:32
that before, hence the nickname mister clutch right. I mean, you can
49:35
go look at the stats that back up what he did in the final thirty
49:37
seconds in games. He was an ultimate get out of the way and give
49:40
me the ball kind of guy. I watched last night WVU re released the
49:45
Jersey ceremony right, which, by the way, you look like you're about
49:49
ten, which was startling, so they re released that. So I went
49:52
back and listened to that whole speech from Jerry West again. And one of
49:55
the things that caught me that I don't remember it live when he started talking
50:00
about his teammates, now important they were, But then he talked about Willie
50:02
specifically, and he turned and faced Willie. He referred to Willy Akers as
50:07
his soulmate. Yes, he said, if I could have a male soulmate,
50:10
it is that man. They were boys. You think about a strong
50:13
statement for somebody, right, and those guys live that up until up until
50:16
this weekly Jerry passed away. Yeah. Absolutely. We talked about a Jeff
50:22
Jenkins who grew up right in the valley there with Jerry West. The aura
50:28
of Jerry West. Here's another one for you. Chris Wallace not from Knaw
50:32
County, but he's from Upshire County, but born and raised in Buchanan and
50:37
absolutely loved the sport of basketball and has been in the NBA now for almost
50:43
forty years. He's two years away from forty years, which is unbelievable.
50:49
So Chris shares a couple of stories about Jerry, how instrumental he was and
50:54
keeping him in the league and getting him work in the league. And he
50:59
shared with one story about Jerry when it came to drafting, how he handled
51:07
the others in the front office. Let's listen to that. Chris Wallace on
51:10
a story about Vlattie Devac. You can either evaluate talent. I don't care
51:16
if you're talking about evaluating for college football or the NBA or you can't.
51:21
And he was very confident in his ability to valuate talent. I'll give you
51:23
a story Vlade Divac, who the Lakers took in the late twenties and of
51:30
the draft, and I believe nineteen eighty nine there was a player from Missouri
51:35
seven foot at the time, Gary Leonard, who was a big name high
51:37
school player out of Saint Louis, didn't really was an underachiever for a couple
51:42
of years and then came on as last year. He was another possibility there
51:45
late in the first round, and as they're deciding who to take, Jerry
51:50
went around the room ask all the scouts in personnel, people, who do
51:54
you want? Leonard? Leonard, Leonard? Every guy said Leonard. After
51:59
the guy gave his opinion, Jerry said, man, I appreciate your opinion,
52:02
but we're taking Blatt a devach. How'd that work out? Pretty dug
52:07
hung good? You know. So you know he didn't wave, but he
52:12
didn't wet his whistle. Wave it, you know, put it in the
52:15
wind, see how it was blowing. He knew who he wanted. That's
52:17
pretty wild. You could just see that happen. All right, here's another
52:22
one quick. That's the executive version of giving the ball. Yeah, thanks,
52:24
but appreciate the work. Here's what we're don't give me a basketball,
52:27
take it now, I'll handle it. Isn't that it? And that's what
52:30
John said when coach Belin came on here, right off the bay. He
52:31
said he had unbelievable confidence. He never wavered in his confidence, like he
52:37
knew what he was. He knew what he was, he knew what he
52:38
thought, he thought what he knew. He's like, Okay, this is
52:40
what I'm doing. But think about that. Think think if you're Jerry West
52:44
making decisions in basketball, think of it. Take the thing that you're most
52:47
confident in life, and then you're Jerry West. That was one of the
52:51
greatest players of all time. He just I don't all due respect, I
52:53
don't need you to tell me anything. Yes, I got it absolutely.
52:57
Here's another one from Chris on someone playing around on a potential trade and Jerry
53:02
West got involved. You knew exactly what he thought. And I'll give you
53:10
another example of that. When I was at Boston early on was Rick Patino.
53:16
We drafted Paul Pierce in the nineteen ninety eight draft, and then the
53:22
NBA went immediately into a lockout to start on July one and wasn't listed until
53:30
tenth or so of January. So we've got nothing but time in our hands.
53:36
And Patino was president and head coach, and Rick is an action junkie
53:43
and needs a lot of activity. And the people that he is friends with
53:46
are all wheelers and dealers. They're deal guys, Wall Street guys, deal
53:51
makers in the business side. So as we came out of the lockout,
53:54
our group was a little bored with the fact we had Paul Pierce. The
53:59
novelty had worn off and we hadn't even started practice. Yep, but what
54:01
could we get from Paul in the trade? So they have me call around.
54:07
They have me called Jerry to ask if he'd be interested in Eddie Jones.
54:12
You remember the former Temple Stars for Paul Pierce. And I called Jerry
54:17
up and floated that idea, and he immediately said, don't say it unless
54:22
you mean it, because if you mean it, I'll go into doctor Buss
54:27
and we'll do this in two tenths of a second. Now I come back
54:31
to Patino and tell him that you talk about throwing cold water over somebody's head,
54:37
that was the end of going out and seeing what would we get from
54:38
Buck Peter. And thank god Jerry is who he was, because anybody else
54:46
I've ever dealt with would have just inside been saying, I can't believe how
54:52
dumb these guys are the fleet some of this thing. And thank god he
54:57
didn't because I wouldn't be here today working in the NBA if that deal.
55:00
Yeah, he's not overstating that. Chris isn't a right Let's explain that.
55:05
So Paul Pierce ends up being a Hall of Fame player right, led the
55:08
Celtics to a championship, and I was a Hall of Fame guy. Had
55:12
he been traded for Eddie Jones, who had a nice NBA career but wasn't
55:15
Paul Pierce, the blame would have landed on the general manager at the time,
55:19
which was Chris Wallace. So Chris would have worn that bad trade around
55:22
his neck for his entire NBA career. I would have been a scarlet letter
55:27
like every he would always left it. They wouldok at it and go Chris
55:28
Wallas, that's the guy that traded Paul Pierce for Eddie Jones. Yeah,
55:31
he'd be done, he'd be out of the league. So Chris isn't overstating
55:35
him when he said Jerry in essence, helped save his job by saying,
55:37
you better make sure this is what you want to do. About that,
55:40
We'll do it in point two seconds. Amazing, all right, one more
55:45
here for you link looking back, and here's another West Virginian, John Antonick.
55:51
So we hit Kenaw County, we hit ups your county. Now we're
55:52
gonna hit Wetele County. Johnny grew up in Wetszell County, Magnolia High School,
55:58
play at Magnolia High School. Now his job is to basically oversee and
56:01
generate all the content that you see coming out of WUVU, mostly on wv
56:07
sports dot Com. So John's the one that wrote the story that you probably
56:09
saw on that site, and he joined us, and I thought he did
56:14
an unbelievable job of putting some things into perspective in regard to what he his
56:19
feeling was toward Jerry West And probably it's shared by so many to other kids
56:23
that grew up in the state of West Virginia about Jerry. Amazing too,
56:29
about the logo. The NBA has never really acknowledged that that's the logo and
56:32
he would always run from that. Jerry would he would always deflect questions or
56:37
comments about the logo. Isn't that also, John, exactly like he was
56:42
deflecting the credit. The guy's the logo. You're right, it's unbelievable,
56:45
and he would always deflect that. Well, that's our values, Brad.
56:47
I mean, that's who Jerry West was. And I think that's why he
56:52
so loved and revered because the values that made him who he is are the
56:55
things that we so admire and adore. And you know, I'm choking up
57:01
thinking about it now, man, I mean, he was just the guy
57:06
that we all wanted to be. And I mean I can remember as a
57:09
young professional, you know, he would come here for the dedications and different
57:15
things and I just sat there and I said, Man, that's what I
57:19
want to be like. I want to be like him. The way he
57:21
dresses, the way he conducts himself, the way he carries himself. That's
57:24
just a dignified, classy man and a West Virginian tony. Haven't we said
57:30
that same thing? But John, You're right. The presence that he had
57:34
all the way up until the end was out, So not only just the
57:37
posture and the look and the suit. It's like he walked around with a
57:40
ring light, like he was lit up differently right than most people. Right
57:45
in the room. He's statue statues. He's statue asking you walked into a
57:50
room and he had this presence of mind and you're like, WHOA, that's
57:52
that person is not like anything else in this room. I agree, right
57:55
So here here, I'm gonna let you go, Johnny. But here's someone
57:58
that wrote. In nineteen seventy won. My father and a couple other gentlemen
58:01
started a youth basketball league in Harrison County for nine and ten year olds and
58:07
eleven and twelve's. They contacted Jerry West. They got permission to use his
58:12
name for the youth league. Hence Jerry West Youth Basketball emerged. How many
58:16
thousands of youngsters did he touch? God bless Jerry, and there you go,
58:22
Johnny. One of the things real quick, here, guys, what
58:23
he did for Western University all the time. He honored all his names.
58:28
Look at all the things that he put his name on that had benefited,
58:30
whether it's the hospital, the cancer center, children's hospital, the Pride of
58:35
West Virginia, the libraries. I mean it goes on and on. Yeah,
58:38
all right, buddy, be good, thank you for your time.
58:40
Be good, Thank you, sea man. There he is, and that
58:44
is John and Tona. You can go to WV sports dot com and read
58:50
his there we go. All right, pretty amazing. That wasn't the smooth
58:53
as of it? Hey? His presence was his presence, right. Yeah.
59:00
Let's put this thing to bed with a couple of things, various things
59:06
that we've picked up from some of our listeners. Here's an email that I
59:10
received from a gentleman by the name of Bob Melfis. We know Bob Harrisburg,
59:15
Pa Tony. It was nineteen fifty six. My grandfather had gotten three
59:21
comp basketball tickets from his lifelong buddy Tony Constantine, the legendary sportswriter. My
59:27
grandfather, Dad and I walked down to the fieldhouse from the Homestead on McClain
59:31
Avenue. The place was packed for the early freshman game. Everyone was there
59:37
just to see West play. Truthfully, I can't say I remember much about
59:42
his performance or even if the freshman Mountaineers won, But I can always say
59:45
I saw the logo play in a college game nineteen fifty six. Now let
59:52
me show you a couple of pictures. Let me generate a couple of things
59:54
here too. Hang on, hang on, hang on. This is Charlie
1:00:04
from mid Lothian. Who's our buddy. Remember Charlie Steele's gas. Yea,
1:00:07
he didn't steal gas. What do you mean, well, he gets the
1:00:09
discount from Croker. He's not steep. It's almost the promotion. Close Charlie
1:00:15
from Midlothian. He said, yesterday was a tough day, to say the
1:00:16
least. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby when I
1:00:20
heard the news of Jerry passing. He's part of my Facebook profile picture when
1:00:25
I received my bitty basketball certificate from him at the Charleston Y in the fourth
1:00:31
grade. So there's Charlie's team, all right. Now, listen hold that
1:00:36
picture there one second. Also included in this picture of the all Star team
1:00:39
that included Kim West number two, Jerry's nephew, and Curtis Price number nine
1:00:46
right next to him, who would play for the Mountaineers. As so many
1:00:50
had said, if you grew up playing basketball in West Virginia, Jerry was
1:00:53
your hero. And if you take a look at the next picture, that's
1:00:57
when Jerry came in and presented forget that was down there in Charleston. That
1:01:02
wh see he dressed well even then he has a sweet sweater. It was
1:01:06
nice. It was a nice pants. That's a good look. You've got
1:01:08
good. You think he went to fine looking Phil's. He very well.
1:01:10
Could have Yeah, could have been look good. Meanwhile, here's another one
1:01:15
for you. This came in earlier today. Hey guys, yesterday I had
1:01:22
a speaking engagement at the Greenbrier, my first ever trip there. We had
1:01:27
dinner at Prime forty four West. That's the restaurant in the Greenbrier named after
1:01:32
Jerry. They served champagne for the entire place to toast Jerry. It was
1:01:37
interesting to explain to the folks at our table to tell the story of how
1:01:40
we follow him just because he was one of us. The same for Joe
1:01:45
Missoula playing and coaching that night, and they said to him, you mean
1:01:49
you only care about the Celtics because the coach played at West Virginia. Yes,
1:01:53
that's just West Virginia fans. Once a mountaineer, always a mountaineer.
1:01:59
And there's some of the shots inside Prime forty four if you've ever been in
1:02:01
there. They got a great deal of memorabilia of Jerry West. Well,
1:02:07
there you go. We hope that we gave you a little bit, maybe
1:02:12
some stories that you hadn't heard in the past as we reflect on the most
1:02:19
iconic mountaineer of all time. Football, basketball doesn't matter. He is the
1:02:24
dude, always will be the dude. A remarkable life well lived. Yeah,
1:02:30
and a true West Virginia. All right, that'll do it for us.
1:02:34
We appreciate it. Thanks for checking us out on this special episode of
1:02:38
Three Guys Before the Game coming up next week. Our next episode is Summer
1:02:45
series with WVU football player Oliver Straw. That's that one's already in the can.
1:02:53
As they say, it's it is really super good. I mean,
1:02:59
this is he been around. I mean this guy has he's like traveled like
1:03:07
someone like three times his age. It's really good. He's a good kid.
1:03:12
When you we'll get that next week. All right, that'll do it
1:03:14
for us. Three Guys Before the Game brought to us in part by the
1:03:19
fine folks at Comac's Business Systems. Check them out at comaswv dot com.
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They keep West Virginia's business data safe, secure and efficient for twenty five years
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by Gomart, get a Gomart rewards card, download their app and just save
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millions of dollars. Go to gomart dot com for details. That's gomart dot
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com and by Lou Wendelmarne Sales in Saint Albans. They sell familyfund Visit Lou
1:03:50
Wendelmarine Sales dot com. I also encourage you to go to the website.
1:03:54
They got that live camera. You can see what the water's doing. And
1:03:57
I'm kind of neat next next couple weeks here, you better be on the
1:04:00
water season. You better be on the water. It's gonna get so hot.
1:04:03
I mean it's hot, getting hot. Get out there, Yeah,
1:04:06
get out there. Thanks to our producer Zach Kraulchek and Austin Wright. And
1:04:13
the show was so good. We'd have two of guys back then they relayed
1:04:16
like they tagged out. I went back into the have some One guy's left
1:04:19
and the other guy's there. So anyway, it's good. John b Lin,
1:04:24
thank you very much, and all the rest of the folks, thanks
1:04:27
for being with us. Three guys before the game. See you