Biography and Early Life

Full name of Jerry is Jerry Alan West. He was born in Chelyan of West Virginia. His parents Cecil West and Howard West were not financially stable. While Cecil was a housewife, Howard used to work as an electrician in coal mines. He was their fifth child among total six kids.

During his childhood, Jerry was an introvert and shy kind of guy but things become worse when his brother David expired during the Korean War. At that time Jerry was only 12 and he was very close to David. He was quite weak and used to get vitamin injections. Due to his weak physique, he was kept restrained from sports. However, he got distracted by a basketball hoop tied by his neighbor. He became obsessive for shooting baskets.

He had attended High School of East Bank in West Virginia from 1952-1956 where he was a standout. He went to the University of West Virginia where he led the Mountaineers towards earning the title of NCAA Champions in the year 1959. He also won the honor of Final Four Outstanding player of NCAA.

Professional Career

Jerry’s professional NBA career is regarded as one of the most successful ones. He has been playing basketball at the position of guard; he got elected twelve times in All- NBA 1st and 2nd teams. Jerry was a part of the team of All-Star NBA for fourteen times. In the year 1972, he got selected as All-Star Game MVP of NBA. That year only he won the title of NBA Champion.

Jerry also holds the record in NBA for having the highest average points i.e., 46.3 per game for a series of playoff. He also played as a part of 1st five teams of NBAAll – Defensive which came into existence when Jerry had reached 32 years of age. He had played in the finals of NBA for 9 times and has become the single player to become Finals MVP though being a part of losing team in 1969.

As per the stats, in the year 1996, he was included amongst the Fifty Greatest Players in the history of NBA. Jerry retired from basketball due to his contract discrepancies with Cooke. After his retirement from playing, he also played the role of head coach for 3 years to the Lakers. You cannot find any details about him on FanGraphs though.

Personal Life

Jerry got married to his college time girlfriend Martha Jane during April of 1960 at Morgantown, however, the couple got divorced in the year 1976. Jerry had three sons from his first marriage named Michael, David and Mark. He married his second wifeKaren West in 1978. The couple is blessed with 2 sons named Jonnie and Ryan. He got an injuryrecently while attending the warrior’s home stand in January 2017. Currently, his net worth is around $55 million. Though Jerry is a legendary player but his highest annual salary sums up to only $90,000