West Virginia football is focused on making some noise in the revamped Big 12 Conference this season, as they begin the 2024 campaign with a difficult matchup against the visiting Penn State Nittany lions on Saturday afternoon. But the program is still making sure to remember one of the university's most famous alums, Jerry West.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend and NBA logo passed away on June 12 at the age of 86, prompting the Mountaineers to make a special gesture in his memory. West Virginia players are sporting a No. 44 decal on their helmets this year, via Bleacher Report, continuing the trend of the university's athletic teams displaying the Cheylan native's jersey number for the rest of the 2024 sports season.
West left an indelible mark on basketball, winning an NBA championship as a Hall of Fame player in 1972 with the Lakers and earning eight more as an all-time great executive during his stints with LA and the Golden State Warriors. When he is posthumously inducted in Springfield, Massachusetts this October for his contributions to the game, it will be a record third time that West is enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
It all started in West Virginia, though.
The impact Jerry West had on West Virginia basketball
The scrappy yet supremely talented guard led the basketball Mountaineers to arguably their greatest peak in program history. He was a two-time Consensus First-Team All-American and nearly willed the team to the 1959 national championship. West posted 28 points and 11 rebounds in an agonizing 71-70 overtime loss to California in the title game.
In what was a painful but incredibly impressive prelude to the 1969 NBA Finals, he was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player despite not being a member of the winning squad. And that is a critical part of the Book of Jerry West that must be thoroughly read and celebrated. He elevated his squads to staggering heights, even when they were clearly outmatched.
West Virginia football would be wise to closely reflect on the man's fighting spirit when they take the field this season. They are not expected to vault to the top of the Big 12 or clinch a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff, but if they can typify some of the tenacity that came to define West during his career and life, then this should be quite the year in Morgantown.
That intangible would especially come in handy right about now, as the Mountaineers trail the No. 8 Nittany Lions 20-6 at time of print.
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