Jerome Alan West, the American former basketball player and NBA executive, was born on 28 May 1938 in Chelyan, West Virginia USA, one of the six children of Howard Stewart West and Cecil Sue West of Mexican descent. West played his entire basketball career for the Los Angeles Lakers and was the basis of his net worth.
So can you have any guesses about how rich is Jerry West? According to sources, his net worth is over $60 million, which is a result of his more than 50 year-long involvement in basketball.
Jerry West Net Worth $60 Million
Jerry West had a strong passion for basketball from a very early age, although physically he was quite fragile and constantly had to take vitamin injections as supplements to take care of his poor health. Still he spent all of his spare time throwing basketballs at a hoop attached to one of his neighbors’ shed. He attended East Bank High School where he was selected in the basketball team due to his perfection in shooting style, and he became the first player to score 900 points in a single season. The school team also participated in the State Championship due to his first-rate play, and for a day the school was renamed as West Bank High School in his honor.
Jerry helped his college team West Virginia University win two NCAA championships, setting point-scoring, assists and rebound records along the way too, which still stand. He was selected for the Gold Medal-winning US team at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
In 1960, Jerry was the first choice of the Minneapolis Lakers for the first round of NBA draft =-re-located to Los Angeles, he played his entire career with the Lakers in the the guard position, Through his 14-year career he created records and set examples – he had a great capacity to tolerate physical pain and therefore in spite of having been injured many times, he gave extraordinary performances. In 1974 he retired himself with a record of 25,192 points in 932 games, as the third highest scorer of all time. West also holds the record for the highest average points with 31.2 points per game for the 30 plus players.
After just two years of retirement, he again joined basketball, this time as a coach. He worked as a special consultant to the Lakers, and eventually became their general manager, raising his net worth even higher, and in 1995 he was appointed Executive Vice President. Due to some heart problem, he left the post in 2000, but in October 2002 returned as the President of the Memphis Grizzlies. In 2011 he joined the Golden Gate Warriors as a board member, including a part-ownership of the club.
West has won many awards from time to time, including Most Valuable Player at NCAA final four Basketball tournament in 1959 and gold medal as a member of US Olympics Men’s Basketball Team in 1960. In 1969 and 1972 he was named Most Valuable Player in the NBA finals and NBA All-Star Game respectively. In 1979, he was inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame by sporting news. He was also nicknamed as ‘Mr. Outside’, ‘Mr. Inside’, ‘Mr. Clutch’ etc from time to time according to his various abilities. In 1969, he along with Bill Liebbe wrote a book about himself named ‘Mr. Clutch: The Jerry West Story’, which added a considerable amount to his net worth.
In his personal life, Jerry West married his college girlfriend Martha in 1960, but divorced her in 1976, after having three sons with her. He has two sons with second wife Karen whom he married in1978. His youngest son Johnny also played Guard for the West Virginia Mountaineers. West now lives in Los Angeles and enjoys this net worth with his family.
