We'd get this basketball card in our pack of Topps and wonder why Jerry West was wearing his jersey backward. But then he'd play in NBA All-Star games year after year, and that's how it would look -- West on the front, and on the back. From '61 to '73, 12 All-Star games in a row (although he didn't play in '69 because of injury). The coolest was when the NBA All-Star Game was at the Forum, in '72, when he was named the MVP. Call him Mr. Clutch. Or Zeke from Cabin Creek. Or simply The Logo. If anyone encompases the Los Angeles basketball experience, it's No. 44.
The second overall pick in the 1960 NBA draft (after Cincinnati took Oscar Robertson), West came with the team from Minneapolis and formed a 1-2 combo punch with Elgin Baylor that eventually lured Chick Hearn over to broadcast the team's games (he had been doing USC sports).
His 14-year career included four seasons with 30 points a game or better (a league-best 31.2 a game in '69-'70). That season, he launched the 60-foot shot at the buzzer that sent Game 3 of the NBA finals into overtime against the New York Knicks. "It was a beautiful thing wasted," West later said according to his bio on the NBA Hall of Fame website. Yeah, the Knicks won the game, and the series. But that was one of nine finals West played in -- winning only in '71-72. He was the NBA Finals MVP in '69 despite the fact the team lost (again) to Boston. in the '65 playoffs, he averaged 40.6 points a game over 11 contests and 46.3 points a game against Baltimore in the divsion finals.
After the '73-'74 season, he retired because of injury with 25,192 points (the fourth highest career average in history with 27.0 points a game) and 6,238 assists.
He tried coaching the Lakers and got them to the playoffs in three seasons with a 145-101 regular-season mark.
Three more years as a scout, but the job that really make his post-playing career was in the front office starting as the general manager in '82. He built the teams that ran off five titles during the 1980s. He got the Charlotte Hornets to take Vlade Divac in exchange for the rights to Kobe Bryant, which lead to the free-agent signing of Shaquille O'Neal and three more NBA titles for the franchise.
He snuck off to Memphis for a while to build that team (when it was apparent he couldn't work for an owner whose daughter dated the head coach). You think there's a chance he could come back and rebuild these current Lakers? It wouldn't necessarily take another clutch performance.

Runner ups:
==Reggie Jackson, Angels ('82-'85)
Hit 123 of his 563 career homers while in Anaheim, including career No. 500.
==Darryl Strawberry, Dodgers ('91-'93)
The former Crenshaw High star hit 38 of his 335 career homers as a Dodger.
==Al Downing, Dodgers ('71-'77)
Was 20-9 with a 3.23 ERA in his first season in L.A., but made more history on an April night in Atlanta in '74
==Hank Gathers, USC basketball ('85-'86) LMU basketball ('86-'90)
Led the nation in scoring (32.7) and rebounding (13.7) in '89-'90 season before the fateful day March 4, 1990.
==Gaston Green, UCLA football (84-87), Rams (88-90)
Gardena High star finished as UCLA's all-time leading rusher with 3,731 yards and 20 100-yard games.
==John Rudometkin, USC men’s basketball ('60-'62)
A two-time All-American who set USC career records in points (1,484, the mark stood for 23 years), scoring average (18.8) and rebounding (831).

Other No. 44s:
==Ken Landreaux, Dodgers ('81-'87)
==Mike Warren, UCLA basketball ('65-'68)
==Jim Spillane, UCLA basketball ('73-'77)
==Ron Dugay, Kings ('87-'89)
==Jaroslav Modry, Kings ('95-'04, '07-)
==Rob Niedermayer, Ducks ('03- )
==Cliff Robinson, USC men’s basketball ('80-'82)
==Cynthia Cooper, USC women’s basketball ('82-'86)

Sports Illustrated's choice for the all-time No. 44: Hank Aaron, over West, Pete Maravich, Jackson, Willie McCovey, Ernie Davis (college) and Jim Brown (college).

Did we miss anyone?
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