10/10/2025
West Virginia deserves some pro sports teams because of this little known fact.
The NBA logo, that familiar red, white, and blue silhouette of a player dribbling a basketball, has been around since 1969. Most fans know the truth, even if the league doesn’t officially say it: that player is Jerry West of West Virginia, one of basketball’s greatest guards and fiercest competitors.
Back in the late 60s, the NBA wanted a new identity to stand out from its rival, the ABA. Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy hired designer Alan Siegel, who had just created Major League Baseball’s logo. While searching through photographs for inspiration, Siegel came across a shot of West dribbling down the court in that smooth, effortless stride, captured by Lakers photographer Wen Roberts.
Siegel said the image was “graceful and pure,” the perfect visual symbol of basketball. He turned that photograph into a simple, timeless silhouette, and it’s been the face of the NBA ever since.
The league, however, has always maintained that the figure isn’t meant to represent anyone specifically, saying it stands for every player who has ever played the game. But fans, historians, and even NBA Commissioner Adam Silver have all acknowledged the truth, that the man behind the logo is Jerry West.
West himself had mixed feelings about it. In later interviews, he said he was never asked for permission and wished the association had never been made public. “I’m flattered,” he once said, “but I’d rather they pick someone else.”
Still, it’s hard to imagine basketball without that silhouette, a symbol of grace, motion, and quiet determination, much like the man himself.
