Have you ever met someone so famous they became a logo? Well I have, and they not so politely told me to get lost.
Back in the winter of 1978, I was in San Antonio for a convention when a colleague and I decided to take in the Spurs/Lakers game one evening. This was before the showtime era, but the Lakers still had Kareen Abdul-Jabbar who was worth the price of admission. The game was decent with the Lakers leading most of the way, but just when it looked like they were going to win, they made some bad turnovers and lost by a point.
I guess conventions haven’t changed much in 40 years because after the game, we tried to grab a beer only to find that every bar in the area was packed, including the one in our hotel lobby. Seemingly out of luck, we asked a member of the hotel staff what our best option was, and he mentioned that there was a small bar downstairs that most people didn’t know about so odds are we’d have better luck there. I guess it was our lucky night because not only were there a couple seats open, but they happened to be next to Chick Hearn, the long time Lakers broadcaster and player whose name I cannot remember….though I know it wasn’t Kareem.
We mentioned to them that we were at the game, and of course that we were big Celtics fans, which quickly led to a spirited conversation about the rivalry. We weren’t about the pass up the chance to talk to the voice of the Lakers and an actual Laker…but it’d be helpful if I could remember his name. To our surprise, they were pretty open to conversation, though I’m sure the fact that we were buying rounds didn’t hurt. We were having a pretty good time, when all of a sudden, who walks in but Jerry West. Forget the fact that he was the coach of the Lakers at the time, this was the freaking NBA logo. Growing up a Celtics fan of course I hated him, but still had to respect him. I mean, the NBA logo is literally his silhouette.
Not surprising, after a brutal loss, he was not in a very good mood. He quickly took over the conversation, which did not include “the two random guys at the bar”. When Jerry had finally stopped airing his frustrations long enough to have a drink, I asked him how he thought Dave Cowens would do as a coach. I thought this would be a good way to engage him since earlier in the season the Celtics had fired Satch Sanders and Cowens became a player/coach (the last person to do so in the NBA). In response, Jerry firmly put his drink down and said quite bluntly,” hey I’ve got my own f***ing problems!“
With that, we figured it was time to leave – so we paid the tab, shook hands with Chick and the player, and left Jerry to continue his rant about the game.
What really strikes me reminiscing about this story was not that Jerry West basically told me to “F*ck Off” (I’m loud and from Boston so this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence) but how accessible the players were in those days. It wasn’t uncommon to see players, coaches, etc. hanging out in hotel lobbies after games talking with fans. I can’t imagine seeing Lebron, or even the last guy on the bench just relaxing in the lobby these days.
