June 12, 2024 • 41 mins
Dan reacts to the news that Hall of Fame player, executive and NBA logo, Jerry West passed away this morning and gets emotional as he shares his remembrances of the basketball legend. He also replays the last interview he conducted with Jerry, his friend and idol.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's our two on this Wednesday, Dan and The Dan
and Dan Patrick Show come on. In a little bit later.
We'll talk to Bill Plishki of the La Times. He
had a scathing column about the Lakers and the embarrassment
of what happened. Letting Dan Hurley go back to Connecticut
the news that just happened about ten minutes ago. Jerry
(00:25):
West has passed away at the age of eighty six.
He was the logo and certainly a friend of the show.
We tried to have him on. He'd be mad at
me if I was emotional, be like, what are you
(00:46):
crying about. We tried to have him on recently and
he wasn't feeling well. I think he had a cold
or the flu, and his wife said, you try again.
I think the last time we had him on was
a little little less than a year ago. And you know,
he's a friend of the show and integral part of
(01:07):
the show. Came on many, many, many times, joined us
in studio a couple of times when we were in
Los Angeles. But listen stuff, Yeah, Paulie helped me out.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, I just gotta tell you Man, we found out
about three or four minutes before you did. Sometimes we
get information before you, and none of us in this
room wanted to walk over and tell you this. We
were waiting for the break. And man, I know how
important this.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Guy was to you.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I mean, we talk about Walter Payton for me or
everyone has an athlete that and I think work on
the show a long time. I'm sure he was your hero,
your dad's.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
And then and we.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Saw a couple of times, maybe about ten years ago
he started coming on a show and he was sitting
there with you and talking basketball, and I could tell
that you were like kind of giddy, like I can't.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, I saw my dad. Yeah, and I think they
were similar age.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Jerry walked out one day and he goes, thank you,
my friend, and I could see You're.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, that's that's not something that's
supposed to happen. And then.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
On our tenth anniversary, Fritzy and I and Seaton and
all the guys had an idea to surprise you for
the tenth anniversary of the show. And we're like, let's
let's ask Jerry West to come in at seven am.
West Coast time, and he looked immaculate. He was perfectly dressed.
He had to go on a flight two hours later.
He took time out of his day and we surprised
you with a cake from Jerry's Cakes and Torrents. And
(02:36):
if it's not the greatest moment ever on the show,
ye so uh, I wish we didn't have to tell
you this, but yeah, yeah, see he has.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Jerry West has one of the most unique positions in
sports sports history, and that with just one figure can occupy.
He was a tremendous player. He's the logo of the sport.
He is instrumental in drafting several of people who had
then gone on to become some of the greatest people ever.
His impact on the game is immeasurable just in one person,
(03:11):
and you could take as an executive it's one way,
just as a marketing I guess, even though it wasn't
really his doing, just the logo itself is massive. And
then just him as a player, just it's like three
or four separate careers that were all massive.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
All Hall of Fame careers.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Yeah yeah, I mean, his role an impact really can't
be measured.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
He might be the most impactful person in the history
of the NBA.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
While also wanting almost no attention for anything, like to
be the logo and also be a very private man.
I mean, he would do interviews and share things he
never wanted credit.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And he brought up the fact that he couldn't even
watch or listen to the Laker games because it ate
him up. You know, he had a hard time sitting
there watching a game because he was so competitive and that,
you know, there's only so much you can do. You
put a product out on the floor and you hope
that they win. But he said that he would drive
around Los Angeles sometimes when the Lakers would be playing
(04:13):
in you know, an NBA finals there. But yeah, we
were very lucky. We were very lucky that he opened
himself up to us and developed a relationship there. But
Jerry West passed away at the age of eighty six.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I always found it when we'd have him on the show,
it was like going to a time machine with a
different type of person, a gentleman from the fifties and
sixties and seventies that said, that's how I'm going to
be for the rest of my life.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I'm going to be a gentleman.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I'm not going to buy into all this new culture
of what you know, all this stuff and and it
was like meeting Babe Ruth or something like that. I
didn't grow up on Jerry West like you did. And
when we first had in my studio, it's kind of shocking.
That's exactly who I expect him to be. He outlived
the expectations of what a class individual dad mona like that.
That's kind of person I wish I could be someday.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
He wrote a book, and he had an alcoholic father,
and his father used to physically abuse his mom. And
I remember Jerry telling the story that he slept with
a shotgun under his mattress and he said that he
told his dad, you do it again, and I'm going
to blow your head off. All right, Well, let me
(05:30):
let me do my job here.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
I do want to ask you one thing, Dan about
Jerry West.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
We always talk about that the TV era, there's certain
players that because they didn't play in the TV era,
they're not going to ever get their due, like a
young doctor j or a David Thompson or play with
Elgin Baylor.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Jerry West seems.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
To me like one of those guys that boy, if
there was more TV around her, more great films of
seeing him play, because I look at his stats and
they're insane.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I mean, if you look at thirty five and seventeen
in the NBA Finals, that's insane.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think it's almost like he doesn't get his due
as a basketball player. He didn't get his due.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, And you're right about not being in the TV era,
you know, having the NBA Finals on tape delay back then.
But his numbers even at West Virginia and he and
Oscar Robertson were you know, kind of competitive peers, you know,
at the same time. And Marvin brings up a great point,
like the first time you got to see somebody who
(06:26):
had a jump shot in the NBA, it's Jerry West.
Everybody else was shooting like set shots. All of a sudden,
Jerry's off the dribble hitting jumpers and you got to
be going, wait a minute, this is new, this is different.
And he had a beautiful shot. I always tell people,
always remember Jerry West that last dribble is even harder,
so you can go up. Quicker had a great release, gentleman.
(06:49):
He was a wonderful, wonderful spokesperson for the NBA represented
it quite well, yes, Mark, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:56):
He was playing at a completely different speed when you
watch old of him on NBA TV. And also guys
he brought together Shaq and Kobe. You know the fact
that he signed Shack from Orlando, then drafted a kid
thirteenth traded with the Hornets, and it was just like, wait,
so you did this. You won the NBA Finals MVP
on a losing team, and then you draft Kobe Bryant
and you signed Shack and it's like three different generations
(07:20):
were all linked to this guy.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I also, you know when I first really got to
talk to Jerry West. Now, I saw him play in
person in nineteen seventy one, had beautiful penmanship, got his autograph,
and my dad always said, that's a ball That's that's
the ballplayer you want to be like. You want to
be like him, and like so, yes, so I wanted
to be like Jerry West. I wasn't like Jerry West.
(07:43):
And I wasn't alone in wanting to be like Jerry West.
So we I had Rick Riley, the great writer from
Sports Illustrated on and Jerry was part of the Memphis
Grizzlies front office, and Rick Riley alluded to the fact
that maybe Memo was tanking and I don't know who
they were tanking for to get a draft pick, and
(08:04):
he said it on our show. I get a phone call,
and I get a phone call and it's from Jerry West,
and Jerry West rips me for five minutes. He is
cursing me out. I mean, I am, I am shaken.
I called Paulie. I said, first of all, Jerry West
(08:25):
just called. He goes awesome. I go no, no, no, no.
He was yelling at me. He was Why was he yelling?
I said, Rick Riley said that Memphis would be tanking
and Jerry said, you know, bleep the bleep thee believe
believe me. I'd never tanked ever never. I can't stand losing.
I hate, you know. Five minutes he went on this long, long,
soliloqually diatribe. I'm monologue and I'm going and I kept saying, Jerry.
(08:49):
Jerry finally stopped and I said, Jerry, I didn't say that,
Rick Riley did. He goes, okay, I'm sorry, and then
he hung up, and I'm going, you're still sick up?
I was, I was, I was devastated. And then I
remember talking to him and I said, look, and I
(09:12):
told him the whole backstory. I told him everything, and
he said okay, and he was giving me like another chance.
And after that he was wonderful with me, whether we
had him on the show, whether I got to talk
to him privately, or I got to ask him about
things that were off the record, and just having that
(09:32):
relationship with somebody you watched as like a I don't
know a ten or eleven year old in person. That's
the logo, all the things that he did, and you know,
so we didn't have a good start, but we had
a good we had a good finish.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yes, bo I know for years it's been a touchy
topic that you know, Jerry West, clearly, if you know
anything about basketball, was the logo a that the NBA
used the photo of him. It's it's clear the NBA
has never publicly that because of business reasons and legal reasons.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
I'm sure, well what would that be worth?
Speaker 7 (10:05):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
But you know what, but Jerry didn't. He didn't. He
didn't bring it up. Eve when I brought it up
to him, he said, you know, Dan, it doesn't matter.
He wouldn't he wouldn't have.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Asked for anyoney, No, but it'd be nice if the
NBA today announced that this is and will be the
logo and with a side by side, you know, or
something like say.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Like, well, there is a picture, yeah, and you see
the picture they took the logo from, and you go,
how could you how could you deny that that's not
Jerry West?
Speaker 8 (10:32):
There?
Speaker 9 (10:33):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Adam in West Virginia. Hi, Adam, what's on your mind today?
Speaker 8 (10:39):
Hey?
Speaker 10 (10:39):
Dan?
Speaker 11 (10:40):
I just wanted to call and just speak on the
importance of Jerry West to West Virginia and how great
he is.
Speaker 9 (10:49):
Tauris they and.
Speaker 11 (10:50):
Sorry, man, let me get it together. He he is
so such as just a great person. And I don't
think people understand the greatness of Jerry West now, but man,
he's just here's just awesome. And that's really all I have.
I just just from the state of West Virginia. Man,
(11:12):
couldn't couldn't ask for anybody better.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Thank you, Adam. I thought you were going to help
me not cry, and you're making me cry. I'm going
to bring back a couple of things, you know. Uh,
Jerry talked about being a surrogate father to Kobe. We
had him on when Kobe died Uh. He never wanted
uh to be complimented on that. You know, he just
(11:36):
said that it's my job, you know, making these trades.
But yeah, we we had some great moments there, great moments,
and you know, he he predicted that he'd be dead
without basket. I mean, there were always these powerful moments there,
and we'll try to bring some of those back if
we can. Adam in La Hi, Adam.
Speaker 9 (12:00):
Good morning, Dan, Thanks for having me six two two twenty.
I just wanted to say a couple of things. I'm
a Lakers fan. My father grew up as a as
a fan of Jerry West in the sixties, so he
used to talk about Jerry West a lot. Uh, and
we had a lot of cool moments, uh, you know,
with with with as as Marvin just said, you know,
all the accolades that Jerry did as the general manager.
(12:21):
But my dad used to always remind me, you know,
how great he was as a player, and how nobody,
you know, nobody could touch Jerry West's intensity and and
and as you mentioned, the jump shot and just all
the things that Jerry West did for I think basketball
and pro basketball, and and and as that gentleman just
mentioned from West Virginia. You know, it goes from West
Virginia all the way across the country to La So again,
(12:41):
just just wanted to say, you know, r ip Jerry West.
And it's been a terrible week for Lakers fans, but
hopefully we'll get better. Thanks. Do you guys have a
great day?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah? Yeah, Jerry talked. You know, we had him on
when Jerry Buss died. I mean, we had him on
so many times, and he was so willing to share.
Shelby san Antonio, Hi Shall, Hey, DP, how are you well?
You can imagine.
Speaker 12 (13:09):
I know, I'm glad I heard it from you.
Speaker 9 (13:11):
Then.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
I recently I was with my four grandsons and ran
into Jerry West, my idol.
Speaker 9 (13:19):
I graduated high school.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
When he was when he retired, and I was explaining
to him how I don't get to scene very often
up but I do hear him on Dad Patrick and
stop me. Mid sentenced and said, yeah, you know what,
Dan Patrick's a good man. And I said, I haven't
(13:41):
met him, but I'm sure he is. And I appreciated
hearing him on your show.
Speaker 12 (13:46):
And thank you.
Speaker 9 (13:48):
I'm glad I heard it from you, Dan.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Thank you. Shell. All right, we'll try to hit the
reset button once again. Still got a job to do here,
Bill Planshkik from The La Times. I'm sure Bill will
have some thoughts. He'll join us coming up a little bit.
Reggie will join us in an hour from now. How
about we take a break back after this.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 10 (14:22):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 10 (14:28):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.
Speaker 13 (14:31):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, you blubber list name and me.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well, you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 10 (14:46):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 13 (14:49):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships, and if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time time, it
will continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 10 (15:03):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
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Speaker 13 (15:13):
There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see it
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I think we're going to have ice Cube on tomorrow
given what's happened if you're tuning in right now. Certainly
on the West Coast, Jerry West passed away at the
age of eighty six and certainly was a large part
of this show. I remember Super Bowl Sunday in or
it was the previous Sunday prior to the Super Bowl
in Miami, and Kobe had died in the helicopter crash
(15:49):
alongside with his daughter and other members of her basketball team.
And Paully said, do you want to call Jerry West,
and I said, you know, what, have Fritzy have Fritzy
called Jerry maybe talk to Jerry's wife that we'd like
to have him on and on Monday, And to my surprise,
(16:13):
Jerry West was like, I want to come on and
I want to talk about Kobe. He was like a
surrogate father. In fact, Jerry said he was a surrogate
father to Kobe, that he loved Kobe and he wanted
to come on and talk about that. And I was,
you know, very very appreciative, forever grateful that and it
was tough for him, but he wanted to he wanted
(16:36):
to talk. I think he needed to talk. And you
know that's the hard part. I mean, Bill Plashki, the
La Times columnist, you know, he's going to join us.
He's trying to process this. He just found out about
Jerry West, and we were going to talk about what
happened with the Lakers and Dan Hurley, and so he
asked Fritzy if you know, maybe he could be pushed
back until the top of next hour, just to kind
(16:59):
of gather his thought. Reggie Miller will join us as well,
but he had we had so many moments with Jerry
and once again when we were sitting on the set
in Los Angeles in our studio, and I remember looking
at him. I'm not even hearing his words. I'm seeing
my dad. Oh I'm trying to keep it together. When
(17:21):
I'm doing the interview with him. It's just like, oh
my god, I'm watching my dad if he were still alive.
But he was impeccably dressed. He was brilliant. Anytime he
was going to call a GM. I always said, if
I'm the GM, do not take a phone call from
Jerry West, because chances are you're going to get fleeced
when it comes to a trade. But his eye for talent,
(17:43):
he had some memorable moments. He had some whiffs as well,
and he talks about that. He went to the Warriors,
was in their front office with them, then the Clippers.
You know, there was a falling out with the Lakers.
But you know, he was very respectful in certain things
that he would talk about, in certain things that he
did not want to talk about. But he did open
(18:06):
up about what it was like growing up in West
Virginia and having an alcoholic father, you know, very powerful.
Let me get a couple of phone calls in here. Yeah, Paulie.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I do want to go back to that when Kobe
Bryant passed away and we're in Miami Super Bowl. We
were all just dreading to do our job and call
people to react to Kobe Bryant passing away Kobe, and
Fritzy has the toughest job because he has to make
direct contact. I just remember having a stomachache think of
Jerry West getting this news. If you listen to the
Jerry West interview on our show about Kobe Bryant, it's
almost one of the most heartbreaking and awesome interviews we've
(18:42):
ever done because Jerry wants fifteen minutes to explain Kobe
the person and staying at his house and his work
ethic and how much he respected this eighteen, nineteen year old.
This is Jerry West saying I respected Kobe Bryant so
much for his work ethic at eighteen. And it's just
one of interviews like we wish we never had to
do it, but jerry' soloquent.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Once again, you know, we kind of threw the rundown
out the window here. I know there's a basketball game tonight.
You know what Jerry would be, He would be angry
that this is going to interrupt, you know, some of
the coverage of the game tonight. Knowing him, it'd be like,
you know, sorry that this news is going to interrupt
the Celtics and the maps. That's tonight, that's game three.
(19:28):
The Mavericks are favored by two and a half. Don't
know if Christopsperzingis is going to play as a rare
leg injury and probably a game time situation. We will
take some phone calls. I know some people have called
in about other topics. I just can't go there. If
you have something to say about you know, Jerry West, great,
(19:49):
If not, you know, we don't have to take phone calls.
But you know, as Seaton said, people waking up, certainly
in Los Angeles want to hear memories of you know,
Jerry West, and to be the logo. I mean, that's
pretty cool, pretty cool, Like that's His impact literally and
(20:11):
figuratively on the game is unprecedented. Like when you think
of Michael Jordan's impact on the game, it pales in
comparison to Jerry West or Red Arbac go down the
list of great players, great coaches, Jerry left an indelible mark.
(20:32):
I mean, nobody will have a career like that ever
ever again.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, Paul, I'm gonna read you something real quick. This
is Jerry west Bio NBA champion, seventy two NBA Finals
MVP sixty nine, fourteen time All Star, NBA All Star Game,
MVP ten times First Team All NBA, two four time
first Team All Defense Scoring champion, one year in the
NBA Assists leader, another season in the NBA. He was
(20:59):
on the third, thirty fifth, fiftieth, and seventy fifth NBA
Anniversary teams. The Lakers retired as number Then we go
to college Final four MVP two time first Team All
American Jersey retired by West Virginia. He also won the
Presidential Medal Freedom as an executive. He's got eight rings
as an executive, two time Executive the Year, Basketball Hall
(21:22):
of Fame, College Basketball Hall of Fame, Olympic gold Medal
in Rome.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
That's it. He's got it all. He had it all.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
He was so good that even in defeat he won
the finals. MVP.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Ye, No, it's crazy. Nobody does that. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
That's like West Virginia didn't win the national title. He
was named the most outstanding player of the Final four.
That's really hard to do. That's how great he was.
And the fact that he averaged over forty a game
in an NBA Finals, that's why he was MVP. He
(22:01):
was different. He was different. He kind of brought in
the modern jump shooter. It was just different. Go back
and look at those old but you know the old
footage of NBA basketball and you know set shots, Jerry's
coming in, beating you off the dribble and you know
rising up and that great, great form that he had. Uh,
(22:25):
John and Montana, Hey, John, what's on your mind today?
Speaker 8 (22:29):
How are you, my friend doing?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (22:32):
I'm I'm sorry to hear the pain in your voice,
but when I was listening, I had to call in it.
Share a couple Jerry West stories. As you know, damn
you and I fished a few different places in the world,
and I traveled all over the world doing my fly
Fish in the World Series and fished with a lot
(22:52):
of very famous people. And about ten years ago, I
was on vacation in Hawaii and I was standing in
line waiting to get some food and Jerry West walked
up to me and he said, are you the fishing guy?
And this is my sports hero?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
So this is John John Barrett, who's one of the
great fly fishermen in the world. John and I have
been gone fly fishing, and just so people know that
John's one of the great fishermen there is in the world.
Continue John, So.
Speaker 8 (23:26):
He walks up and he recognizes me. And you know
I was when I was growing up, I was such
a Jerry West fan. I used to sign my papers
in fourth fifth grade with my name is Jerry West
on him and my teacher would get upset with me,
but I didn't care. I was Jerry West and my
(23:46):
friend was John Halichek, and I was fortunate enough to
spend time with John, and that was the thrill itself.
Speaker 9 (23:55):
But he.
Speaker 8 (23:58):
Asked me, why didn't you ever asked me to me
on your show? And I looked at him. I said, Dred,
I didn't know you fish. He goes, I love the fish.
I grew up fish in all the little streams in
West Virginia.
Speaker 9 (24:10):
He said, I.
Speaker 12 (24:12):
Love the fish. He said, I you never did call, and.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I knew that you liked to fish. Yeah, I knew
he did. But John, thank you for calling. In gone
fishing with John a couple of places, and he runs
the complete fly fisherman up in Montana. Brenton, Connecticut. Hi, Brent,
what's on your mind?
Speaker 14 (24:37):
Hey Dan, Mike, condolences to you. I hope the Danettes
and the Bacco guy's taking care of you today. This
is more towards you. I'm stelling Tyler to me. You're
my Jory West. I've been following you since you and Chief.
I have no athletic talent. I love to talk sports,
love listening to sports. And I'm hurting so much for
(25:00):
you today and I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for you family.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Thank you, Brett. I'll be okay. You know, sometimes there's
the shock of news, but you get time to process it.
I didn't. I didn't get that opportunity.
Speaker 8 (25:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It happened live, But you know that's I love doing
this show. It's live. It's in the moment. You react
what happened, you know, so we we deal with it,
we react to it. Hopefully we advance, hopefully we enlighten you.
And a lot of people may not realize just how
(25:42):
great a play he was, or that he was the logo,
or all the things that he did with the Lakers
and other organizations there, and and really what he gave us,
what what he allowed. He allowed me to ask him
questions and he answered my questions, and not a lot
(26:02):
of people with that status allowing you to go there,
and he did.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
Yes, marm Jerry West has a real John Madden like
quality to him, because if you're of a certain age,
you only knew him as maybe the Lakers general manager
or he was in the front office with the Warriors,
So that means he was relevant from the sixties until now. Yeah,
in basketball, it was like one of the you know,
Oscar wasn't in basketball and some of these other guys
(26:29):
weren't in the game. He was a big part of
the game and a part of like dynastic teams.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, but I still go back to the conversation we
had about his dad and he was going to kill
his dad if he put a hand on Jerry's mom again.
And you're twelve and you're sleeping with the shotgun. I mean,
wrap your head around that if you can. Josh in Montana, Hi, Josh,
(26:57):
what's on your mind?
Speaker 9 (27:00):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Dan?
Speaker 15 (27:01):
I just wanted to tell you, give you my condolences
and tell you thank you for everything that you do
to help people like myself who have a lot of surgeries.
And getting us through it, and the way you interview people,
(27:22):
and just the way you when you had I know,
you're struggling, and you looked at at Jerry's father figure
and I can tell you you're hurting, But the way
you talk to him and the way he talked to
you was it was like the relationship you guys had
(27:48):
was one of the kind yep.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
And I appreciate that, Josh. I mean, I got to
get it together here because once again, Jerry would probably
be very disappointed in me that I was showing as much.
You know, if it happened in the afternoon and then
you kind of brace yourself for the next day. Even
then it's not easy, but you want to bring I
(28:11):
want to pay tribute in the right way, and that's
not always easy. I mean, you're getting raw emotion now.
I don't know if you would get this tomorrow, but
you're getting it now. Jim in Oregon, Hi, Jim, what's
on your mind today?
Speaker 12 (28:30):
Just a quick little one for you.
Speaker 16 (28:31):
Right before Jerry West retired the preseason in seventy four
seventy five seasons, Blazers were down in Los Angeles and
Jerry Wes had some problems, but his last game that
he played, he had a triple double.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
And the next day he decided, you know what, I
got to hang it up.
Speaker 16 (28:52):
And I just wanted to pass that on that the
man had a triple double in his last game.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Well, he had to play at a certain level. He
was a perfectionist. Everything about him had to be perfect.
His hair was perfect, his uniform was perfect, how he
dressed was perfect. The way the team played had to
be perfect, pull off the perfect trade. Everything about him.
His penmanship was perfect, everything about him. And he couldn't
(29:19):
play at a certain level, maintain a certain level, and
decided that he was not going to play anymore. All right,
I'm going to take a break once again. Bill Plashki
from the La Times. Bill. Bill was scheduled to join
us to talk about the Lakers, and when Fritzy got
a hold of him, you know, Bill had just gotten
(29:41):
up and he said, you know, I need some time
to kind of process what just happened here, and he'll
I'll be able to join us coming up top of
the hour. Then Reggie Miller will join us as well,
but we'll come back. We'll get the phone calls after
this on the Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show days at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio w APP.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
We're trying to find the interview that I did with
Jerry West, who passed away at the age of eighty six.
This was the Monday of Super Bowl Week in Miami,
and of course Kobe had passed away on that Sunday
and we reached out and he wanted to come on.
He wanted to talk about Kobe, pay his tribute. He
considered himself a surrogate father to Kobe, so Maria was
(30:29):
looking for that. Now we're trying to secure that and
then bring that to you. There are so many moments
that we had with him. We just showed if you're
watching on Peacock when he brought our tenth anniversary cake
out when we were in Los Angeles that everybody surprised
me with Jerry West showing up at seven in the
morning to bring in our anniversary cake the ten years
(30:51):
that we had been on. Do we have the portion
of the interview here? Okay, here's my interview with Jerry
West following the death of Kobe Bryant. Why did you
feel like a surrogate father to him.
Speaker 17 (31:07):
Well, he was so young when he came here, and
he had no he didn't drive around the city, didn't
know anything, and you know, he was so inquisitive. Spent
time with my kids, Ryan and Johnny, and Johnny was
a little, real little guy then, and Ryan was driving
to drive him to his first practice. He would he
(31:29):
would eat dinner at our house here. Arn Tellham, who
was his agent at that time, was wasn't still as
a very close personal friend of mine, and it was.
Speaker 18 (31:46):
Almost like you're, you know, helping a young kid get
through the mine fields of just going to colleagues and
much less a teenager who couldn't even sign a contract
because he was seventeen years old, so always wanting to
go to the gym, UH.
Speaker 17 (32:04):
Watching him work out, ask me for anything, and that
that I would recommend for him, which at that point
in time, uh I did. I would go work with
him uh early on a number of times during the
first two years here and then to UH watch his
(32:27):
stars in in Los Angeles. An enormous success he had.
And I s saw somebody mention this last night. I'm
not sure who it was to to give credit to,
but that singular name Kobe. No one ever mentioned Kobe Bryant.
It was Kobe, and to watch him grow and and
(32:50):
retire twenty years with one franchise, to watch a new
career that was growing by leaps and bound. He was
br very and smart, hard worker, and everyone said, you know,
talked about the people inspired he's He inspired so many women.
(33:13):
That was one to me. Young women, He inspired them
like no others. He inspired young men to chase their dreams,
but to be committed in chasing them. And he had
(33:34):
a grace about him. Uh A few players have it.
A few players have that special something. Irvin Johnson had it,
but he was not Kobe Bryant. Go Irvin just played
with his smile on his face. Kobe played with this
almost vindictive attitude that you're not gonna beat this team
(33:56):
and you're not gonna beat me. And frankly, I think
those are the things that resonated with because during my
time when I played, I didn't like anyone I played against.
Uh I d I just it felt like more like
a war when played, and they'll say, yesterday, it was
(34:21):
a very difficult day. And this is not gonna go
away from me. Dan, It's not gonna await for a
lot of people. Uh, but the families, Oh, my God,
to get his Christmas cards, to see him interact with
his young girls, a joy to see him. Didn't go
to the Laker game, but every time he went, of
course he was they had they'd had him on TV.
And I don't go to the Laker games. And just
(34:44):
to watch his little girl who passed away with him,
Uh lean up against him and hug your dad, and
how uh just see him playing around together. And it
was a tribute to the man who had changed from
(35:05):
this incredible father, Uh, this iconic figure not just in
Los Angeles, but all over the world, in China, in Europe,
his ability to speak three different languages, his dad played
in Italy. There is a storyline here that this could
(35:29):
only happen in America, and to be taken it away
so quickly, it just d does not seem seemed fair.
At times. I had a brother killed in career, and
frankly this affected me the same way a life taken
(35:53):
too short. But my brother was deeply religious, and it
even makes you question, uh faith. Yeah, there's something like
this could happen. But I have a friend of mine.
We always talk about there's a day that somebody puts
up there for you and you just never know what it's.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Going to be.
Speaker 19 (36:13):
But yes, to be was a god awful day.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah that was.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Like like you said before, then, when we called for
Jerry West that day to talk about Kobe, and we
you know, we were I felt bad that we're bothering
mister West. But once Kobe once fris he talked to
Jerry and he explained, we're trying to do a tribute
show to Kobe. He's like, I absolutely want to I
absolutely want to explain to everybody more about this. And
(37:01):
you could tell how painful that fifteen minutes was for
you and him, but he chose to do it, and
that says a lot about his character to choose to
do it. Twenty four hours later.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, it was January twenty seventh of twenty twenty. That
was the day after the helicopter crash. Steve and La Hi, Steve.
Speaker 20 (37:23):
Hey, Dan, how you doing Okay? So my story about
Jerry building the house next door to his house in
the West side of la we didn't know it at
the time, so the architect I were over the phone
looking at the drawings and he's telling me that the
pool house is on the west side of the property.
(37:43):
Got a mistake dinner because it wasn't after we made
the bet. Then he explained, yes, the pool house is
on the Jerry west side of the property. So I
owed him a stake dinner. And the funny thing is,
guess who's shooting in the backyard. It's Kobe Bryant. This
is I think in the nineties, maybe early two thousand
(38:05):
and then. I think it was in the nineties. It's
quite a while ago, but the architects said that Terry
would be out there every now and then shoot the
hoops with Kobe, and that would have been a treat
to see.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Yeah, I would like that. I'd like to have him
as a neighbor. Thank you, Steve for sharing. Chris in
La I Chris, good morning Dan.
Speaker 14 (38:25):
You know, I was just thinking a lot of times,
I think what makes people connect with someone like like
mister West is the fact that you know how great
they are and how good they are as a person.
Speaker 12 (38:36):
So I think that's why we all are feeling the
way we are today.
Speaker 14 (38:39):
I just wanted to give a story that going to
a lot of Laker games in La I was fortunate
to have a friend who worked for Lakers, so I
would go to a lot of the games. And it
is absolutely true that during the games, Jerry would stand
up and he would be at the end of a tunnel,
right down there with pretty much everyone else in the
stadium because he couldnot sit down and he was so
(39:00):
invested in every single game. But that tunnel. You've been
to the Forum Club. I'm sure that tunnel led to
the Forum Club, but he would stand there and I
can't imagine how many times he had to say.
Speaker 9 (39:11):
Hello to people as they.
Speaker 14 (39:12):
Walked by, as he's trying to do his business of
watching and being a general manager of a game, not
sitting down load, not sitting a pie away from everyone.
He was sitting just right at the end of that tunnel,
just kind of looking. And that's the memory I have
of him and just being a great, nice guy who
(39:33):
seemed like he was just one of us. And I
think that's why LA is morning as we are today
because we lost what we would consider a friend.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Well, when you consider what he contributed for seven decades,
I mean to basketball, I mean to the Lakers, he's
as impactful, if not more so than anybody in the
history of the NBA, and that's not over dating it.
Steven la by Steve.
Speaker 12 (40:05):
Hey Bud, good morning. I just it had just been
a bad, bad morning this morning. And the first thing
I saw on Twitter on X when when I saw
that he had died, I thought of you, Dan. I
just know how much he meant so much to you.
But Dan, people don't realize this man was the Mount
(40:26):
Rushmore of Lakers. I mean to hear all the stories
and watching the finals, I would remember as a kid,
Dan the General was talking about him in the tunnels.
Jerry West was a mess. He couldn't watch any of
the games. He being the tunnel because he was a
nervous wreck. And he didn't get enough credit.
Speaker 17 (40:42):
Dan.
Speaker 12 (40:43):
Everybody kept talking about Bill charm and Bill Sharp. Jerry
West brought Shack, Jerry West got Kobe, Jerry Wes filled
in the pieces and all this stuff. He was so
instrumental for the team Jack. The last thing he did
for the Lakers is when he was the consultant for
the Memphis Grizzly. Then we got Paul Grif. I don't.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Thank you, Steve. I don't think Jerry would have taken
credit for getting you a Palca Sault. Final Hour on
the Way, Bill Plashki from the La Times and Reggie Miller,
I hope you'll stay with us. Two hours in the books,
One more to go, Dan Patrick Shaw
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's our two on this Wednesday, Dan and The Dan
and Dan Patrick Show come on. In a little bit later.
We'll talk to Bill Plishki of the La Times. He
had a scathing column about the Lakers and the embarrassment
of what happened. Letting Dan Hurley go back to Connecticut
the news that just happened about ten minutes ago. Jerry
(00:25):
West has passed away at the age of eighty six.
He was the logo and certainly a friend of the show.
We tried to have him on. He'd be mad at
me if I was emotional, be like, what are you
(00:46):
crying about. We tried to have him on recently and
he wasn't feeling well. I think he had a cold
or the flu, and his wife said, you try again.
I think the last time we had him on was
a little little less than a year ago. And you know,
he's a friend of the show and integral part of
(01:07):
the show. Came on many, many, many times, joined us
in studio a couple of times when we were in
Los Angeles. But listen stuff, Yeah, Paulie helped me out.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, I just gotta tell you Man, we found out
about three or four minutes before you did. Sometimes we
get information before you, and none of us in this
room wanted to walk over and tell you this. We
were waiting for the break. And man, I know how
important this.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Guy was to you.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I mean, we talk about Walter Payton for me or
everyone has an athlete that and I think work on
the show a long time. I'm sure he was your hero,
your dad's.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
And then and we.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Saw a couple of times, maybe about ten years ago
he started coming on a show and he was sitting
there with you and talking basketball, and I could tell
that you were like kind of giddy, like I can't.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, I saw my dad. Yeah, and I think they
were similar age.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Jerry walked out one day and he goes, thank you,
my friend, and I could see You're.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, that's that's not something that's
supposed to happen. And then.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
On our tenth anniversary, Fritzy and I and Seaton and
all the guys had an idea to surprise you for
the tenth anniversary of the show. And we're like, let's
let's ask Jerry West to come in at seven am.
West Coast time, and he looked immaculate. He was perfectly dressed.
He had to go on a flight two hours later.
He took time out of his day and we surprised
you with a cake from Jerry's Cakes and Torrents. And
(02:36):
if it's not the greatest moment ever on the show,
ye so uh, I wish we didn't have to tell
you this, but yeah, yeah, see he has.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Jerry West has one of the most unique positions in
sports sports history, and that with just one figure can occupy.
He was a tremendous player. He's the logo of the sport.
He is instrumental in drafting several of people who had
then gone on to become some of the greatest people ever.
His impact on the game is immeasurable just in one person,
(03:11):
and you could take as an executive it's one way,
just as a marketing I guess, even though it wasn't
really his doing, just the logo itself is massive. And
then just him as a player, just it's like three
or four separate careers that were all massive.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
All Hall of Fame careers.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Yeah yeah, I mean, his role an impact really can't
be measured.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
He might be the most impactful person in the history
of the NBA.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
While also wanting almost no attention for anything, like to
be the logo and also be a very private man.
I mean, he would do interviews and share things he
never wanted credit.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And he brought up the fact that he couldn't even
watch or listen to the Laker games because it ate
him up. You know, he had a hard time sitting
there watching a game because he was so competitive and that,
you know, there's only so much you can do. You
put a product out on the floor and you hope
that they win. But he said that he would drive
around Los Angeles sometimes when the Lakers would be playing
(04:13):
in you know, an NBA finals there. But yeah, we
were very lucky. We were very lucky that he opened
himself up to us and developed a relationship there. But
Jerry West passed away at the age of eighty six.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I always found it when we'd have him on the show,
it was like going to a time machine with a
different type of person, a gentleman from the fifties and
sixties and seventies that said, that's how I'm going to
be for the rest of my life.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I'm going to be a gentleman.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I'm not going to buy into all this new culture
of what you know, all this stuff and and it
was like meeting Babe Ruth or something like that. I
didn't grow up on Jerry West like you did. And
when we first had in my studio, it's kind of shocking.
That's exactly who I expect him to be. He outlived
the expectations of what a class individual dad mona like that.
That's kind of person I wish I could be someday.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
He wrote a book, and he had an alcoholic father,
and his father used to physically abuse his mom. And
I remember Jerry telling the story that he slept with
a shotgun under his mattress and he said that he
told his dad, you do it again, and I'm going
to blow your head off. All right, Well, let me
(05:30):
let me do my job here.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
I do want to ask you one thing, Dan about
Jerry West.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
We always talk about that the TV era, there's certain
players that because they didn't play in the TV era,
they're not going to ever get their due, like a
young doctor j or a David Thompson or play with
Elgin Baylor.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Jerry West seems.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
To me like one of those guys that boy, if
there was more TV around her, more great films of
seeing him play, because I look at his stats and
they're insane.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I mean, if you look at thirty five and seventeen
in the NBA Finals, that's insane.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think it's almost like he doesn't get his due
as a basketball player. He didn't get his due.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, And you're right about not being in the TV era,
you know, having the NBA Finals on tape delay back then.
But his numbers even at West Virginia and he and
Oscar Robertson were you know, kind of competitive peers, you know,
at the same time. And Marvin brings up a great point,
like the first time you got to see somebody who
(06:26):
had a jump shot in the NBA, it's Jerry West.
Everybody else was shooting like set shots. All of a sudden,
Jerry's off the dribble hitting jumpers and you got to
be going, wait a minute, this is new, this is different.
And he had a beautiful shot. I always tell people,
always remember Jerry West that last dribble is even harder,
so you can go up. Quicker had a great release, gentleman.
(06:49):
He was a wonderful, wonderful spokesperson for the NBA represented
it quite well, yes, Mark, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:56):
He was playing at a completely different speed when you
watch old of him on NBA TV. And also guys
he brought together Shaq and Kobe. You know the fact
that he signed Shack from Orlando, then drafted a kid
thirteenth traded with the Hornets, and it was just like, wait,
so you did this. You won the NBA Finals MVP
on a losing team, and then you draft Kobe Bryant
and you signed Shack and it's like three different generations
(07:20):
were all linked to this guy.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I also, you know when I first really got to
talk to Jerry West. Now, I saw him play in
person in nineteen seventy one, had beautiful penmanship, got his autograph,
and my dad always said, that's a ball That's that's
the ballplayer you want to be like. You want to
be like him, and like so, yes, so I wanted
to be like Jerry West. I wasn't like Jerry West.
(07:43):
And I wasn't alone in wanting to be like Jerry West.
So we I had Rick Riley, the great writer from
Sports Illustrated on and Jerry was part of the Memphis
Grizzlies front office, and Rick Riley alluded to the fact
that maybe Memo was tanking and I don't know who
they were tanking for to get a draft pick, and
(08:04):
he said it on our show. I get a phone call,
and I get a phone call and it's from Jerry West,
and Jerry West rips me for five minutes. He is
cursing me out. I mean, I am, I am shaken.
I called Paulie. I said, first of all, Jerry West
(08:25):
just called. He goes awesome. I go no, no, no, no.
He was yelling at me. He was Why was he yelling?
I said, Rick Riley said that Memphis would be tanking
and Jerry said, you know, bleep the bleep thee believe
believe me. I'd never tanked ever never. I can't stand losing.
I hate, you know. Five minutes he went on this long, long,
soliloqually diatribe. I'm monologue and I'm going and I kept saying, Jerry.
(08:49):
Jerry finally stopped and I said, Jerry, I didn't say that,
Rick Riley did. He goes, okay, I'm sorry, and then
he hung up, and I'm going, you're still sick up?
I was, I was, I was devastated. And then I
remember talking to him and I said, look, and I
(09:12):
told him the whole backstory. I told him everything, and
he said okay, and he was giving me like another chance.
And after that he was wonderful with me, whether we
had him on the show, whether I got to talk
to him privately, or I got to ask him about
things that were off the record, and just having that
(09:32):
relationship with somebody you watched as like a I don't
know a ten or eleven year old in person. That's
the logo, all the things that he did, and you know,
so we didn't have a good start, but we had
a good we had a good finish.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yes, bo I know for years it's been a touchy
topic that you know, Jerry West, clearly, if you know
anything about basketball, was the logo a that the NBA
used the photo of him. It's it's clear the NBA
has never publicly that because of business reasons and legal reasons.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
I'm sure, well what would that be worth?
Speaker 7 (10:05):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
But you know what, but Jerry didn't. He didn't. He
didn't bring it up. Eve when I brought it up
to him, he said, you know, Dan, it doesn't matter.
He wouldn't he wouldn't have.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Asked for anyoney, No, but it'd be nice if the
NBA today announced that this is and will be the
logo and with a side by side, you know, or
something like say.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Like, well, there is a picture, yeah, and you see
the picture they took the logo from, and you go,
how could you how could you deny that that's not
Jerry West?
Speaker 8 (10:32):
There?
Speaker 9 (10:33):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Adam in West Virginia. Hi, Adam, what's on your mind today?
Speaker 8 (10:39):
Hey?
Speaker 10 (10:39):
Dan?
Speaker 11 (10:40):
I just wanted to call and just speak on the
importance of Jerry West to West Virginia and how great
he is.
Speaker 9 (10:49):
Tauris they and.
Speaker 11 (10:50):
Sorry, man, let me get it together. He he is
so such as just a great person. And I don't
think people understand the greatness of Jerry West now, but man,
he's just here's just awesome. And that's really all I have.
I just just from the state of West Virginia. Man,
(11:12):
couldn't couldn't ask for anybody better.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Thank you, Adam. I thought you were going to help
me not cry, and you're making me cry. I'm going
to bring back a couple of things, you know. Uh,
Jerry talked about being a surrogate father to Kobe. We
had him on when Kobe died Uh. He never wanted
uh to be complimented on that. You know, he just
(11:36):
said that it's my job, you know, making these trades.
But yeah, we we had some great moments there, great moments,
and you know, he he predicted that he'd be dead
without basket. I mean, there were always these powerful moments there,
and we'll try to bring some of those back if
we can. Adam in La Hi, Adam.
Speaker 9 (12:00):
Good morning, Dan, Thanks for having me six two two twenty.
I just wanted to say a couple of things. I'm
a Lakers fan. My father grew up as a as
a fan of Jerry West in the sixties, so he
used to talk about Jerry West a lot. Uh, and
we had a lot of cool moments, uh, you know,
with with with as as Marvin just said, you know,
all the accolades that Jerry did as the general manager.
(12:21):
But my dad used to always remind me, you know,
how great he was as a player, and how nobody,
you know, nobody could touch Jerry West's intensity and and
and as you mentioned, the jump shot and just all
the things that Jerry West did for I think basketball
and pro basketball, and and and as that gentleman just
mentioned from West Virginia. You know, it goes from West
Virginia all the way across the country to La So again,
(12:41):
just just wanted to say, you know, r ip Jerry West.
And it's been a terrible week for Lakers fans, but
hopefully we'll get better. Thanks. Do you guys have a
great day?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah? Yeah, Jerry talked. You know, we had him on
when Jerry Buss died. I mean, we had him on
so many times, and he was so willing to share.
Shelby san Antonio, Hi Shall, Hey, DP, how are you well?
You can imagine.
Speaker 12 (13:09):
I know, I'm glad I heard it from you.
Speaker 9 (13:11):
Then.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
I recently I was with my four grandsons and ran
into Jerry West, my idol.
Speaker 9 (13:19):
I graduated high school.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
When he was when he retired, and I was explaining
to him how I don't get to scene very often
up but I do hear him on Dad Patrick and
stop me. Mid sentenced and said, yeah, you know what,
Dan Patrick's a good man. And I said, I haven't
(13:41):
met him, but I'm sure he is. And I appreciated
hearing him on your show.
Speaker 12 (13:46):
And thank you.
Speaker 9 (13:48):
I'm glad I heard it from you, Dan.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Thank you. Shell. All right, we'll try to hit the
reset button once again. Still got a job to do here,
Bill Planshkik from The La Times. I'm sure Bill will
have some thoughts. He'll join us coming up a little bit.
Reggie will join us in an hour from now. How
about we take a break back after this.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 10 (14:22):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 10 (14:28):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.
Speaker 13 (14:31):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, you blubber list name and me.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well, you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 10 (14:46):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 13 (14:49):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships, and if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time time, it
will continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 10 (15:03):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 13 (15:13):
There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see it
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I think we're going to have ice Cube on tomorrow
given what's happened if you're tuning in right now. Certainly
on the West Coast, Jerry West passed away at the
age of eighty six and certainly was a large part
of this show. I remember Super Bowl Sunday in or
it was the previous Sunday prior to the Super Bowl
in Miami, and Kobe had died in the helicopter crash
(15:49):
alongside with his daughter and other members of her basketball team.
And Paully said, do you want to call Jerry West,
and I said, you know, what, have Fritzy have Fritzy
called Jerry maybe talk to Jerry's wife that we'd like
to have him on and on Monday, And to my surprise,
(16:13):
Jerry West was like, I want to come on and
I want to talk about Kobe. He was like a
surrogate father. In fact, Jerry said he was a surrogate
father to Kobe, that he loved Kobe and he wanted
to come on and talk about that. And I was,
you know, very very appreciative, forever grateful that and it
was tough for him, but he wanted to he wanted
(16:36):
to talk. I think he needed to talk. And you
know that's the hard part. I mean, Bill Plashki, the
La Times columnist, you know, he's going to join us.
He's trying to process this. He just found out about
Jerry West, and we were going to talk about what
happened with the Lakers and Dan Hurley, and so he
asked Fritzy if you know, maybe he could be pushed
back until the top of next hour, just to kind
(16:59):
of gather his thought. Reggie Miller will join us as well,
but he had we had so many moments with Jerry
and once again when we were sitting on the set
in Los Angeles in our studio, and I remember looking
at him. I'm not even hearing his words. I'm seeing
my dad. Oh I'm trying to keep it together. When
(17:21):
I'm doing the interview with him. It's just like, oh
my god, I'm watching my dad if he were still alive.
But he was impeccably dressed. He was brilliant. Anytime he
was going to call a GM. I always said, if
I'm the GM, do not take a phone call from
Jerry West, because chances are you're going to get fleeced
when it comes to a trade. But his eye for talent,
(17:43):
he had some memorable moments. He had some whiffs as well,
and he talks about that. He went to the Warriors,
was in their front office with them, then the Clippers.
You know, there was a falling out with the Lakers.
But you know, he was very respectful in certain things
that he would talk about, in certain things that he
did not want to talk about. But he did open
(18:06):
up about what it was like growing up in West
Virginia and having an alcoholic father, you know, very powerful.
Let me get a couple of phone calls in here. Yeah, Paulie.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I do want to go back to that when Kobe
Bryant passed away and we're in Miami Super Bowl. We
were all just dreading to do our job and call
people to react to Kobe Bryant passing away Kobe, and
Fritzy has the toughest job because he has to make
direct contact. I just remember having a stomachache think of
Jerry West getting this news. If you listen to the
Jerry West interview on our show about Kobe Bryant, it's
almost one of the most heartbreaking and awesome interviews we've
(18:42):
ever done because Jerry wants fifteen minutes to explain Kobe
the person and staying at his house and his work
ethic and how much he respected this eighteen, nineteen year old.
This is Jerry West saying I respected Kobe Bryant so
much for his work ethic at eighteen. And it's just
one of interviews like we wish we never had to
do it, but jerry' soloquent.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Once again, you know, we kind of threw the rundown
out the window here. I know there's a basketball game tonight.
You know what Jerry would be, He would be angry
that this is going to interrupt, you know, some of
the coverage of the game tonight. Knowing him, it'd be like,
you know, sorry that this news is going to interrupt
the Celtics and the maps. That's tonight, that's game three.
(19:28):
The Mavericks are favored by two and a half. Don't
know if Christopsperzingis is going to play as a rare
leg injury and probably a game time situation. We will
take some phone calls. I know some people have called
in about other topics. I just can't go there. If
you have something to say about you know, Jerry West, great,
(19:49):
If not, you know, we don't have to take phone calls.
But you know, as Seaton said, people waking up, certainly
in Los Angeles want to hear memories of you know,
Jerry West, and to be the logo. I mean, that's
pretty cool, pretty cool, Like that's His impact literally and
(20:11):
figuratively on the game is unprecedented. Like when you think
of Michael Jordan's impact on the game, it pales in
comparison to Jerry West or Red Arbac go down the
list of great players, great coaches, Jerry left an indelible mark.
(20:32):
I mean, nobody will have a career like that ever
ever again.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, Paul, I'm gonna read you something real quick. This
is Jerry west Bio NBA champion, seventy two NBA Finals
MVP sixty nine, fourteen time All Star, NBA All Star Game,
MVP ten times First Team All NBA, two four time
first Team All Defense Scoring champion, one year in the
NBA Assists leader, another season in the NBA. He was
(20:59):
on the third, thirty fifth, fiftieth, and seventy fifth NBA
Anniversary teams. The Lakers retired as number Then we go
to college Final four MVP two time first Team All
American Jersey retired by West Virginia. He also won the
Presidential Medal Freedom as an executive. He's got eight rings
as an executive, two time Executive the Year, Basketball Hall
(21:22):
of Fame, College Basketball Hall of Fame, Olympic gold Medal
in Rome.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
That's it. He's got it all. He had it all.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
He was so good that even in defeat he won
the finals. MVP.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Ye, No, it's crazy. Nobody does that. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
That's like West Virginia didn't win the national title. He
was named the most outstanding player of the Final four.
That's really hard to do. That's how great he was.
And the fact that he averaged over forty a game
in an NBA Finals, that's why he was MVP. He
(22:01):
was different. He was different. He kind of brought in
the modern jump shooter. It was just different. Go back
and look at those old but you know the old
footage of NBA basketball and you know set shots, Jerry's
coming in, beating you off the dribble and you know
rising up and that great, great form that he had. Uh,
(22:25):
John and Montana, Hey, John, what's on your mind today?
Speaker 8 (22:29):
How are you, my friend doing?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (22:32):
I'm I'm sorry to hear the pain in your voice,
but when I was listening, I had to call in it.
Share a couple Jerry West stories. As you know, damn
you and I fished a few different places in the world,
and I traveled all over the world doing my fly
Fish in the World Series and fished with a lot
(22:52):
of very famous people. And about ten years ago, I
was on vacation in Hawaii and I was standing in
line waiting to get some food and Jerry West walked
up to me and he said, are you the fishing guy?
And this is my sports hero?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
So this is John John Barrett, who's one of the
great fly fishermen in the world. John and I have
been gone fly fishing, and just so people know that
John's one of the great fishermen there is in the world.
Continue John, So.
Speaker 8 (23:26):
He walks up and he recognizes me. And you know
I was when I was growing up, I was such
a Jerry West fan. I used to sign my papers
in fourth fifth grade with my name is Jerry West
on him and my teacher would get upset with me,
but I didn't care. I was Jerry West and my
(23:46):
friend was John Halichek, and I was fortunate enough to
spend time with John, and that was the thrill itself.
Speaker 9 (23:55):
But he.
Speaker 8 (23:58):
Asked me, why didn't you ever asked me to me
on your show? And I looked at him. I said, Dred,
I didn't know you fish. He goes, I love the fish.
I grew up fish in all the little streams in
West Virginia.
Speaker 9 (24:10):
He said, I.
Speaker 12 (24:12):
Love the fish. He said, I you never did call, and.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I knew that you liked to fish. Yeah, I knew
he did. But John, thank you for calling. In gone
fishing with John a couple of places, and he runs
the complete fly fisherman up in Montana. Brenton, Connecticut. Hi, Brent,
what's on your mind?
Speaker 14 (24:37):
Hey Dan, Mike, condolences to you. I hope the Danettes
and the Bacco guy's taking care of you today. This
is more towards you. I'm stelling Tyler to me. You're
my Jory West. I've been following you since you and Chief.
I have no athletic talent. I love to talk sports,
love listening to sports. And I'm hurting so much for
(25:00):
you today and I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for you family.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Thank you, Brett. I'll be okay. You know, sometimes there's
the shock of news, but you get time to process it.
I didn't. I didn't get that opportunity.
Speaker 8 (25:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It happened live, But you know that's I love doing
this show. It's live. It's in the moment. You react
what happened, you know, so we we deal with it,
we react to it. Hopefully we advance, hopefully we enlighten you.
And a lot of people may not realize just how
(25:42):
great a play he was, or that he was the logo,
or all the things that he did with the Lakers
and other organizations there, and and really what he gave us,
what what he allowed. He allowed me to ask him
questions and he answered my questions, and not a lot
(26:02):
of people with that status allowing you to go there,
and he did.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
Yes, marm Jerry West has a real John Madden like
quality to him, because if you're of a certain age,
you only knew him as maybe the Lakers general manager
or he was in the front office with the Warriors,
So that means he was relevant from the sixties until now. Yeah,
in basketball, it was like one of the you know,
Oscar wasn't in basketball and some of these other guys
(26:29):
weren't in the game. He was a big part of
the game and a part of like dynastic teams.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, but I still go back to the conversation we
had about his dad and he was going to kill
his dad if he put a hand on Jerry's mom again.
And you're twelve and you're sleeping with the shotgun. I mean,
wrap your head around that if you can. Josh in Montana, Hi, Josh,
(26:57):
what's on your mind?
Speaker 9 (27:00):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Dan?
Speaker 15 (27:01):
I just wanted to tell you, give you my condolences
and tell you thank you for everything that you do
to help people like myself who have a lot of surgeries.
And getting us through it, and the way you interview people,
(27:22):
and just the way you when you had I know,
you're struggling, and you looked at at Jerry's father figure
and I can tell you you're hurting, But the way
you talk to him and the way he talked to
you was it was like the relationship you guys had
(27:48):
was one of the kind yep.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
And I appreciate that, Josh. I mean, I got to
get it together here because once again, Jerry would probably
be very disappointed in me that I was showing as much.
You know, if it happened in the afternoon and then
you kind of brace yourself for the next day. Even
then it's not easy, but you want to bring I
(28:11):
want to pay tribute in the right way, and that's
not always easy. I mean, you're getting raw emotion now.
I don't know if you would get this tomorrow, but
you're getting it now. Jim in Oregon, Hi, Jim, what's
on your mind today?
Speaker 12 (28:30):
Just a quick little one for you.
Speaker 16 (28:31):
Right before Jerry West retired the preseason in seventy four
seventy five seasons, Blazers were down in Los Angeles and
Jerry Wes had some problems, but his last game that
he played, he had a triple double.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
And the next day he decided, you know what, I
got to hang it up.
Speaker 16 (28:52):
And I just wanted to pass that on that the
man had a triple double in his last game.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Well, he had to play at a certain level. He
was a perfectionist. Everything about him had to be perfect.
His hair was perfect, his uniform was perfect, how he
dressed was perfect. The way the team played had to
be perfect, pull off the perfect trade. Everything about him.
His penmanship was perfect, everything about him. And he couldn't
(29:19):
play at a certain level, maintain a certain level, and
decided that he was not going to play anymore. All right,
I'm going to take a break once again. Bill Plashki
from the La Times. Bill. Bill was scheduled to join
us to talk about the Lakers, and when Fritzy got
a hold of him, you know, Bill had just gotten
(29:41):
up and he said, you know, I need some time
to kind of process what just happened here, and he'll
I'll be able to join us coming up top of
the hour. Then Reggie Miller will join us as well,
but we'll come back. We'll get the phone calls after
this on the Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show days at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio w APP.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
We're trying to find the interview that I did with
Jerry West, who passed away at the age of eighty six.
This was the Monday of Super Bowl Week in Miami,
and of course Kobe had passed away on that Sunday
and we reached out and he wanted to come on.
He wanted to talk about Kobe, pay his tribute. He
considered himself a surrogate father to Kobe, so Maria was
(30:29):
looking for that. Now we're trying to secure that and
then bring that to you. There are so many moments
that we had with him. We just showed if you're
watching on Peacock when he brought our tenth anniversary cake
out when we were in Los Angeles that everybody surprised
me with Jerry West showing up at seven in the
morning to bring in our anniversary cake the ten years
(30:51):
that we had been on. Do we have the portion
of the interview here? Okay, here's my interview with Jerry
West following the death of Kobe Bryant. Why did you
feel like a surrogate father to him.
Speaker 17 (31:07):
Well, he was so young when he came here, and
he had no he didn't drive around the city, didn't
know anything, and you know, he was so inquisitive. Spent
time with my kids, Ryan and Johnny, and Johnny was
a little, real little guy then, and Ryan was driving
to drive him to his first practice. He would he
(31:29):
would eat dinner at our house here. Arn Tellham, who
was his agent at that time, was wasn't still as
a very close personal friend of mine, and it was.
Speaker 18 (31:46):
Almost like you're, you know, helping a young kid get
through the mine fields of just going to colleagues and
much less a teenager who couldn't even sign a contract
because he was seventeen years old, so always wanting to
go to the gym, UH.
Speaker 17 (32:04):
Watching him work out, ask me for anything, and that
that I would recommend for him, which at that point
in time, uh I did. I would go work with
him uh early on a number of times during the
first two years here and then to UH watch his
(32:27):
stars in in Los Angeles. An enormous success he had.
And I s saw somebody mention this last night. I'm
not sure who it was to to give credit to,
but that singular name Kobe. No one ever mentioned Kobe Bryant.
It was Kobe, and to watch him grow and and
(32:50):
retire twenty years with one franchise, to watch a new
career that was growing by leaps and bound. He was
br very and smart, hard worker, and everyone said, you know,
talked about the people inspired he's He inspired so many women.
(33:13):
That was one to me. Young women, He inspired them
like no others. He inspired young men to chase their dreams,
but to be committed in chasing them. And he had
(33:34):
a grace about him. Uh A few players have it.
A few players have that special something. Irvin Johnson had it,
but he was not Kobe Bryant. Go Irvin just played
with his smile on his face. Kobe played with this
almost vindictive attitude that you're not gonna beat this team
(33:56):
and you're not gonna beat me. And frankly, I think
those are the things that resonated with because during my
time when I played, I didn't like anyone I played against.
Uh I d I just it felt like more like
a war when played, and they'll say, yesterday, it was
(34:21):
a very difficult day. And this is not gonna go
away from me. Dan, It's not gonna await for a
lot of people. Uh, but the families, Oh, my God,
to get his Christmas cards, to see him interact with
his young girls, a joy to see him. Didn't go
to the Laker game, but every time he went, of
course he was they had they'd had him on TV.
And I don't go to the Laker games. And just
(34:44):
to watch his little girl who passed away with him,
Uh lean up against him and hug your dad, and
how uh just see him playing around together. And it
was a tribute to the man who had changed from
(35:05):
this incredible father, Uh, this iconic figure not just in
Los Angeles, but all over the world, in China, in Europe,
his ability to speak three different languages, his dad played
in Italy. There is a storyline here that this could
(35:29):
only happen in America, and to be taken it away
so quickly, it just d does not seem seemed fair.
At times. I had a brother killed in career, and
frankly this affected me the same way a life taken
(35:53):
too short. But my brother was deeply religious, and it
even makes you question, uh faith. Yeah, there's something like
this could happen. But I have a friend of mine.
We always talk about there's a day that somebody puts
up there for you and you just never know what it's.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Going to be.
Speaker 19 (36:13):
But yes, to be was a god awful day.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah that was.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Like like you said before, then, when we called for
Jerry West that day to talk about Kobe, and we
you know, we were I felt bad that we're bothering
mister West. But once Kobe once fris he talked to
Jerry and he explained, we're trying to do a tribute
show to Kobe. He's like, I absolutely want to I
absolutely want to explain to everybody more about this. And
(37:01):
you could tell how painful that fifteen minutes was for
you and him, but he chose to do it, and
that says a lot about his character to choose to
do it. Twenty four hours later.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, it was January twenty seventh of twenty twenty. That
was the day after the helicopter crash. Steve and La Hi, Steve.
Speaker 20 (37:23):
Hey, Dan, how you doing Okay? So my story about
Jerry building the house next door to his house in
the West side of la we didn't know it at
the time, so the architect I were over the phone
looking at the drawings and he's telling me that the
pool house is on the west side of the property.
(37:43):
Got a mistake dinner because it wasn't after we made
the bet. Then he explained, yes, the pool house is
on the Jerry west side of the property. So I
owed him a stake dinner. And the funny thing is,
guess who's shooting in the backyard. It's Kobe Bryant. This
is I think in the nineties, maybe early two thousand
(38:05):
and then. I think it was in the nineties. It's
quite a while ago, but the architects said that Terry
would be out there every now and then shoot the
hoops with Kobe, and that would have been a treat
to see.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Yeah, I would like that. I'd like to have him
as a neighbor. Thank you, Steve for sharing. Chris in
La I Chris, good morning Dan.
Speaker 14 (38:25):
You know, I was just thinking a lot of times,
I think what makes people connect with someone like like
mister West is the fact that you know how great
they are and how good they are as a person.
Speaker 12 (38:36):
So I think that's why we all are feeling the
way we are today.
Speaker 14 (38:39):
I just wanted to give a story that going to
a lot of Laker games in La I was fortunate
to have a friend who worked for Lakers, so I
would go to a lot of the games. And it
is absolutely true that during the games, Jerry would stand
up and he would be at the end of a tunnel,
right down there with pretty much everyone else in the
stadium because he couldnot sit down and he was so
(39:00):
invested in every single game. But that tunnel. You've been
to the Forum Club. I'm sure that tunnel led to
the Forum Club, but he would stand there and I
can't imagine how many times he had to say.
Speaker 9 (39:11):
Hello to people as they.
Speaker 14 (39:12):
Walked by, as he's trying to do his business of
watching and being a general manager of a game, not
sitting down load, not sitting a pie away from everyone.
He was sitting just right at the end of that tunnel,
just kind of looking. And that's the memory I have
of him and just being a great, nice guy who
(39:33):
seemed like he was just one of us. And I
think that's why LA is morning as we are today
because we lost what we would consider a friend.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Well, when you consider what he contributed for seven decades,
I mean to basketball, I mean to the Lakers, he's
as impactful, if not more so than anybody in the
history of the NBA, and that's not over dating it.
Steven la by Steve.
Speaker 12 (40:05):
Hey Bud, good morning. I just it had just been
a bad, bad morning this morning. And the first thing
I saw on Twitter on X when when I saw
that he had died, I thought of you, Dan. I
just know how much he meant so much to you.
But Dan, people don't realize this man was the Mount
(40:26):
Rushmore of Lakers. I mean to hear all the stories
and watching the finals, I would remember as a kid,
Dan the General was talking about him in the tunnels.
Jerry West was a mess. He couldn't watch any of
the games. He being the tunnel because he was a
nervous wreck. And he didn't get enough credit.
Speaker 17 (40:42):
Dan.
Speaker 12 (40:43):
Everybody kept talking about Bill charm and Bill Sharp. Jerry
West brought Shack, Jerry West got Kobe, Jerry Wes filled
in the pieces and all this stuff. He was so
instrumental for the team Jack. The last thing he did
for the Lakers is when he was the consultant for
the Memphis Grizzly. Then we got Paul Grif. I don't.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Thank you, Steve. I don't think Jerry would have taken
credit for getting you a Palca Sault. Final Hour on
the Way, Bill Plashki from the La Times and Reggie Miller,
I hope you'll stay with us. Two hours in the books,
One more to go, Dan Patrick Shaw
Hosts And Creators
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Dan Patrick
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