MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As an eternal tribute to Jerry West, the best Mountaineer ever, West Virginia College Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker introduced right now that the No. 44, might be retired by the Athletics Division in all sports activities.
At the moment, the well-known quantity is retired in males’s basketball solely. After a particular vote and subsequent approval by the WVU Athletics Council, Baker has now retired the No. 44 in perpetuity for all WVU sports activities. In honor of West’s reminiscence and legacy, no Mountaineer student-athlete will ever put on No. 44 once more.
“By his generosity, recommendation, time and total encouragement, Jerry West has at all times given again to our College and our student-athletes,” Baker mentioned. “He by no means sought the popularity, however all our student-athletes have benefited from his love for his house state and College.
“Whereas we misplaced Jerry in June, his legacy will proceed to the touch and improve the lives of our student-athletes by means of scholarships, our educational middle within the Coliseum and his total imaginative and prescient to compete and characterize the West Virginia jersey with pleasure,” Baker added. “He was pleased with his alma mater, and No. 44 will at all times stand for excellence right here at WVU. There’ll by no means be one other Jerry West.”
His life accomplishments are limitless. Sixty-five years after his three-year Mountaineer profession ended, West nonetheless holds 17 college information, together with rebounding and scoring. He’s the one particular person in historical past to ever be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame for 3 separate classes. Throughout his profession, he received an Olympic Gold Medal, acquired the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 and beside being maybe the best govt in NBA historical past, West is well-known because the well-known Emblem of the NBA.
All 18 varsity sports activities have paid homage to West’s reminiscence this season by carrying a No. 44 commemorative patch on their gameday apparel. With right now’s particular announcement, any student-athlete presently carrying the No. 44 might be allowed to complete their profession with the quantity, however upon their eligibility completion, the quantity might be retired in that sport.
West Virginia athletics paid tribute to West’s reminiscence Saturday in a particular Jerry West Day on the Coliseum for the lads’s basketball recreation towards Iowa State. Members of West’s household have been in attendance for a pregame reception hosted by the Mountaineer Athletic Membership earlier than a particular halftime ceremony honored West earlier than a sellout crowd. Mini replicas of the favored Jerry West stature that adorns the Coliseum Blue Gate entrance have been additionally made out there to followers in attendance.
Moreover, the College introduced on Friday that Steve and Connie Ballmer, house owners of the Los Angeles Clippers, have offered the WVU Basis with a $5 million reward in West’s identify. Half of the Ballmer reward establishes a brand new fund in West’s identify to help completion grants, which give financial help for WVU college students susceptible to leaving the College as a consequence of monetary challenges. The purpose is to encourage college students to stay in class and full their levels. The remaining funds will bolster the Jerry West Scholarship, which works to undergraduate college students from West Virginia with demonstrated monetary want. First awarded in 1971, the scholarship has enabled generations of Mountain State natives to graduate from WVU.
