Jerry West as the NBA Logo Has Been Confirmed

April 27, 2010

It’s a well known fact the NBA’s silhouette logo is Jerry West..The NBA has never confirmed it nor has Jerry West, but in an interview with the L.A. times, the artist who created the iconic logo has come clean..”It’s Jerry West,” said Allan Siegel who designed the ridiculously famous logo back in 1969..He used a photograph of West and turned it into one of the most recognized logos in the world..Siegel believes the NBA doesn’t want to acknowledge the logo as an individual, but rather as a symbol of the league..”They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it,” he says “It’s become such a ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal point of their identity and their licensing program that they don’t necessarily want to identify it with one player.” Siegel was searching for an image to use for the LOGO, and when he saw the right picture, that was it.. “I found this picture of Jerry West dribbling down the court,” Siegel says, “and, of course, growing up in New York and my father having season tickets for college and pro games at Madison Square Garden, I’d seen West play a lot.” and the rest is history..-TO