Updated Thursday, January 2, 2025 – 09:04
It is probably the worst kept secret of sports history. For more than five decades the NBA has a logo which is very recognizable throughout the world. It is about the silhouette of a player on a background in which the colors of the united states flag.
The player’s identity was known from the beginning, but the NBA still still not officially confirmeddespite the fact that even the designer of the symbol himself has admitted what It’s an open secret.
The logo silhouette represents Jerry Westwhich was one of the best players of the competition in the 60s and 70s. and champion with the Lakers in 1972.
Only three years before finally winning the ring, the NBA was looking for a logo to promote the best basketball league in the world and Alan Siegel received the order. There were several candidates to be immortalized for posterity, but the photo chosen had it all: being vertical and having a sense of movement, representing one of the famous basket tickets of the legendary player.
Thus, West ended up immortalized in the logo and many years later, in 2010Siegel admitted what everyone already knew: “You’re Jerry West.”
However, the NBA is still one step behind and the most it has ever admitted. is the enormous resemblance. The reason is clear: the competition does not want identify with a single player, but what it seeks is to be global, which is why it is difficult for them to admit the identity, even though it is already known.
Jerry West didn’t like it
Although being the image of the NBA logo It can be a great honor, The truth is that the protagonist of the image he didn’t like it. West, who died in 2024, commented on several occasions that he was flattered, but that he was a reserved man who I would prefer not to be there.
“If they wanted to change it, I would like them to do it. For many reasons, I wish they did,” he said.
2025-01-02 08:25:00