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 Los Angeles sports legend Jerry West is enthusiastic about his new role with the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. It seemed like a head-scratcher when the PGA Tour announced in late May that Lakers legend Jerry West would be the new executive director of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. It might soon be viewed as a no-brainer, however. The highest-profile event on the West Coast Swing now has a high-profile leader in West, one of the NBA’s all-time greats whose primary goal will be to increase charitable involvement for the tournament. The 71-year-old West isn’t interested in being a figurehead. He took on the responsibility because he hates being idle, loves golf and enjoys giving back to the community. “I’m not doing this because I need a job,” said West, who has played golf for nearly 40 years. “Knowing me, I will be busy every day, and I like it that way, because I do want this to work.” There’s a lot of work to be done between now and tournament time in seven months. The economy has hurt charitable involvement on the PGA Tour in 2009, and it’s unclear how it will affect events in 2010. There’s still hubbub over Northern Trust’s usage of government relief funds at Riviera this year. Plus, Tiger Woods isn’t a lock to return to the tournament that gave him his first exemption at age 16. What makes West such an intriguing choice for executive director of the event is his competitive nature and confident demeanor. The native of West Virginia wants to win, and he knows how. As a player in the 1960s and ’70s he beat competitors on the court, and in over 20 years as an NBA general manager he selected talent for teams that consistently beat others. Calling himself “a possessed person when it came to winning,” West will now try to use that tenacity to help the people in the Los Angeles area who embraced him during his time on the court and in the front office with the Lakers. Why are you doing this? What we’re hoping to do is make this tournament a relevant event. Not that it’s not already, but with a great title sponsor in Northern Trust, the PGA Tour is wanting to grow this tournament so we can give to charity, and that’s the reason why I’m here. This city has been so great to me. If we can increase the giving to charities and programs that are in need, I will feel so good. We would like to do things in certain areas that contribute to the best of Los Angeles — like the Watts Summer Games, the Special Olympics and the school system. The one thing most people aren’t aware of is that the PGA Tour is not a moneymaking venture, it’s a nonprofit organization. They survive because of their sponsorships and their partners. The ethnicity of this city is so diverse and incredible and we want to get everyone involved. We don’t want to make this a Westside event, we want to get the city of Los Angeles involved, because the whole city is going to benefit from any and all charitable dollars we can raise. Is the Tiger Woods Foundation one of the charities you’ve reached out to? We’re going to meet with the head of his foundation. Obviously, if we could get Tiger to participate — he hasn’t played here in three years — it would really help this event. But there’s going to be no pressure applied to him, because he gets pulled and tugged at like no one else. I’m hopeful he would consider coming here. I met him when he was a young man and haven’t had a chance to say hello to him in a few years now, but like all golf fans, I’m a tremendous fan of his for a lot of reasons. You’ve made a successful living evaluating athletic talent. What do you think separates Tiger Woods from other golfers? He’s like no other golfer I’ve ever seen in this sense: He does not want to finish second, he wants to finish first. It seems like he just grinds and grinds and grinds, and golf can probably be the most discouraging game of all for people of that caliber. I love the relationship he had with his father. I thought that was really special. There was a real bond there and I think he understood his father wanted him to be the best and that’s what he’s become. Is he the Michael Jordan of golf? I greatly admire Michael Jordan. I’ve always felt he’s probably the best all-around [basketball] player ever. You get yourself in trouble today by trying to make comparisons. I judge basketball players [based on]: Are they good offensive players, are they good defensive players, are they good teammates, do they have heart, do they have desire, are they compelled to win? Tiger’s mentality sort of reminds me of a basketball player. He’s not going to let himself lose, and you have certain players from different eras that seem to have the ability to just drive their teammates and carry them when they’re not playing well. But golf is by far the hardest game there is to play. It tests every part of your body, your mind and your skill, whereas in basketball, great skill and great desire will sometimes make up for a lot of things. Did you used to attend the L.A. Open as a spectator? Was it something you made it a point to attend? Oh yes, absolutely. I’ve been to a lot of them. I was working for the last three or four years, so I haven’t been there recently. But I used to come over and I’d love to find out when players I had a special attachment to were just out on the range hitting golf balls. Who were some of those players you had a special attachment to? I knew Sam Snead, being from West Virginia. He grew up in Virginia, but he was the pro at the Greenbrier. I used to go there every summer and watch him hit balls. I so admired his skill, the way he played the game. It was incredible to watch him practice. Obviously, Ben Hogan, all of the things he overcame, the steely resolve he had. Arnold Palmer, who I’ve known for a long time, the charisma this man has. And then to watch Jack Nicklaus come along and Lee Trevino, Tom Watson — I’m going to miss a lot of names, but those are some I used to watch in that era.  How did you get started playing golf?My first exposure to it was when I was going to West Virginia University [in the late 1950s]. A guy I knew had one of those adjustable golf clubs that you could make into a 7-iron or a 6-iron — it was ridiculous — and we went out to this golf course at the university one day. No one knew how to play golf, and there were sand greens. My goodness, I said, this is frustrating. My first year in the NBA [in 1960], I made the All-Star team. They gave us a set of golf clubs, which sat in my garage for a year. They were in a beautiful bag with my name on it. I wanted to take my name off because I didn’t want anyone to know this is Jerry West trying to play golf. I mean, I could hit it a long way with probably a 70-yard slice on it. We had a fellow on the Lakers by the name of Frank Selvy who was an avid golfer, and he got me involved more. At that point in time, I didn’t have the means to join a country club ... we’d go out and play at the golf course on Western Avenue. I used to love to hit golf balls. It wasn’t very pretty at times, that’s for sure, it was really going to the right. I got to the point where I could hit it in the middle of the clubface, but it was never square. I kind of became addicted to it. Your lowest round ever — a 63 at Bel-Air Country Club — is well documented. How did you become so skilled? Some people pick up golf and the swing looks so natural. With me, it wasn’t quite that way. I took some lessons from Eric Monti at Hillcrest Country Club, and as time went on I would play more and got to the point where I was halfway decent, shooting in the 80s. But I couldn’t get any better. My only thought was if I really wanted to play this game halfway decent and be competitive, I had to find a professional that I could connect with, and I did that — his name was Jimmy Ballard. I was like a 4 handicap but I sliced the ball off the tee, though I was always a pretty good putter. I came back from him and within a month I was a plus handicap. It was pretty exciting to go out there and feel like I could draw the ball and cut the ball. I had a regular routine: I would get out every morning, have breakfast at Bel-Air Country Club, hit balls for two hours, chip and putt, and then come in and wait for my game. We had about eight guys and we’d play all the time. It was probably the highlight of my playing golf because it was very competitive. What kind of player were you on the golf course? It was frustrating for me for a while, but I got to understand the nuances of the game. Plus, most people that play golf, it’s a real gentleman’s game. I mean, there’s great integrity when you play golf, and that was one of the things that I learned real quick. I learned a lot about life playing golf. Any particularly memorable experiences on the links? During one season in the mid-1960s, we were getting ready for the playoffs and our coach said he didn’t want us to play golf. He wanted us to do nothing but rest. But I didn’t want to just sit around. Golf, to me, was more pleasurable. I made a hole-in-one on the fifth hole of the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club. It ended up in the paper the next day, so I got fined for making a hole-in-one. That was the first one I had made. Another day, I made 10 birdies at Bel-Air but also knocked it out of bounds on two holes. You’re regarded as a fan of speed golf. Why? When you were in your golf prime, how quickly did you play? Probably much to the dismay of a few people at Bel-Air Country Club, our group used to play in three hours or less — and we would play with five. I’ve always felt that you should be ready to play. The enjoyment of golf is not to be out there forever, but to move along. You have different styles of play — some people play very slowly, other people think they’re professionals and they’re amateurs, but the better the player, sometimes the slower they get. I think that it’s more enjoyable to play at a faster pace. What’s one thing people may not know about you? I’m pretty common. I love people. I try to say hello to people. If somebody comes up to me and says something, whether it’s favorable or not, they don’t have to be afraid that I’m going to lash out. I’m approachable. What are the three things in life that you can’t live without? I think family, first of all. Sometimes we don’t realize how important our families are because we’re so busy. But I admire people who have close families because when I was growing up, our family wasn’t as close as it should have been. Also, I think my passion for learning. I’m a vociferous reader of all types of things — an awful lot of them to me are things that I’ve experienced in my life and how people have handled the tough experiences they’ve had. Last, I don’t think I could do without the people in my life who have been so special to me, who have been nice to me, who have embraced me, who have, through thick or thin, been a fan. You mentioned your love of books. What are some of your favorites? I particularly like books on historical figures, especially those that have come more recently. We’ve had some remarkable leaders in this country. I just got through reading ‘Traitor to His Class,’ a book on Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was remarkable. There was a quote by Winston Churchill at the end of this book, when FDR died: ‘I’ve lost my dearest friend but the greatest man I’ve ever met.’ For a statesman like him to make that comment, I just felt that if you had ever known FDR, there had to be something really special about him. Another thing, I think the greatest document ever written was the Declaration of Independence. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln remain two of the most inspirational presidents because of their legacies of social progression. It seems like your undertaking with the Northern Trust Open, though not on a presidential level, bears some resemblance. In a country like this, which is so rich in many ways, to see the plights of families, kids that sometimes don’t get fed, particularly in the state of California — that shouldn’t happen. Regardless of where people are living, there are so many gifted people out there that never have the opportunity to use those gifts. And if we can give them tools to advance their lives and find niches for themselves, we are creating the leaders of tomorrow for this country. If we ignore those people who need help, we’ve certainly done the wrong thing. You can sit around and talk and some people might say you’re not sincere. I wouldn’t do this if I wasn’t sincere — I really want to do this. It would be a tremendous honor to give the L.A. school system 5 or 6 million dollars to save some of these after-school programs by providing whatever they need, because the school system needs help here. We’re talking about one week, and we need to get the focus on this to obtain our charitable goals. ALSO SEE: Behind-the-scenes video with West at Riviera Country Club A closer look at West the basketball player and West the golfer What West and the Northern Trust brass hope to achieve for 2010 |
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Very touching. Zeke West has always been a first class person. The Northern Trust people got it right by brining Mr. Basketball into the mix.
| Comment at 7/2/2009 |
Dear Jerry, Welcome to the team at Riviera. L.A. is lucky to see your involvement in making our town even better. The marshals will be anxious to participate in making the Northern Trust the highlight of the western swing and just one more in your illustrious career. Our crew on Hole 4, named the "Greatest Par 3 in America" by Ben Hogan, would be honored to meet you. Best wishes. Al Roth
| Comment at 7/7/2009 |
I lived in Brentwood, CA in the 70's and so did Jerry West. I was newly
married (second marriage) and we had six kids. My husband was a big
basketball fan of the Lakers and we went to many many games. My
young daughter at the time had a major crush on Jerry West. She would
beg me when we were in the car to drive by Jerry's house...just maybe he
would be outside. Well.........one day he appeared. and by daughter waved
and Jerry smiled and waved back. He made her day and i must say, mine
too. Jerry West has always been a class act. He puts his money where his
mouth is. It is fantastic he will be behind the Northern Trust tournament
at Riviera. Believe me, with Jerry West at the helm this will be one of golf's
premiere events, just like it used to be.
| Comment at 7/9/2009 |
