The silhouette guy on the NBA logo is Jerry West. He is regarded as one of the greatest guards in the NBA history. With his deadly jump shot, skills and passion on basketball, he is the third player that scored more than 25000 points, average 27 points per game.
One of his famous shot, 60-footer with no time left, sent a 1970 Laker-Knick championship game into overtime. Unforgettable!
In 1977, he was named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.
The Designer Behind NBA Emblem
In 1969, the NBA never confirmed that is Jerry West until the artist who created the NBA logo itself Allen Siegel, said “It’s Jerry West”.
He used the photograph one of the photograph of Jerry West and turned it into the most recognizable logo in the world. Siegel believes the NBA doesn’t want to acknowledge the NBA logo as individual, but rather as a symbol of the league.
” They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it”, he says, “It’s become such ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal point of their identity and their licensing program that they don’t necessarily want to identify with one player”.
While creating the image for the NBA logo, Siegel try to find a suitable picture for the NBA logo and 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, Id seen West play a lot”.
The color on the NBA logo, blue and red, reflect the fast paced game of basketball. The running image of jerry west on the NBA logo, gives strength to the NBA teams and also encourages them to follow his footsteps.