SSDL BLOG: “The Greatest Olympic Games”
“The Greatest Olympic Games”
December 23, 2020
Jerry West 1960 Gold Medal is His Most Cherished Award
Four-Part Video Podcast “A Very Jerry Christmas” Part Two Drops December 24th
7428 Studio - I have always been fascinated by the Olympic Games. One of the earliest memories of my life was, as a four year old, trying to understand why the adults around me were so upset. The adults were outraged as they watched American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists, barefoot on the medal stand during the national anthem at the ’68 Games in Mexico City.
Four years later, I learned a hard life lesson about what terrorism looks like, as I watched the ’72 Munich Games. Members of the Palestinian Black September organization launched an assault that led to the deaths of 11 athletes. In what came to be known as the “Munich Massacre”, I sat and listened to the ABC news anchor Jim McKay announce that, “they’re all gone.” It was terrifying.
A few days later, I could not believe what I was seeing. Basketball officials at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle gave the USSR team chance after chance to beat the USA team for the Gold. It was the most controversial game in international basketball history, and I was pissed.
But I have never lost faith in what the Olympic Games are really all about. They represent the best, and certainly sometimes, less than the best of what humans can be. Sometimes politics played a role for the worst, but most of the time the Olympics provided a place for humanity, and for athletes to show us what excellence looks like.
As I got older and learned more about the history of the Games, the one that stood out most to me was the 1960 Olympics. With a historic backdrop like Rome, and of course the fact that the Olympics had always been designated with “Roman Numerals”, the stories of the Games of the XVII Olympiad rank (at least in my mind) as the best:
Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon barefooted to become the first black African Olympic champion.
Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world”.
Rafer Johnson defeated his rival, fellow U.C.L.A. Bruin and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest Decathlon events in Olympic history.
Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal.
And then, there was Jerry and Oscar. Jerry West from West Virginia University and Oscar Robertson from the University of Cincinnati were the co-captains of the ’60 men’s USA Basketball team, the first true “Dream Team”.
West was the ’59 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, Robertson the two-time Helms College Player of the Year, both collegiate All-Americans, and the top two picks in the 1960 NBA Draft. Oscar went first to the Cincinnati Royals (a team that eventually became the Sacramento Kings), Jerry next to the Minneapolis Lakers (future Los Angeles Lakers that same year), and they would launch careers as two of the greatest guards the NBA has ever seen.
But first, there was Rome. The USA team was coached by the legendary Pete Newell, whose Cal Bears team beat Jerry and his West Virginia Mountaineers 71-70 for the NCAA title in ’59. The team was more than ready. Team USA, never really challenged, won all their games and the country’s fifth straight Olympic Championship. West, 22 at the time, has always considered the gold medal he won in Rome his most prized award.
In 2019 at the White House, upon receiving the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, West remembered many of his “exhilarating victories” over the span of his life during his acceptance speech. He then continued, “But the one I cherish most was with a group of fellow American amateurs at the 1960 Olympics. As I stood on the Gold Medal Stand in Rome next to my friend and soon-to-be adversary, Oscar Robertson, I thought about my brother, David, who had died fighting in Korea when I was 13 and how proud I was to represent the United States of America and the state of West Virginia. I tried in my life to do for others what David did for me: lead, protect, and assist whenever possible.”
Our SSDL four part interview with Jerry West continues this week with part two of a four-part series that we are calling, a “Very Jerry Christmas”. For me, to be this close to Olympic greatness and history is my own version of a Christmas miracle.
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Notes on a Backyard Scorecard
Los Angeles - Once again, I am stealing the title for this column from the “event program” we used to print out for the Venice Backyard Championships, of which we stole from L.A. sportswriter Alan Malamud… Juju Watkins, a 15 year-old basketball phenom and the 2020 Sports Illustrated “SI Kid of the Year”, will be the next featured guest for SSDL… Follow @SportsStoriesDL on Twitter, so you can vote on the “SSDL Polls”, which are proving to be highly popular…Jerry West Polls asking about: the best number he has worn, his best coach, best team and more are making the rounds now… Look for the SSDL “Live Shows” to return in February, once contracts are renegotiated with the SSDL cast of characters and correspondents… Looking for a Christmas present idea? Give the gift of a YouTube SSDL Subscription! Just go to YouTube.com/SSDL and hit the “Subscribe” button.
LINKS:
Wayne Boehle knocks down #7428Shot for Jerry West
Denny Lennon featured in “Voyage LA Magazine
Juju Watkins “SI Kid of the Year” Launch Party Video
NSLA: SSDL covers a different Jonas Never mural every Tuesday
SSDL DOPE - Denny on other Podcast Episodes
All shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at: YouTube.com/SSDL
Social media links, archives and more are available on our website: SportsStoriesDL.com
Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”