Jerry West the man behind the iconic NBA logo died on June 12th at age 86 and surprisingly the late basketball star wasn't a fan of the attention that he got for being the silhouette of the logo in 1969 the NBA asked marketer Alan seagull to create its own iconic Red White and Blue Seal seagull was enamored with a file photo of West dremeling the ball saying that he always admired and watched him play in the decades that followed West was reminded of his role every time he put on a bear of NBA socks attended a game or simply looked at a basketball he's made remarks that he doesn't like attention called on to himself and he wishes that no one ever found out that it was him who was used in the logo he did however use this same image on the cover of the autobiography he published in 2011 titled my Charmed tormented life West's NBA contributions go much farther than the logo or even his career stats after his days playing basketball Wes worked in the league for decades as a coach and executive as as the Lakers general manager he helped build the team's Showtime Dynasty in the 1980s featuring players like Kareem Abdul Jabar and Magic Johnson it's safe to say that he's a basketball legend whether he liked it or not