The surest way to get on Jerry West’s bad side, the best way to get him to bark in that familiar voice with its tendrils of a West Virginia twang, is to praise him.
For reasons understood only by West — who subtitled his autobiography “My charmed, tormented life” — he detests being commended for anything, especially his charitable efforts. Not because he’d be found wanting: He has long supported a reading center at West Virginia University in memory of his older brother, David, who died in the Korean War, and he has backed various charities in Southern California through his life as a player, coach and executive with the Lakers and beyond.