Virginia Tech played West Virginia in Morgantown in December 1988, and I covered the game for the Collegiate Times. Tech lost in a blowout, but the game was notable for two reasons. First, the game marked Bimbo Coles' first appearance against WVU after playing for the USA Olympic team in 1988 - the last American team composed solely of "amateur" college players. Because Bimbo was from Greenbrier County, West Virginia, there was always a lot of friction over his decision to spurn the Mountaineers and choose Virginia Tech (like Jeff Schneider a few years before him). Everyone wondered what kind of treatment he would get. To its credit, WVU gave Bimbo a very gracious introduction when the starting lineups were announced and the crowd responded accordingly (and then proceeded to give him a hard time once the game began; and it wasn't Bimbo's best game). That day was also Jerry West Day (or something like it), and WVU also dedicated a room at the WVU Coliseum in West's name. That room became the place where post-game press conferences and other significant announcements were made for decades after, at least until the Coliseum was renovated in more recent times. West was there and made an appearance before the crowd at halftime, and for the press after the game. WVU had distributed prints of West to everyone in attendance. Chris Colston of the Hokie Huddler and I did not hesitate to ask West to autograph our prints (as did probably every other reporter there, even though that's probably some kind of professional no-no), and as a guy who grew up in West Virginia and heard stories from my parents and grandfather about driving to Morgantown to see West play in late 1950s, I am proud to still have it hanging on the wall of my mancave today. Objectively, Jerry West is among the most important figures in basketball history when one considers his playing career from start to finish, his brief stint as a head coach of the Lakers, and his long tenure as an executive associated with the Lakers, Grizzlies, Warriors and Clippers. In West Virginia, the man is probably revered as being as close to a god as a human can get. But West was an unusual guy. For someone who lived in a spotlight for about six decades, he was exceedingly quiet and shy. I think that is one of the reasons why, when West talked, people listened. Icon.