Jerry West's legacy - a relentless pursuit of winning over eight decades in the NBA - ESPN

On a warm morning late in the summer of 1969, Jerry West and a friend were running down San Vincente Blvd. in Santa Monica, on the Western edge of Los Angeles, when a man on the street passed him. «You're a choker,» he growled.

It had been one of the few times West had been willing to go out in public in several months, needing to start training for the coming season. West's Los Angeles Lakers had lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics in the Finals that May. They'd lost Game 7 by a single basket on their homecourt at the Forum, a stinging upset in Bill Russell's final game as a Celtic. It marked the sixth consecutive time West and the Lakers had lost in the Finals to the Celtics. Twice it happened in Games 7s by a single basket.

West had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in that Game 7 and was named the first-ever Finals MVP after he'd averaged 37.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 7.4 assists in the series. He remains the only player to win the honor in a losing effort. And then he shut himself inside for weeks in misery.

So when that unfortunate passerby had the audacity to say something, West exploded. Red-faced and sweating, West doubled back and went after the heckler, thinking for a moment about strangling him, his frustration and anger rising to a boil. His friend, knowing West's legendary temper, restrained him and managed to yank West away amid a stream of curse words and threats.

Forty-two summers later, LeBron James called West in a dark place of his own, following his loss in the 2011 NBA Finals. James knew NBA history as well as any star player the league had seen. So he reached out to West, who was an acquaintance but not a friend, because he wanted to talk about losing.

At the time, West had seven NBA