'Go West!' said a boy from Esko

Golf means many friendly conversations about various topics of varying degrees of importance. One day our Rugged Spruce foursome was talking about Jerry West's passing. Randy Flynn said, to everyone's surprise, that he had seen Jerry West and the Los Angeles Lakers play in Duluth in September 1966 in the "first professional athletic contest in the new Duluth Arena." It was a preseason game. Randy was 13, grew up in Esko, and his dad took him to the game.

The Lakers played the Oscar Robertson-led Cincinnati Royals. West and Robertson were backcourt teammates on the 1960 USA Olympic team. The Royals were the predecessor of today's Sacramento Kings franchise. Randy didn't remember who won the game, but he did remember going courtside after the game and getting players' autographs. He had them sign his game program, and he has retained this 58-year-old document as a valued treasure.

"It was a great day. Even though West and Elgin Baylor were only 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-5 respectively, they seemed like giants to me. They signed autographs until all the kids were gone. Pretty amazing by today's standards," said Flynn, before putting his birdie try.

West was a basketball icon. After all, his silhouette is widely considered the inspiration for the NBA logo. He died on June 12 at the age of 86. He's in the National Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and administrator for the Los Angeles Lakers. During his playing days, West was referred to as "Mr. Clutch," even though his Lakers teams, with him as a player, won only one championship. They usually lost to the dreaded Boston Celtics in the finals.

West graduated from college (West Virginia) in 1960 and played in the Olympics. He was a first-round draft choice of the Minneapolis Lakers one month before they moved the team franchise to Los Angeles. West was respected by even his fiercest competitors, most notably Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics.

Some of the golfers in our group recalled seeing the Minnesota Pipers, an American Basketball Association team featuring Connie Hawkins, playing professional basketball at the Duluth Arena in 1968. The Minneapolis Lakers had been a perennial National Basketball Association champion before leaving for L.A. It was a long void for the state, nearly 30 years, before the Minnesota Timberwolves joined the NBA.

Randy had sent me pictures of the 1966 arena game program. Its ads were a throwback to my childhood. There were only three local Duluth TV stations in this era. There were pictures of Marsh Nelson (CBS), Bob Junkert (NBC) and Loren Sanquist (ABC), so all of the local sportscasters. Newspaper coverage for the game was provided by the Duluth Herald and News Tribune and the Superior Evening Telegram.

The Duluth Arena was built and opened in 1966 and became home ice for the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog hockey team. But it was Jerry West and professional basketball that provided lifetime memories for a little kid from Esko.

Steve Korby's interest in writing goes back to when he was in fourth grade and editor of the Scan-Satellite school newspaper in Scanlon. He welcomes ideas for human interest stories and tales regarding Carlton County residents, projects, history, and plans c/o [email protected].