Hershell West

{{short description|American basketball player}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Hershell West

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|7|8}}{{efn|West's obituary uses the birth date of July 8, 1940.{{cite web |title=Hershell West Obituary |url=https://memorial.tennantmortuary.com/hershell-west/5130124/ |website=Tennant Funeral Home |access-date=September 18, 2023}} Monroe Dispatch gives an alternative birth date of July 8, 1941.{{cite web |title=Always in our Hearts |url=https://www.monroedispatchonline.com/story/2023/02/02/news/always-in-our-hearts/4138.html |website=Monroe Dispatch |access-date=September 18, 2023 |date=February 2, 2023}}}}

| birth_place = Rayville, Louisiana, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|1|28|1940|8|7}}{{efn|West's obituary and Monroe Dispatch use the death date of January 28, 2023. Grambling State University states that he died on January 30, 2023.{{cite web |last1=Boatright |first1=T. Scott |title=Former Grambling hoops great Hershell West dies at 82 |url=https://www.gram.edu/news/index.php/2023/02/01/former-grambling-hoops-great-hershell-west-dies-at-82/ |website=Grambling State University |access-date=September 18, 2023 |date=February 1, 2023}}}}

| death_place = Rayville, Louisiana, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lbs = 190

| high_school = Eula D. Britton (Rayville, Louisiana)

| college = Grambling State (1959–1963)

| draft_year = 1963

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 15

| draft_team = Syracuse Nationals

| career_start =

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| career_position = Guard

| years1 =

| team1 =

| highlights =

• NAIA champion (1961)
• 2× First-team All-SWAC (1962, 1963)

}}

Hershell West (July 8, 1940 – January 28, 2023) was an American basketball player and coach. He played basketball at Eula D. Britton in his hometown of Rayville, Louisiana and won the Louisiana State AA Championship in 1959. Grambling State Tigers men's basketball head coach Fred Hobdy offered West and the four other Britton starters athletic scholarships to Grambling State after watching them play.{{cite news |last1=Stewart-Staten |first1=Annie Ruth |title=1959 champs paved the way for future teams |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32969761/the-richland-beacon-news/ |accessdate=June 4, 2020 |work=The Richland Beacon-News |date=July 3, 2014 |page=6}} West played college basketball for the Tigers for four years, where he won a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship in 1961 and was a two-time first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) selection in 1962 and 1963.{{cite web |last1=Keise |first1=Kevin |title=GSU's 1961 men's basketball team finally gets rings |url=http://www.thegramblinite.com/news/view.php/392471/GSUs-1961-mens-basketball-team-finally-g |website=The Gramblinite |accessdate=June 4, 2020 |date=October 25, 2012}}{{cite web |title=Southwestern Athletic Conference |url=http://collegehoopedia.com/conferences/southwestern-athletic-conference |website=College Hoopedia |accessdate=June 4, 2020}} In 1962, he and six other Tigers players participated in a goodwill tour of Latin America.{{cite news |title=Grambling Cagers Backbone of Touring Squad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gb0DAAAAMBAJ |accessdate=June 4, 2020 |work=Jet |date=July 19, 1962 |page=59|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}}

West was selected in the 1963 NBA draft as the 15th overall pick by the Syracuse Nationals but he never played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He became a basketball coach for Richwood High School in Louisiana, where he served as a mentor to future NBA player Larry Wright. West helped Wright transfer to the larger Western High School in Washington, D.C., where he became a highly recruited prospect.{{cite web |last1=Mann |first1=Jack |title=The Super Subs |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1978/01/08/the-super-subs/a7c7d21a-ca5b-4a10-a7de-198f807a5c01/ |website=The Washington Post |accessdate=June 4, 2020 |date=January 8, 1978}} Wright honored West by turning down other collegiate offers to attend Grambling State and play for the Tigers.{{cite web |last1=Letlow |first1=Paul |url=https://crescentcitysports.com/the-wright-stuff-championship-success-has-been-constant-theme-for-larry-wright/ |title=The Wright stuff: Championship success has been constant theme for Larry Wright |website=Crescent City Sports |accessdate=June 4, 2020 |date=June 23, 2018}}

West was an inaugural member of the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.{{cite web |title=Grambling establishes Sports HOF |url=https://lasentinel.net/grambling-establishes-sports-hof.html |website=Los Angeles Sentinel |accessdate=June 2, 2020 |date=June 4, 2009}}

West died on January 28, 2023, in Rayville, Louisiana, after a short illness.