WVU Basketball Legend Willie Akers, Known as Jerry West’s College Co-Star, Dies

For some somber news, Willie Akers, a starting forward on West Virginia University’s 1959 NCAA runner-up team, died on Tuesday, August 19, 2026. Akers died in Logan, W.Va. at the age of 89, his son Darren, confirmed to the WVU athletic department. His health had been declining for months leading up to his death, wrote WVU Senior Director of Athletics Content John Antonik in the school’s announcement.

Akers will always be remembered by WVU historians as one half of one of the most successful duos in school history. Led by basketball legend Jerry West, Akers played a key role for West Virginia from 1958 to 1960, posting an 81-12 overall record, three Southern Conference Tournament championships and three NCAA appearances.

Together during their sophomore season in 1958, the Mountaineers upset No. 5 Kentucky and top-ranked North Carolina on back-to-back nights at the Kentucky Invitational to reach No. 1 in the national rankings.

It was the next season that to the pair guided WVU on the verge of a national championship, making it all the way to the NCAA Tournament National Championship Game before falling to California by just one point, 71-70. That season remains the lone appearance in the NCAA’s national title game for the West Virginia men’s basketball program, and one of only two Final Four years – it took until Bob Huggins’ 2010 team for WVU to reach the Final Four again.

In 93 games as a Mountaineer, Akers scored 669 points and grabbed 573 rebounds and was named to the Southern Conference All-Tournament Team in 1960.

Note: WVU men’s basketball claims the 1942 season as a national championship due to the NIT being viewed as the premiere tournament at that time. However, the 1959 team is the closest West Virginia basketball has been to an NCAA sanctioned national title.