Bob West was born in Mexico, Missouri, in 1944. He moved to Southeast Texas in 1965 to attend what was then Lamar Tech. West began his 49-year newspaper career at the Beaumont Enterprise in 1966 while attending Lamar. In 1968, he married Lamar cheerleader Genie Montie of Port Arthur. He joined the Port Arthur News in 1971 and became sports editor in June 1972.

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West was best known for his strong emphasis on high school sports coverage and for championing athletes from Southeast Texas who went on to play at the collegiate and professional levels. He was twice named Texas Sports Writer of the Year by the Texas High School Coaches Association and twice received the prestigious Fred Hartman Excellence in Sports Writing Award. Expanding his platform, West also hosted sports talk radio programs in Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur for more than 30 years.

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In addition, West helped pioneer high school football telecasts in Southeast Texas and served as an analyst for 20 years on the Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience broadcasts, which greatly increased exposure for local high school athletes. His fundraising efforts for the Babe Zaharias Foundation led to the creation of a $50,000 endowed Babe Zaharias–Bob West Scholarship for women’s athletics at Lamar University.

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One of West’s most significant civic contributions was organizing 12 Port Arthur News Homecoming Roasts, which raised more than $700,000 for the Museum of the Gulf Coast. Sports honorees included Jimmy Johnson, Bum Phillips, Billy Tubbs, Tom Hicks, Joe Washington Jr., Jamaal Charles, and Wade Phillips. Other honorees included attorney Walter Umphrey, Texas Governor Ann Richards, U.S. Congressman Jack Brooks, Texas Senator Carl Parker, and Texas Secretary of State Jack Rains. Richards, who participated five times as a roaster, once remarked, “Bob West can get most of us to do anything.”

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Among the many high-profile celebrities West helped bring to Port Arthur for the roasts were former President Bill Clinton, comedian Don Rickles, Dr. Red Duke, NFL Hall of Famers Roger Staubach, Earl Campbell, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, and Franco Harris, NBA Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and broadcaster Jim Nantz of CBS Sports. The 1992 event, featuring Clinton as a roaster and Richards as the roastee, was televised worldwide on C-SPAN.

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Another of West’s enduring projects was the creation of the Port Arthur News Bum Phillips Bowl trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Mid-County Madness rivalry between Nederland and Port Neches-Groves. He also helped establish the Bum Phillips Award, presented each year by Wade Phillips to the top head coach in Southeast Texas.

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West and his wife, Genie, had three sons: Brandon, Damon, and Grayson.