Pete Maravich

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Pete Maravich
Pete Maravich in action with the NBA Atlanta Hawks (circa 1971)
Position	Shooting guard
Nickname	Pistol Pete
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	198 lb (90 kg)
Nationality	United States
Born	June 22, 1947 Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Died	January 5, 1988 (age 40) Pasadena, California
College	Louisiana State University
Draft	3rd overall, 1970 Atlanta Hawks
Pro career	1970–1980
Former teams	Atlanta Hawks (1970−1974) New Orleans Jazz (1974−1979) Utah Jazz (1979-1980) Boston Celtics (1979-1980)
Awards	1969-70 USBWA College Player of the Year
Hall of Fame	1987

Peter Press "Pistol" Maravich (June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988) was an American basketball player known for his dazzling ballhandling, incredible shooting abilities, and creative passing. He learned at a very young age fundamental basketball and ball handling drills from his father coach Press Maravich. He would follow his father and coach throughout the eastern and gulf seaboards as a young man before exploding onto the NBA in his own right.

Also known as "Pistol Pete", he starred in college at Louisiana State University and for three NBA teams. Maravich is still the all-time leading NCAA scorer, averaging a staggering 44.2 points per game, without the benefit of a three-point line and excluding the records of his freshman year due to the fact that when Pete was in his first year of college, the NCAA had separate freshman and varsity basketball teams and freshman were not allowed to play on the varsity team.

1 Early life
2 Basketball career
3 Later life and Death
4 Legacy
5 Video game appearances
6 Awards and records
- 6.1 Collegiate
- 6.2 Professional
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

[edit] Early life

Born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and of Serbian descent, Pete amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. His father Press Maravich, a former professional player turned coach, showed Pete the fundamentals starting when Pete was seven years old. Pete would obsessively spend hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long range shots.

[edit] Basketball career

[edit] High school

Pete moved to Clemson, South Carolina at age nine. Many residents still remember him doing amazing things with a basketball even as a pre-teen. One stunt involved dribbling a basketball outside the passenger window of a moving car. The practice paid off when he joined the high school varsity basketball team as an 8th grader. He attended two high schools as a teen: D. W. Daniel in Central, South Carolina and Needham B. Broughton in Raleigh, North Carolina. During his years at those schools, he wowed college scouts with his ability to shoot, dribble, pass and score points. It is said that the young Maravich wanted to attend West Virginia University, but his father told him that if he didn't sign with LSU he might as well leave home.^{[citation needed]} And so, in 1966, Maravich decided to attend Louisiana State University, and play for his father, who was the school's new head basketball coach. Under his father's tutelage, Maravich would become known as "Pistol Pete."

[edit] College

Pete Maravich College Basketball's All-Time Scoring Leader, 3,667 points, 44.2 average.

When he took the court for his first freshman game at LSU, a large crowd turned out to see what all the fuss was about.

In those days, freshman players didn't play with the varsity squad. So, after Maravich put up 50 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds on Southeastern Louisiana College, the crowd got up and went home, ignoring the varsity game. And so it would go the rest of the season, as LSU's freshman squad lost only one game, while the varsity team won only three.

Noted for his mop of brown hair and droopy socks , Maravich scored more points in college than any other player in history. In only three years playing for his father Press Maravich at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points — 1,138 points in 1968, 1,148 points in 1969 and 1,381 points in 1970 while averaging 43.8, 44.2 and 44.5 points per game. In the process, "Pistol Pete" set 11 NCAA and 34 Southeastern Conference records, as well as every LSU record in points scored, scoring average, field goals attempted and made, and free throws attempted and made, and assists. In his collegiate career, the 6' 5" (1.96 m) guard averaged an incredible 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring three times. He also set an NCAA record by scoring more than 50 points 28 times. He was named a three-time All-American and still holds many of these records, more than 35 years later. Notably, his 3,667 points don't factor in the 741 he scored his freshman year, or the fact that they played without a three-point line.

Maravich was a three time first team All-American and was named The Sporting News' player of the year in 1970, and received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith Award as well. He scored a personal record of 69 points versus Alabama during a game that year, and garnered numerous other awards and college records.

Maravich shone on the court and LSU slowly turned around a lackluster program. The year before he arrived, the varsity posted a 3-20 record. In Pete's senior season, LSU was 20-8 and participated in the NIT, where they were defeated by Marquette 101-79 in the semi-finals.

[edit] NBA

After graduating from LSU in 1970, Maravich was the third selection in the first round of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) player draft ^[1] and made league history when he signed a $1.9 million contract — one of the highest salaries at the time — with the Atlanta Hawks. He wasted little time becoming a prime time player by averaging 23.2 points per game his rookie season. After spending four seasons in Atlanta, Maravich was traded to the New Orleans Jazz where he peaked as an NBA showman and superstar. He made the All-NBA First Team in 1976 and 1977 and the All-NBA Second Team in 1973 and 1978. He led the NBA in scoring in 1977 with a personal high 31.1 points per game. Prior to the 1979-80 season, Maravich moved with the team to Utah. He was waived by the Jazz on January 18, 1980 and was quickly picked up by the Boston Celtics where he played the rest of the season alongside Larry Bird. [1] Maravich retired in the fall of 1980.

In ten NBA seasons, Maravich, a five-time NBA All-Star, scored 15,948 points in 658 games for a 24.2 points per game average (15th All Time). He led the league in scoring with 31.1 points per game in 1977. His NBA single game high, a 68-point explosion, came against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977.

[edit] Later life and Death

After a leg injury forced him to leave basketball in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life." He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, and took an interest in the field of ufology. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. In 1982 he became a Christian and began traveling the country sharing his faith.

On January 5, 1988, while warming up to play a pickup basketball game with a group that included Focus on the Family head James Dobson, he collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of only 40. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital heart defect; he had been born with only one coronary artery instead of the normal two.[2]

"He'll be remembered always", former LSU head basketball coach Dale Brown said on hearing the news of Maravich's death. "When we see some tousled-haired kid with drooping socks standing on some semi-darkened court or in a yard after everyone else has gone home, he will be shooting a basketball, and we will remember Pete."

Years before his death, at the age of 23, Maravich told a Pennsylvania reporter, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40."^[2]

Pete Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

[edit] Legacy

Maravich was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in May 1987. He is the youngest player ever to be inducted.

After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in 1988.

In 1991, a biographical film dramatizing his 8th grade season entitled, The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend, was released. ^[3].

In 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest NBA players in history by a panel made up of NBA historians, former players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list.

In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled, Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.

In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all-time.

In 2007, two biographies of Pistol Pete were released:
- MARAVICH by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill, and
- Pistol by Mark Kriegel

[edit] Video game appearances

Appeared as a legend in every NBA Live series made.
Appeared in NBA Ballers with a flashback haircut.
Appeared in NCAA March Madness as "LSU PG #12" on the All-Time LSU team.
Appeared in NBA Street Vol. 2. and NBA Street V3
Appeared in NBA Street Showdown

[edit] Awards and records

[edit] Collegiate

The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
Naismith Award Winner (1970)
The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
Holds NCAA career record for most points (3,667, 44.2 ppg, three-year career) in 83 games
Holds NCAA career record for highest points per game average (44.2 ppg)
Holds NCAA record for most field goals made (1,387) and attempted (3,166)
Holds NCAA record for most free throws made (893) and attempted (1,152)
Holds NCAA record for most games scoring at least 50 points (28)
Holds NCAA single-season record for most points (1,381) and highest per game average (44.5 ppg) in 1970
Holds NCAA single-season record for most field goals made (522) and attempted (1,168) in 1970
Holds NCAA single-season record for most games scoring at least 50 points (10) in 1970
Holds NCAA single-game record for most free throws made (30 of 31) against Oregon State on Dec. 22, 1969
Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (Feb. 7, 1970); 66 vs. Tulane (Feb. 10, 1969); 64 vs. Kentucky (Feb. 21, 1970); 61 vs. Vanderbilt (Dec. 11, 1969);
Holds LSU records for most field goals in a game (26) against Vanderbilt on Jan. 29, 1969 and attempted (57) against Vanderbilt
All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
In 1988, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed legislation changing the official name of LSU's home court to the Maravich Assembly Center
#23 Jersey retired by LSU
In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20-8 record and a third place finish in the NIT

Team	Year	Games	Points	PPG
LSU	1966-67^[4]	17	741	43.6
LSU	1967-68	26	1138	43.8
LSU	1968-69	26	1148	44.2
LSU	1969-70	31	1381	44.5
TOTALS	1967-70^[5]	83	3667	44.2

^ http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1970
^ http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Maravich_Pete.html]
^ [http://pistolmovie.com
^ At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
^ These stat totals do not include Maravich's freshman year stats.

[edit] Professional

NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1978)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977. 1978, 1979)
Scored 15,948 points (24.2 ppg) in 658 games
Top 15 scoring average NBA History (24.2)
Led the NBA in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on Feb. 25, 1977
Shares NBA single-game record for most free throws made in one quarter (14) on Nov. 28, 1973 against Buffalo
Shares NBA single-game record for most free throws attempted in one quarter (16) on Jan. 2, 1973 against Chicago
#7 Jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 Jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
#7 Jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (2003)
#23 Jersey retired by the LSU Tigers (2007)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1970
^ http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Maravich_Pete.html]
^ [http://pistolmovie.com
^ At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
^ These stat totals do not include Maravich's freshman year stats.

[edit] Further reading

Berger, Phil (1999). Forever Showtime: The Checkered Life of Pistol Pete Maravich. Taylor Trade. ISBN 0-87833-237-5.
Federman, Wayne and Terrill, Marshall (2007). Maravich. SportClassic Books. ISBN 1-894963-52-0.
Gutman, Bill (1972). Pistol Pete Maravich: The making of a basketball superstar. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-01973-6.
Kriegel, Mark (2007). Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich. Free Press. ISBN 0743284976.
Towle, Mike (2000). I Remember Pete Maravich. Nashville: Cumberland House. ISBN 1-58182-148-4.
Towle, Mike (2003). Pete Maravich: Magician of the Hardwood. Nashville: Cumberland House. ISBN 1-58182-374-6.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Pete Maravich

Preceded by Lew Alcindor	Naismith College Player of the Year (men) 1970	Succeeded by Austin Carr

National Basketball Association | NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team

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