I was in another thread where grandpa mentioned Pistol Pete Maravich.
I do this in tribute to him.
I do this in tribute to him.
Best pure shooter that ever played
- Thread starter THE KOD
- Start date
Maravich was born on June 22, 1947, in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Press Maravich, who had been a guard with the Youngstown Bears of the National Basketball League in 1945-46 and with the Pittsburgh Ironmen of the Basketball Association of America in 1946-47.
As a youth Pete Maravich was the quintessential gym rat. After a successful high school career in North Carolina he enrolled at Louisiana State University. NCAA rules at the time prohibited first-year students from playing at the varsity level, so Maravich played for LSU's freshman team in 1966-67 and scored a monstrous 43.6 points per game.
When he moved up to varsity for his sophomore season he began the greatest scoring rampage in NCAA history. Over the next three seasons he averaged 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 ppg, respectively, leading the nation in scoring each year. During his senior season he scored 50 or more points in 10 of LSU's 31 games, setting an NCAA record for most points (1,381) and highest scoring average in a single season. In 1970, he was named College Player of the Year.
Maravich holds nearly every major NCAA scoring record, including most career points (3,667), highest career scoring average (44.2 ppg), most field goals made (1,387) and attempted (3,166), and most career 50-point games (28). And he accomplished all this without the benefit of the three-point basket, which wasn't introduced into the college game until the 1986-87 season.
As a college player Maravich was unparalleled, but the criticism that later dogged
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The following season was Maravich's finest as a professional. He saw action in 73 games and led the NBA in scoring with a career-best 31.1 p p g. He scored 40 or more points 13 times, the most in the NBA that season and he led the league in total points (2,273), field goals attempted (2,047) and free throws made (501). On Feb. 25, 1977, he scored 68 points in a game against the New York Knicks despite the efforts of defensive ace Walt Frazier to bottle him up. Maravich's performance that day ranks as the 11th-best single-game total in NBA history. He returned to the NBA All-Star Game in 1977 and earned his second straight berth on the All-NBA First Team.
Critics said that he had developed his game during countless solitary hours in the gym, and that he still played as if he were the only one on the court. It was a criticism that he never completely shook off.
Maravich's game was not built on fundamentals, it did require precision, and his brace-encased knee slowed him down and turned his once-quick pirouettes into slow-motion spinouts.
Boston Celtics, the top team in the league that year behind rookie forward Larry Bird. On the surface, Maravich was an odd choice for the team-oriented Celtics, but he worked himself back into shape and applied his considerable skills to the unfamiliar challenge of serving as a part-time contributor. He averaged 11.5 points in 26 outings for Boston and was still capable of impressive scoring bursts. In one game he scored the final 10 points in a come-from-behind win over the Washington Bullets. During the postseason he managed a modest 6.0 ppg as the Celtics reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
Maravich was a notorious long-range bomber during his career, but until now he had never played in a league, college or pro, that used the three-point shot. All of his many points had come on two-pointers, even when launched from a great distance. In 1979-80, the NBA finally adopted the three-point shot. In his final season-with his skills rusty, his knees creaky, and his minutes limited-Pistol Pete Maravich finally got a chance to shoot three-pointers. He went 10-for-15.
Career Statistics
G FG% 3PFG% FT% Rebs RPG Asts APG Stls Blks Pts PPG
658 .441 .667 .820 2,747 4.2 3,563 5.4 587 108 15,948 24.2
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I took my basketball into empty movie theatres and dribbled on the carpeted aisle during movies. I dribbled to and from town--five miles a day. When I got a bike, I learned to dribble while riding it and, later, while hanging out the passenger side of a car.
But basketball wouldn't always be my obsession. I discovered beer at 14, and by the time I was 18, I was an alcoholic and a partier. The discipline was gone, and I played on raw talent alone.
One weekend I partied with a friend all the way out to a Campus Crusade for Christ conference to perform the Show Time Clinic that my dad and I put on all over the world. When we arrived, I saw people holding hands, plucking guitars and singing about Jesus. I wanted out of there! But I couldn't leave, so for the next three days I heard about Jesus Christ. What He did and why He did it. When Bill Bright, Campus Crusades founder, gave a simple message about Christ and an invitation to know Him, hundreds of young people went forward. My friend, who was just like me, jumped out of his seat with tears in his eyes and gave his life to Christ.
I rejected Christ that day. I wanted no part of it. I'm going to get my ring, then I'll have time for God, I decided. And I went back to LSU, averaged over 44 points a game, and in 1970 signed the largest contract in sports history. I sat at a press conference with Howard Cosell and 42 microphones and said, I've arrived! Now all I need is that ring! Then I will be happy for the rest of my days on earth.
That was me, on the outside. But at the height of my popularity, I was miserable. I took up karate then got into Hinduism and reincarnation. I tried transcendental meditation, astro-planing, chanting and dabbled in the occult. I read everything on UFOs. I became a radical nutritionist then a vegetarian. I took life-extending drugs from eastern Europe because I wanted to live to be 150.
Then I began thinking, what happens after 150? Why am I here? Is this all there is to life? I had rejected Christ at 19 and gone back into the wilderness, and I hated it.
In 1980, I quit basketball out of pride and immaturity. I was so bitter I divorced myself from everything in basketball. I stayed home, changed my phone numbers and moped. That went on for two years.
The fateful night in November 1982 started just like any other. I watched TV, grumbled in my $300,000 house, and went to bed about midnight. But I could not sleep. All the sins of my youth kept parading through my mind. This had never happened to me before. I was up all night. I cried out to God, suddenly remembering the gist of the prayer offered at that conference 17 years earlier. I asked Jesus to come into my life. Nothing gave me the peace that Jesus gave me that night.
I eventually got back into basketball. And when I finally got that ring with my name on it, do you know what Bible verse popped into my mind? "For what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" (Matthew 16:26).
......................................................................................
But basketball wouldn't always be my obsession. I discovered beer at 14, and by the time I was 18, I was an alcoholic and a partier. The discipline was gone, and I played on raw talent alone.
One weekend I partied with a friend all the way out to a Campus Crusade for Christ conference to perform the Show Time Clinic that my dad and I put on all over the world. When we arrived, I saw people holding hands, plucking guitars and singing about Jesus. I wanted out of there! But I couldn't leave, so for the next three days I heard about Jesus Christ. What He did and why He did it. When Bill Bright, Campus Crusades founder, gave a simple message about Christ and an invitation to know Him, hundreds of young people went forward. My friend, who was just like me, jumped out of his seat with tears in his eyes and gave his life to Christ.
I rejected Christ that day. I wanted no part of it. I'm going to get my ring, then I'll have time for God, I decided. And I went back to LSU, averaged over 44 points a game, and in 1970 signed the largest contract in sports history. I sat at a press conference with Howard Cosell and 42 microphones and said, I've arrived! Now all I need is that ring! Then I will be happy for the rest of my days on earth.
That was me, on the outside. But at the height of my popularity, I was miserable. I took up karate then got into Hinduism and reincarnation. I tried transcendental meditation, astro-planing, chanting and dabbled in the occult. I read everything on UFOs. I became a radical nutritionist then a vegetarian. I took life-extending drugs from eastern Europe because I wanted to live to be 150.
Then I began thinking, what happens after 150? Why am I here? Is this all there is to life? I had rejected Christ at 19 and gone back into the wilderness, and I hated it.
In 1980, I quit basketball out of pride and immaturity. I was so bitter I divorced myself from everything in basketball. I stayed home, changed my phone numbers and moped. That went on for two years.
The fateful night in November 1982 started just like any other. I watched TV, grumbled in my $300,000 house, and went to bed about midnight. But I could not sleep. All the sins of my youth kept parading through my mind. This had never happened to me before. I was up all night. I cried out to God, suddenly remembering the gist of the prayer offered at that conference 17 years earlier. I asked Jesus to come into my life. Nothing gave me the peace that Jesus gave me that night.
I eventually got back into basketball. And when I finally got that ring with my name on it, do you know what Bible verse popped into my mind? "For what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" (Matthew 16:26).
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Noted for his mop of brown hair and floppy gray socks, Maravich scored more points in college than any other player in history. In only three years playing for his father Press 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 numerous NCAA, SEC and school records and was named a three-time All-America. In his collegiate career, the 6-5 guard averaged an incredible 44.2 ppg 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.
The 1970 College Player of the Year
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Pistol Pete
Chip Towers - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, March 8, 2004
Much has been made about Georgia's students rushing the floor after basketball games this season. But 35 years ago today, they swarmed the court at Stegeman Coliseum for an opposing team.
Or more specifically, an opposing player.
On March 8, 1969, LSU's Pete Maravich gave what many believe was the greatest individual performance in SEC history. He scored 58 points in a 90-80 double-overtime win over Georgia. But that's only the half of it.
It was when Maravich scored, how he scored and how the game ended that made this night special. Georgia's students certainly seemed to think so. They mobbed Maravich and, some say, carried him off the court.
That image still burns brightly in the mind of Herb White, a player on the '69 Georgia team.
"The way our fans and cheerleaders were dancing around, you would have thought we were LSU," said White, now a sales executive for Georgia Public Broadcasting. "We [the players] were all pretty disgusted."
So was coach Ken Rosemond, who not only didn't like the way his Bulldogs defended "Pistol Pete," but also how the late superstar toyed with them down the stretch. But it was the latter that so amazed Georgia's fans.
A standing-room-only crowd of 10,600 filled the Coliseum in anticipation of seeing Maravich, the "LSU Moppet" with the shaggy hair and sagging socks who was as close to a rock star as a basketball player could be in those days. They weren't disappointed.
Georgia played a great game. It "held" Maravich, who came in averaging 43 points, to 16 in the first half and raced out to a 15-point, second-half lead. Then Maravich took over.
He scored 17 points in a row, pouring in long-range jumpers from all over the court to give LSU a two-point lead. The Bulldogs were able to extend the game only because of Jerry Epling's long-range jumper with four seconds left. Then, after playing to a 78-all tie in the first overtime --- Maravich's bucket tied it, of course --- he gave the crowd what it came for.
Maravich scored 11 of the Tigers' 12 points in the second overtime, and he did it with the style and flair that made him famous. Holding an eight-point lead with about a minute to play, Maravich put on a show.
"LSU had the ball and the lead and Pete decided he was going to go into his Marques Haynes/Globetrotter routine," said White. "We were trying to steal the ball or foul him. He was dribbling all around, between his legs, behind his back, and the place was just going nuts."
Moments later, Maravich's legend was authenticated.
"Like with five seconds to go, he just turned around and started dribbling toward halfcourt, toward their bench," White recalled. "He gets almost to the timeline, with his back to the basket, and he lets go of a hook shot. It goes way up in the air and just as the clock runs out --- boom --- he knocks the bottom out."
"Best I can recall, he used up about the last two minutes of the clock," said John Musemeche, then a sportswriter for the Baton Rouge Advocate, who went on to write the book "Maravich." "What a lot of people don't remember about that is, everybody thought Pete was all about points. But he passed up at least three layups there at the end. Georgia wouldn't foul him because he was such a good shooter. So Pete just kept dribbling down the lane and right back out."
His final stats were staggering --- 21 of 48 from the field, 16 of 25 from the foul line. He even had four assists. "If they had the 3-point shot then, he probably would have had 75, so I guess we were lucky," White quipped.
Maravich had scored 66 points against Tulane earlier that season and went over 60 points three times the next year, including an SEC-record 69 against Alabama. But many consider the Georgia game his greatest.
You'll have to take White's word for it, though.
"Coach Rosemond destroyed the film because he never wanted us see it again," White said with a laugh.
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Former Louisiana State and New Orleans Jazz star Pete Maravich is playing in a pickup basketball game in Pasadena, California, when he suddenly collapses and dies. He is just 40.
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There is something to be said about a man
dieing doing something he loved.
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There is something to be said about a man
dieing doing something he loved.
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...sitting by yourself at your computer posting pictures here at Jack's Place?
...damn, lonely way to go, Scott.
...damn, lonely way to go, Scott.
Scott-Atlanta said:
...just giving you a hrad time, Scotty boy.
...and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the **** stand for "love"
...but I ain't like that, so better mean brotherly love and not the love that beantown feels for that doctor fella. :scared :mj07:
