Pete Maravich: Basketball
Peter Press Maravich (June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), also known as “Pistol Pete” was a professional NBA point guard, a showman who helped open up basketball during the 70s. He played for Louisiana State University in college and was picked third overall during the first round by the Atlanta Hawks in 1970 where he played for the team until 1974. Maravich played a total of ten productive seasons for the NBA, earning multiple gaming and scoring titles. He also became part of the New Orleans / Utah Jazz (1974-1980) and Boston Celtics (1980).
Greatest Sporting Achievements
Pete Maravich was one of the youngest players to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, cited as “perhaps the greatest creative offensive talent in history”. Until this day, Marvich is still the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points with an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his achievements were made before the three-point line.
He became part of the All-NBA First and Second Team for four different years, became five-time NBA All-Star for five years, broke records for free throws (1973), free throw attempts (1973), third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game (Maravich: 45, Nate Williams: 41, David Thompson: 40 in 1977).
Why Was He So Good?
Pete Maravich became the master of playground moves, circus shots and hotdog passes – which were considered to be outrageous during his period. Many think of he was more “style” than “substance”. He was obsessed about improving his skills – spending hours practicing shooting, dribbling, ball handling and passing.
What You May Not Know
- A year before his death, Pete Maravich wrote his autobiography “Heir to a Dream” about life after his retirement from the sport and his devotion to Christianity.
- His high school basketball career didn’t start well since he was short – 5’2” tall, 90-lb eight-grader shooting warm-ups with varsity boys five years older than him and ten to fourteen inches taller than him. He was often laughed at by the crowd because of it.
- Pete Maravich was forced to retire on September 20, 1980 due to a leg injury.
- He collapsed and died of a heart attack when he was only 40 years old while playing a pickup game of basketball at the Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California.
Related Pages
- More basketball players
- Athlete Database home
- About the sport of Basketball
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