This was the legacy that Pete was leaving at LSU and even more so he was bringing in a lot of hardware that was a testament to his hard work. Maravich was a three time first team All-American during all of his Varsity seasons. Pete won the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith Award as well during his senior season. He scored a personal high of 69 points against Alabama during his senior year and added a lot of other awards that he won during his college career at LSU. More important though was how he changed that program, which was almost embarrassing before Pete arrived and after he left it became almost a powerhouse. Even today his marks are being shown as LSU is now known as a big time school to play basketball in. This was all because of Pete, but there was still a dark cloud over all of this; Pete never got a chance to play in the NCAA tournament and is considered one of the best to never play in the NCAA tournament.

In 1970 after his senior year at LSU, Pete entered the NBA draft in hopes of getting to play professionally. He was selected 3rd right after Bob Lanier and Rudy Tomjanovich and just before Dave Cowens. The Carolina Cougars of the ABA were also interested in Pete at that time and offered him a contract but then Atlanta, in need of a good Southern basketball player to help bring in fans, made an unprecedented move and offered him a contract worth nearly 2 million dollars over 5 years. Pete’s dreams of being the first millionaire basketball player was right in front of him and without hesitation he signed on the dotted line and became an Atlanta Hawk. During his 1st season with the Hawks, Maravich continued to prove why he was the best by putting up 23 points per game in his rookie season and making the All-Rookie first team. Despite him having an amazing rookie campaign, the Hawks struggled going 36-46 losing 12 more games than their previous season.

The next season Pete decided to play more of a team style and contribute more and get his teammates more involved, which was pretty easy for Pete to do. He let his scoring come down to 19 points per game and his assist level went up to a career high of 6.9 per game. This is what Pete had always wanted, and his team was winning with this too. Pete was later selected to the All-Star team that season and his Hawks finished with a 46-36 record. This was the only winning record in Pete’s nine seasons of NBA basketball. Pete could never stop being called a ball hog or a selfish teammate throughout his career, as he was often placed on mediocre teams that just could not perform, and with that he never came close to winning a NBA title. His former Hawks teammate Lue Hudson once said this about Pete and his winning struggles: “Raw-talent wise, he's the greatest who ever played, but always, no matter what he does, he will be a loser. That's his legacy. It never looked easy being Pete Maravich.” This was his legacy. Pete was a loser.

In 1973-74, as Pete began his 3rd season in the league and his last with the Atlanta Hawks Pete began to go back to his old ways of not passing the ball and playing the game for himself. The scoring outcome was great with Pete putting up 27 points per game, but the team struggled financially and most of the team did not want Pete there anymore. So with all of these problems coming up and the “Pistol” project apparently failing, the Hawks decided to do what was needed and Pete was traded to the New Orleans Jazz. The Jazz thought that having the state legend come in and be the first franchise player would be a great start, so the deal was made and Pete was sent to his next destination. Pete finished the season with the Jazz as they went 23-59 but they were excited to see what Maravich could do in his upcoming season.

The 1975-76 season was much better for Pete, as he put up 26 points per game which was 3rd best in the league. Pete shot a career high 46% from the field and made the All-NBA First Team. The city of New Orleans was proud for Pete and they came out and showed support as a growing franchise. The next season is what would mark down Maravich as one of the best the league has ever seen, as he put up career numbers all around. Pete led the league in scoring with 31 points per game, hitting 40 or more 13 times that season and again was selected to the All-NBA First Team, but the highlight of that season came on February 25th of 1977. Under the bright lights of New York, Pete Maravich went crazy on the Knicks scoring 68 points on the defensive wizard himself, Walt Frazier, in what would be one of the most terrific scoring outputs ever seen by the NBA.

This was the end of the “Amazing” Pete Maravich era as we knew it. The next season Pete would face a career threatening knee injury which sidelined him for 32 games even though he averaged 27 points per game through the first few games. The next season he was sidelined for 33 games as a result of the previous injury that had dogged him, but he did manage to come back, but with a knee brace on and his old agility all gone. He ended up scoring 22 points per game on a bad leg. That’s just who Pete was, a scorer who would do anything to score even if it meant playing with a bad knee. The Jazz would move to Utah in 1979, and with new coaching Pete was faced with a new problem.

While playing in Utah Pete would often get into arguments with head coach Tim Nissalke, and after playing for 17 games with the Jazz and his problems with Tim, Pete was waived. Boston quickly rushed in on Pete as he was signed and played 26 games alongside another great white hope Larry Bird. The Celtics, with little help from Pete won the 1980 Atlantic Division title but that was it for Pete as he felt that his body was giving up on him. On September 20th, 1980 at the age of 33 Pete Maravich decided to hang up the shoes and formally announce his retirement from the game of basketball.

Without basketball in his life, Pete went through stages of depression during the next 2 years and indulged into alcohol abuse and many extraordinary activities, such as Urology (the study of UFO’s). Then, in 1982 Pete discovered religion and said that God had talked to him and sent him a message. Pete gave up drinking and started to live a healthy lifestyle and even became a vegetarian. It all seemed too well, and it ended abruptly.

In an interview in 1974, Maravich had said, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40." Sadly this is exactly what happened. After playing a pick-up game at a church court in Pasadena, California, Pete Maravich collapsed. The last person he talked to while the players were getting ready for another game was James Dobson, and according to James Pete’s last word, not even a minute before he died were, “I feel great.” He was gone.

An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel which supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. Pete was not supposed to live past the age of 8 but he did and was physically able to live with this defect and perform at an amazing athletic level. Pete was 40 years old when his life was taken.

This is what I feel should be remembered about Pete Maravich. I decided not to include some of the lesser details that have damaged Pete’s reputation such as the suicides that affected him. His sexual life outside of basketball. His own willingness to want someone to kill him. I felt these were too personal and really none of our business. I hope you enjoyed this reading and maybe learned a couple things that you may have not gotten to.  Feel free to leave comments and feedback.

I bet you didn’t know that a year after Pete Maravich retired from the Boston Celtics and the NBA they went on the win the NBA title. Pete never got a chance to be part of a championship team.

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