Bob Pettit Dies at Age 93, Hall of Famer Won 2 NBA MVP Awards and 1958 Championship With Hawks

NBA legend Bob Pettit died Wednesday at the age of 93.

The news was announced Thursday by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Pettit starred for LSU before joining the NBA, where he won MVP awards in 1956 and 1959 and helped lead the St. Louis Hawks to the 1958 title.

A native of Baton Rouge, Pettit led LSU to the program's first Final Four appearance in 1953.

He was selected by the Hawks when the team was located in Milwaukee as the No. 2 pick of the 1954 draft.

The Hall of Fame credits Pettit with revolutionizing his position by becoming "one of the first big men to play facing the basket."

After winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1955, Pettit earned the NBA's first MVP award after leading the league in scoring the following season.

He capped off his third season with the Hawks by setting what was then an NBA single-game record with 50 points in his team's championship-clinching victory over the Boston Celtics.

Pettit was celebrated as an NBA All-Star in all 11 of his seasons with the Hawks.

He retired following the 1964-65 campaign having recorded career averages of 26.4 points and 12.4 rebounds in 792 games for the Hawks, with which he became the first player in NBA history to record 20,000 career points.

Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 before becoming part of the inaugural College Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006, Pettit lived in New Orleans after retiring.

He was joined by 10 grandchildren when celebrating the unveiling of his statue outside LSU's stadium in 2016.