Looking At Legends: "Pistol" Pete Maravich

I was only six years old when he died, and yet his name was firmly in my mind through the years.

In a family that loved basketball, Pistol Pete eventually was bound to come up in discussions, but it wouldn't be until I got older that I really began to appreciate what he did for the game.

Think about some of the flashiest players in basketball. Think back a bit to the Showtime Lakers, to the running style and the pizzaz that team brought, led by the legendary Magic Johnson. Think about a guy like Manu Ginobili, with all his twisting, between-the-legs, or behind-the-back passes. Think about a guy like Kobe Bryant, with all his flare, his amazing ability to get to the basket, to shoot from almost anywhere.

Got all that in your head? Good, because it still doesn't really encompass what Pistol Pete was capable of on the court. Am I saying he was as good as Magic or Kobe? No, of course not. To watch him play though was to watch magic in motion. It was to watch basketball at its most entertaining.

Don't believe me? There's plenty of video of him out there on the web. Find something, youtube it if you have to—but watch some clips of Maravich at work, because you'll find yourself rubbing your eyes and wondering if you really saw what you just saw.

His wrist pass would make you think he was passing right, but the ball would end up going left. In a crowd he could lift up and shoot right over you, and he had a perfect stroke in his form. He could loop the ball behind his back, bring it back to the front and still end up not passing at all, instead just laying it up in the basket.

Behind-the-back, through-the-leg layups? He had that in his repertoire. Through-the-leg, dribble handoff passes to his teammates? Yeah, he had that, and if you have never seen someone else do it there's a reason why. Full-speed, on-the-run, through-the-leg passes? Yeah, he had that too.

If you're wondering why you don't see too much of that anymore, well, Maravich claimed he was practicing eight hours a day by the age of twelve.

"You don't get here by just wishing" was his answer to how he'd sharpened his game up so much, a statement a lot of young players could learn from these days.

Maravich was a pioneer for the game, as much in college as in the NBA. Born in a small town in Pennsylvania and son of former player-turned-coach Press Maravich, Pistol Pete demonstrated exceptional basketball skills at a young age. Starting at the age of seven, he was taught the basics of basketball, and his regular drill before bed was to hit one hundred consecutive free throws.

At the college level he began to make waves, averaging a hair over 44 points per game, and to this day he still holds the NCAA Division I scoring title of 3,667 points. All this done with only three years of play, and at a time when the three-point line had yet to come into existence.

Taken as the third pick of the 1970 NBA draft, he quickly demonstrated himself to be a proficient scorer for the Atlanta Hawks, who signed him for an astounding figure at the time—a $1.6 million contract. That first year he would average 23 points per game, only a single point less than he would average over his ten-year career, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1971.

After four seasons in Atlanta, he would find his peak with the Jazz, averaging 31 points per game during the 1976-77 campaign. He would remain with the Jazz for the majority of his career, finding himself waived in 1980, only to be welcomed by the Larry Bird-led Celtics.

In a celebrated career marked by expert marksmanship and razzle-dazzle passing ability, Pete Maravich would make the NBA All-Star Team five times, and also be named twice to the All-NBA First Team and twice to the All-NBA Second Team. This all in addition to his college accomplishments, being named three times to the All-American First Team, while also earning the 1970 Naismith Award and also the 1970 College Player Of The Year award.

So it was with these numerous accolades that Pete Maravich retired from the professional game of basketball in 1980, ten years after he had begun. After a troubled period towards the end of his career and two years afterwards, Maravich seemed to have found peace, touring the country and speaking of his newfound religious faith.

Having finally achieved peace in his post-basketball career, it is unfortunate that his life would come to such an abrupt end.

This was Pete Maravich's quote to a friend, while still a young man: "I don't want to play 10 years in the NBA and then die of a heart attack at 40." So it is strange that in 1988, with ten years of NBA experience a few years behind him, that a forty-year-old Pete Maravich found himself playing a pickup game of basketball in a church gym.

Shortly after it was over, Pete Maravich suffered a heart attack, passing away only minutes after finishing his last game, a game he contributed immensely to. Pete Maravich has his jersey, No. 7, retired in both Utah and New Orleans, and in 1996 was placed on the NBA's All-Time Team, alongside other greats such as Kareem-Abdul Jabar, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Maravich was in many ways ahead of his time. When people speak of players who are genius, who are creative ball handlers, Maravich has to be included at the top of the list. It is awing to see him in film and a pleasure, and he will always be remembered as one of the league's greatest.