This just might be the best month in LSU’s fabled sports history. Earlier this week the football team beat defending national champion Clemson 42-25 to claim the 4th national title in school history and the second 15-0 season by any team in the modern era. The basketball team has won 4 straight games to start January and is currently the only undefeated team in SEC play despite starting 3 sophomores/1 freshman. Heisman-winning QB Joe Burrow might go down as the greatest gridiron player to set foot in Baton Rouge but there is no WAY that anyone on Will Wade’s squad will ever match the resume of the legendary Pete Maravich: 3-time SEC POY, 2-time national POY, and he remains the all-time leading scorer in D-1 history with 3667 career PTS. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel recently got to chat with Marshall Terrill about the subject of his book “Pete Maravich: The Authorized Biography of Pistol Pete”.
During high school Maravich was nicknamed “Pistol Pete” due to his habit of shooting the ball from his side as if he were holding a revolver: who gave him the nickname, and how did he like it? It is an interesting question because it has an interesting backstory. Maravich was very skinny and frail in the 9th grade: not only was he undeveloped but was also small for his age…yet his skills were exceptional. It took all of his power to hoist up a shot. To Jerry McLeese, sports editor of the Anderson Independent in South Carolina, it appeared as if he were drawing a pistol from his holster. My co-author (Wayne Federman) and I made it a point to find out who it was and then bingo: we came across a December 1961 article where he wrote, “Friday night ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich, brother of Ronnie Maravich, popped in 33 points against Pendleton.” The most interesting thing to me is that when he moved to Raleigh the following year (where he finished out his high school years) the nickname did not stick. None of his teammates called him that, and neither did his teammates at Southwood College (later Edwards Military Academy). We noticed the next time his nickname appeared was in a 1967 LSU press release announcing his arrival to the campus. It was clear to me – because I am a reporter and in media relations – that this was drummed up by Coach Press Maravich (Pete’s father) to drum up local interest in his program. I can see it in my mind’s eye: he went right to the head of the sports media relations office (Bud Johnson) and asked him to write it up.
He played for his father Press at LSU: what was their relationship like on the court, and what was their relationship like off the court? It was unlike most father/son relationships, but because I am Serbian and extremely close to my father I do understand it. They were extremely close and you have to understand the dynamic that was at play. Ronnie Maravich was Pete’s half-brother: he was not Press’ kid but Press was good to him. Naturally he felt more bonded to Pete and so the dynamic was Pete and Press to the exclusion of everyone else. Serbians are intense and go full speed at everything with 100% of their energy. They focused all of that energy on basketball. Press was Pete’s mentor in addition to his father, but as they grew older many intimates told me that they were more like brothers. Helen (Press’ wife and Pete’s mother) often complained to them that she felt left out: she eventually committed suicide. Pete knew that Press knew more about basketball than anyone else, a fact that John Wooden told my co-author Wayne (which astounded us). Lastly, Press allowed Pete to shoot the ball and in fact told his teammates that Pete had to shoot the ball 40 times/game for them to win. When your dad gives you the green light to shoot the ball there is not much family friction! When Pete later became a born-again Christian he influenced Press in spiritual matters. They were truly as close as any relationship could be. 1 of Press’ friends put it best when he said that the only fault Press had was loving his son too much. If that is the worst thing that you can say about somebody,then it is not a bad thing.
He remains the all-time leading D-1 scorer with 3667 career PTS/44.2 PPG despite not playing with a 3-PT line/shot clock and being unable to play varsity as a freshman: what was his secret for being the best scorer ever, and do you think that anyone will ever break his records? I think his secret was that he worked so hard. We are talking 8-10 hours/day in the gym during the summer and 6 hours/day during the school year. Sure he had talent…but he put in the hard work. The other component was that when you have a coach who allows you to score as you please it helps get you there. It is possible that someone will eventually break his record but the dynamic in college ball has changed so much. If someone is that lethal in college then they are going to turn pro. My belief is that if someone breaks his record it will be at a smaller school and will involve a player who consciously wants to stay in school specifically to break Maravich’s record.
He was a 3-time All-American but never played in the NCAA tourney: how do you reconcile his amazing individual success with his lack of team success? We have to get real here for a second: I am answering this question days after LSU won the national championship in football. When Pete/Press were there in the 1960s football was THE sport, which meant that Press had to build and recruit from the ground up. Basketball was a minor sport at best. By the time Pete was a senior they were a respectable 16-10. You also have to remember that they took on some of the toughest teams that year and traveled more than any other team in the nation during Pete’s senior year because everyone wanted to see him play in person. LSU was also in a very tough SEC and gave their competition all they could handle, so their record did not truly reflect how good they were.
In the summer of 1970 he was drafted 3rd overall by Atlanta, then averaged 23.2 PPG en route to making the All-Rookie team: how was he able to make such a smooth transition from college to the pros? It was not a smooth transition in the beginning. He had a lot of pressure on him: he joined a very seasoned and cohesive squad that had done just fine without him. He came in not only with a heavy-duty reputation as a scorer but was quadrupling his teammates’ salaries (Maravich was making $250,000/year but the Hawks would not even give Lenny Wilkens $50,000!) and getting a ton of national endorsements/attention. This was all before he turned pro. There were also issues of race because he was seen as the “Great White Hope” and his style of play did not match that of his teammates. It was a lot for a 22-year old to have to adjust to. His play started to improve by midseason and then he turned it around.
In 1973 he finished top-6 in the NBA with 26.1 PPG/6.9 APG: how did he balance his scoring with his passing? That was the thing about Maravich that most people do not realize: he was an exceptional passer and a good pass turned him on as much as any made basket. If you watch his highlight clips he looked to pass much more than he is given credit for. Perhaps that was not the case at LSU but it certainly was as a pro.
On February 25, 1977, he scored 68 PTS/26-43 FG for New Orleans in a win over the Knicks (at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game): was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot he put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”? Yes: he talked about a night where everything would go in. Maravich was a visionary in a lot of ways but also applied visualization techniques to his game. This just happened to fulfill a prophecy and luckily for him it came on the night of a contract renegotiation, so maybe that had something to do with it as well!
After the Jazz placed him on waivers in January of 1980 he signed with the Celtics, where he played for Hall of Fame head coach Bill Fitch/Hall of Fame assistant coach KC Jones and with Hall of Fame teammates Nate Archibald/Larry Bird/Dave Cowens: how on earth did they lose to Philly in the Eastern Conference Finals?! That Philly team was loaded too: Julius Erving/Lionel Hollins/Bobby Jones/Caldwell Jones/Henry Bibby/Steve Mix/Darryl Dawkins…and a Hall of Fame coach in Billy Cunningham. Those Philly teams of the late 1970s/early 1980s often get overlooked by history but they were tough: those division battles were all-out wars. You also have to remember that Maravich’s play was limited. He came off the bench to give them some instant offense but was playing maybe 15 minutes/night.
He died in 1988 at age 40 during a pick-up game in a church gym as a consequence of a previously undetected heart defect: how shocking was his death at such a relatively young age? It was very shocking not only to the sports world but the entire news cycle: his death led the news that night. It was shocking because he was such a familiar figure: it was almost like growing up with a figure from television. Combine that with the facts that he was fit/had a healthy lifestyle/was only 40 years old. His death was painful for many, including myself: he was my sports hero/favorite basketball player. We all knew that The Pistol was special.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987 and in 1996 he was named 1 of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history (the only deceased player on the list): when people look back at his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As an exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime player who could do it all…except maybe play defense! His life reminds me of that quote from Hamlet: “He was a man, take him in all, I shall not look upon his like again.” Trust me, we won’t.
