Saw a retrospective on him this morning and WOW! He has to be one of the most talented basketball players of all time. A true entertainer.
Pete was a treat. He started his LSU career when I was in 8th or 9th grade. Yeah, I had the low-cut black Converse All-Stars and the floppiest pair of socks I could find... I caught some vintage NBA on ESPN Classic yesterday: Pistol Pete playing H-O-R-S-E with George Gervin. Pistol edged him out with some trick shots, but Gervin almost drowned Pete in bank shots. If you haven't caught it, there's a movie out "Pistol Pete -- Birth of a Legend" that is worth seeing. It's about his childhood with basketball and his father.
Saw this yesterday. The guy was phenomenal AND played with a congenital heart defect. Some of the moves...highlight reel only begins to describe. He was the sickest.
Above all else, Pistol Pete was a tremendous human being who I'll always remember. He and his dad (Press Maravich) conducted a basketball camp in Katy back in the summer of 1986 at the behest of one of my coaches who had known Pete through the years. Some of the drills he showed us and the things he could do were absolutely amazing - even being in his late 30's at the time. What I'll remember most were the talks he gave about life and the pitfalls he fell into during his playing days. He had such an humble sincerity to him when he talked. The kind of sincerity that you know came from a man who had gone through alot of pain at some point. I remember his dad passed away about a year later. Then Pete followed in early '88 (if I remember correctly). I'm glad this thread was started. It brought back some really cool memories.
pete is probably the most overlooked and underrated players ever. all the press and so called experts tried to tag him as just a flashy player with no substance. you don't average 24 ppg & 5.5 apg on just flashy play, just ask jason williams.
Wasn't it Wilt that said something to the effect of "black guys all have this certain air/attitude about them... blackness, basically. White guys don't have it. Except Pete Maravich; he has it. I don't know where he got his."
I saw Pete play once deep on the downside of his career. It was aginst the Rockets, I am thinking he was with the Celts. Game may have been at Hofinze, though it could have been the Summit. What I remember was Pistol Pete getting hot. Really hot. Rockets double teamed him without the ball. I don't mean a todays double team where somebody rotates over. Rocks had two guys on him 100% of the time,trying to deny the ball. Back then you could do that. I guess there were no illegal defenses or something. Speaking of running defenders, that is what we did when he got the ball. Tripple teamed!, and still he would shoot, and the ball would just go in the net. It was like try to get him the ball way outside, the ball would bounce off of his hands do a loop de loop and drop in the net. No matter what, it went in. It lasted about 5 minutes, and was the most amazing thing I have ever seen on a basketball court
Hey, does anyone know if it'll be on air again? Please leave us a note when you see it again. Thanks !!
