AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > February > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USLegend of Maravich worth telling twice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
It has been nearly 20 years since Pete Maravich, after a little recreational half-court game with some new friends, said to one of them, “I feel great,” then suddenly dropped to the floor. Dead.
Twenty years. Then suddenly coming forth this wintry season two books about Peter Press Maravich (his real name). One titled “Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich,” the other “Maravich.” Neither reaching for a headline in the tabloids, each calmly telling a story to a generation that missed it. Two guys, Marshall Terrill and Wayne Federman, have enlisted the consultations of Jackie, Pete’s widow, now remarried. The other, Mark Kriegel, wings it alone. In the case of the Maravichs, there is more than enough to go around. Pete’s father, Press, was a smoldering Serbian whose life eventually rotated around Pete. Pete’s mother, a troubled woman, committed suicide. His brother was at one time a Marine, and another time a bartender.
You will read in one place or another, over and over, that there never has been another basketball player like Pete Maravich. Behind- the-back, through-the-legs passer, make a basketball do things that a pool shark does with a cue. He lived life from one extreme to the other. He set records as a player at LSU that will never be threatened, much less tied.
“He could do anything humanly possible with the basketball,” Bill Fitch, the former NBA coach, said. He grew up mainly in the South, when his dad coached at N.C. State, Clemson and LSU. He was his father’s project, and his meal ticket. It is said that as Press lay dying of cancer, about eight months before Pete’s death, Pete leaned into Press’ ear and said, “I’ll see you soon.”
By this time Pete had found his faith and turned down no opportunity to spread The Word.
Now, let me take you back to the year 1968, when he was riding the crest at LSU. Games I’d seen him play, shots I’d seen him make, such as the “impossible” 50-footer that beat Georgia in overtime, set him aside from anyone who’d ever touched a basketball. So in the course of pursuing a story for Sport magazine, I found him moody, wary of strange people who only wanted to look at him, and closely attached to his brother Ronnie, not an uplifting influence, in the words of Bud Johnson, the sports information at LSU.
“The way he’s going,” Johnson said of Pete, “I doubt that he’ll live to be 30 years old.”
After LSU, Atlanta was next. The NBA and ABA were at war, and Pete had signed a fat contract with Tom Cousins, who was trying to give downtown Atlanta a sports transfusion. That was largely through the influence of Bob Kent, Cousins’ point man and an old friend of Press Maravich.
But Atlanta was no bed of roses. Pete didn’t get along with Cotton Fitzsimmons, the coach, and it was obvious some black Hawks players resented him for his fat contract and his “Globetrotter style.” After saying, “When I die, I want to die in Atlanta,” he was traded to New Orleans and later to the Celtics, and the beat went on. This game, at which he felt like a circus performer, did not bring him peace of mind. “I sold my soul to basketball,” he said at one time.
Earlier, he had told a sportswriter in Pennsylvania, “I don’t want to play 10 years in the NBA, then drop dead of a heart attack at 40.”
It was an amazing premonition. Here was a man who had everything but a missing artery. “There’s something wrong with me. I can’t figure it out, ” he’d said not long before he collapsed.
It turned out that he had been born with only one major artery where there should have been two. Doctors were amazed that he hadn’t fallen out when he was young. But now he was 40, had flown to Pasadena to appear with the evangelist, Dr. James Dodson. First, there was a little recreational game to be played on a court in the Church of the Nazarene. Pete hadn’t touched a ball in a few months. Even so, he dominated the game, “outclassing everybody,” one the players said. It was during a break that Dr. Dodson asked, “How are you feeling now?”
And Pete answered, “I feel great.”
He had met the fate he feared, playing 10 years in the NBA and falling dead at 40. Take your pick. One book tells it about as well as the other. Best part is that Pete found out what was real in life.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment | Categories: Furman Bisher, Hawks / NBA
Comments
By Billy
February 24, 2007 01:10 AM | Link to this
Though I’ve been gone from Atlanta for several years, I continue to read the sports page online. Anytime that Mr. Bisher writes an article, it’s a pleasure to read. This has to be one of the best. It made me think of Lewis Grizzard; a comparison that I hope that both Mr. Bisher and Mr. Grizzard would appreciate.
By Herb Bell
February 24, 2007 03:28 AM | Link to this
Two Comments:
I grew up in Atlanta and was blessed to love sports and to have daily access to Mr. Bisher’s columns. Bobby Dodd was coach at Tech and that was also a blessing to an avid sports and Tech fan. Just can’t think there could have been a better place to grow up than in Atlanta in the 50’s and 60’s!
I moved to Nashville in my early twenties and became a basketball season ticket holder at Vanderbilt. You can’t believe the excitement surrounding a visit by LSU when Pistol Pete was there. He had a persona with his dual floppies … the hair and the socks. And was incomparable with a basketball! Who cared the winner … it was enough to spend an evening oohing and aahing when you had the privilege to watch Pete. Can you imagine how many points he would have scored if college basketball had the 3-point shot when Pete played?!
What great memories from both Atlanta as a kid and the pure joy of the artistry of Mr. Pistol Pete!
By Larry
February 24, 2007 08:28 AM | Link to this
As an Atlanta native I grew up loving only the Falcons and Braves and never had an interest in Pro Basketball. The “Pistol” changed that and I hardly missed a Hawks game when he was here.
Haven’t watched them much since.
Thanks, Mr.Bisher!
By Larry
February 24, 2007 08:44 AM | Link to this
…and, for your guys under 30, check out this website for a samping of the Pistol’s video highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKTLQOF-p18
What a shame this is in high definition to compliment his skill!
By Carlton Powell
February 24, 2007 09:48 AM | Link to this
Good story. I picked up a copy of the Maravich book the other day at Barnes & Noble. VERY GOOD, and accurate. I saw the 50 shot against GA to win in OT. People don’t realize what a completed player Maravich was. Good defender, wonderful passer, and great scorer. I loved going to Alexander Memorial Coliseum to watch the Hawks in his first years with the team. The cozy setting made it easy to see what a great player Pete was. I clearly remember one game against the Milwaukee when Abdul-Jabbar was playing for the Bucks. Pete actually blocked one of Kareem’s hook shots. What a player!! I too used to see about 15-20 Hawks games back then, but haven’t ventured back in many years. The Hawks are now like the rest of the NBA; bad product, over priced. That was not the case when Maravich played.
By Howard
February 24, 2007 09:54 AM | Link to this
Great column Mr. Bisher…about one of the greatest basketball players who ever lived. You have to mention Pete’s name alongside greats such as Jabbar, Johnson, Jordan, Bird, Cousey, etc. What class those guys showed in displaying their skills in the NBA…it was fun to watch then. I was a grad student at Appalachian State University from 1974-75, when Press Maravich was coaching the Mountaineers team. Pistol Pete came up for a weekend visit and went by the ASU gym. Observing a pickup game of basketball going on, he took off his jacket and asked to get in the game. When people around campus and throughout the gym heard that Pete Maravich was actually in the ASU gym…playing basketball with a bunch of physical education class…they came out of the rafters to get a look. A friend of mine in my apartment compeplex witnessed all this and said there have to have been a few thousand people lining the gym floor and sitting in the stands within 30 minutes of learning the great “Pistol” Pete was there. The man could flat out play the game…unlike the great Dennis “DJ” Johnson the other day, he died way too soon! At least both of these men died doing what they loved the most!
By Al
February 24, 2007 10:43 AM | Link to this
Thanks Mr. Bisher.. Pistol Pete was my first hero. I was about 10 years old when he was drafted. I remember wearing the trademark sloppy socks to emulate Marivich. I also remember how awfull he and Lou Hudson played together. I’m convinced the other players in the league didn’t want him to succeed. Once again a story that allows us to walk down memory lane. The league these days lacks guys like Maravich. I can’t think of one player I would want my son look up to.
By michael
February 24, 2007 11:45 AM | Link to this
pete maravich was the greatest college basketball player ever. Michael jordan is the greatest pro player of all time. At north carolina his talents were restricted by the system. I believe maravich averaged around 42 points a game and set the all time scoring record at a time without three point shots and when freshman were ineligible. thanks for the memories pete.
By jeff
February 24, 2007 12:25 PM | Link to this
i remember as a young boy on the playground arguing over who’s gonna be pistal pete at the pick up games
By Terrible Truth
February 24, 2007 01:31 PM | Link to this
Saw Pete score 38 points one night at Alexander. He blew us off for autographs, (Walt Bellamy was super obliging)but what the heck, it was one my best pro sports highlights. Shooting, he would watch the ball all the way from his hands to the basket. As soon as the net snapped, he was back on defense. Unlike a lot of the players today, he played both ends. Not a lot is said about that. Like Steve Bartkowski, he found there was more to life than parties and excess. Sorry he didn’t live long enough to spread the Word and watch his kids grow up.
By cool
February 24, 2007 02:06 PM | Link to this
white boy has no game
By Beth
February 24, 2007 03:08 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher, thanks for a well-written, informative article — I’m only 26 so I missed Maravich, but thanks to the YouTube link from Larry — thanks Larry! — I see what a talent I missed.
By Cooler
February 24, 2007 04:39 PM | Link to this
Cool has no class. No sense. No balls
By So, like
February 24, 2007 05:08 PM | Link to this
… has the AJC stopped allowing comment on Teri Moore’s columns because of all the racist abuse thrown his way? Did I miss an announcement?
By coolest
February 24, 2007 06:16 PM | Link to this
Amen cooler,hey cool or should we say uncool, you have no class and no clue, you are a punk of all punks.
By Dale
February 24, 2007 06:44 PM | Link to this
I had three classes with Pete at LSU.He was always well-mannered, affable and one of the guys. Drove an old VW, partied at the SAE house and you’d never figure he was the #1 player in the world of college basketball. One of kind. RIP, Pistol Pete
By Gene
February 25, 2007 08:58 AM | Link to this
Another great article from the best writer around!
By Buck Cochran in the NW
February 25, 2007 10:12 AM | Link to this
By Cooler, at least you spelled the word “game” right. Now if you only knew what “game” meant!
By Dirty Dawg
February 25, 2007 01:00 PM | Link to this
I was fortunate enough to have had a business associate here that was a friend of Jerry Colangelo’s. That association led to courtside passes to a Hawks/Suns game when Pete was with Atlanta and Connie Hawkins was with Phoenix. Boys and girls it was amazing. For some reason Fitzsimmons - I guess he was the coach then - allowed Pete to put on a bit of a show that night, and Hawkins was his wonderful self. It was a majical evening that I’ll never forget.
By MoWreck
February 25, 2007 09:08 PM | Link to this
I remember watching the Hawks “trade up” and one of the announcers said, “oh my God” they are gonna get Maravich. What a coup! I was lucky enough to meet Richie Guerin (hope I spelled it right) at a christmas party the December before they got Maravich. Anyone that didn’t get to see Pete play sure missed out. He was THE GREATEST! Unbelievable! I watch him one nite on a two on one break dribble to the right and flip the ball out to the right and when the defender went to get it, Pete had put a left spin on the ball and it jumped behind the defender into his teammate’s hand who laid it up for a basket … I remember watching his teammate’s face and read his lips as he shouted to Pete “how did you do that?” I always enjoy Mr. Bisher’s column … it is as great as the people he rights about … thanks for the memories Mr. Bisher.
By Punt Bama Punt
February 25, 2007 11:37 PM | Link to this
For the record, Maravich’s famous shot aginst Georgia in Athens in the spring of 1969 was a showtime hook from about 35’ and was not a game-winner, as Carlton Palmer says; it made the final margin 10 points in the 2nd overtime. Maravich was without peer as a shooter and passer, but not even he would have been tossing up a hook shot with the score tied. And no one has ever before suggested that he was anything but an indifferent defender. The good news about that - if you weren’t an LSU fan - is that the quicker the other team scored, the sooner Pete got his hands on the ball again.
His 60+ game against Kentucky - when Dan Issel scored 5)+ in a UK win - was equally astonishing.