Pete Maravich
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[hide]Early life[edit]
Pete Maravich was born to Petar "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father–son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants[5][6][7][8][9] and a former professional player-turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school. While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Pete to attend Needham B. Broughton High School.[10] His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker. From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if he were holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. From there "Pistol" Maravich graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game.
Playing career[edit]
LSU[edit]
Later in life Maravich would tell friends he always desired to play basketball for West Virginia University and was originally ready to be a Mountaineer, but his father was the head coach for LSU Men's Basketball and offered him a spot at the school. At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at the varsity level,[11] which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.[12]In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1968, 1,148 in 1969, and 1,381 in 1970—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.[13]
Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three other factors are taken into account:
- First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
- Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range."[14] It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range would have been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game.[15][16]
- Third, The shot clock (45, 35, 30 seconds) was not instituted until fifteen years after Maravich left LSU. The shot clock speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stall tactics, and results in higher scoring. Had the shot clock been in effect during Maravich's career at LSU, he could have scored many more points per game.
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