Pete Maravich at LSU

[AlexDaGator]

Steph Curry doesn't look like he can play in today's game either. But he sure as hell can. Curry is 6'3", Pete was 6'5" with a similar build. Klay Thompson is 6'7" with a similar build.

Pistol Pete could play in this era or any era. He had a great release, great range, tremendous body control, and was a sick ball handler and passer. He wouldn't only benefit from the 3 pt. line. He would draw a lot of fouls in today's game and get threes that way too.





Alex.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

Maravich. LSU basketball is BP and AP. Before Maravich and After Maravich. Before Pete, LSU played in an empty gym that was used for agricultural shows. Basketball coaches were were also assistant football coaches. At that time there were freshman teams because freshmen couldn't play on the varsity. The LSU freshman team beat the varsity. More people came to see Pete and the LSU freshmen play than stayed to watch the varsity.

Pete elevated LSU basketball. After his father Press Maravich left LSU as head coach it paved the way for LSU to hire coaches of the caliber of Dale Brown and because Maravich elevated the LSU program, when integration came, LSU was able to get athletes like Shaquille O'Neal. But Maravich not only elevated basketball at LSU but all across the SEC. Before it was just Kentucky, (with occasionally a Tennessee or a Mississippi State with coach Babe McCarthy giving Kentucky a run) but after Maravich other SEC schools saw that if they put on a good show then they could draw in fans. Tennessee coach Ray Mears had the Vols do a Harlem Globetrotters type routine in the pre-game warm-up with players of unicycles and piped in music to the time of Sweet Georgia Brown. This is true. I remember seeing it at the old Alligator Alley. It was basketball showtime in the SEC.

The other thing about Pete Maravich was his heart condition. He had a congenital heart defect and at autopsy it was found that he did not have the main left main coronary artery that supplied his left ventricle with blood. Most people with this rare condition died before 20. How he even played basketball is beyond me. If you look at pictures of Pete Maravich he is 6 foot 5, but he was skinny and rather frail looking with a small thin chest. Looking back I think that is one reason he did not play defense. I think he lacked stamina so he rested on the defensive side of the ball in order to conserve energy for the offensive side. He really loved basketball. Most players with his condition would not have put up with the strain of practice to even go out for a junior high team.

 

[stephenPE]

That is what I told them Joe. Maravich should have been dead instead of an amazing basketball player. And his mom committed suicide so he had that in his head.

 

[rogdochar]

Didn't I see a Pete Maravich documentary where Pete was responsible for getting the then-segregated
black highschools admittance to play in the formerly all-white state championship ? Or was that just some
Cinderella ploy added to Pistol's $ marketable drama ?

 

[alcoholica]

Didn't I see a Pete Maravich documentary where Pete was responsible for getting the then-segregated
black highschools admittance to play in the formerly all-white state championship ? Or was that just some
Cinderella ploy added to Pistol's $ marketable drama ?

You may be right. Pete was said to be color blind when it came to people.

 

[alcoholica]

Here's a documentary on him

 

[GR8 2B]

Way ahead of his time.

Incredible, awesome highlight video. Can I get a copy? I remember his shooting, but his passing and ball-handling skills were off the charts. The best part of his game, imo? He looked like he was having a blast the whole time.

 

[78]

I met him around this time of year in 1987. He was running his annual Pistol Pete basketball camp at Clearwater Christian College. I wasn't sure what to expect, whether he would be another pain-in-the-ass former superstar or something approaching normal.

Boy was I in for a surprise. I wasn't at all prepared for what kind of person he was, a genuinely kind and caring Christian soul with seemingly no ego who was willing to go way out of his way to ensure every one of the kids at his camp got the most from it. I remember looking at that tall, gangly frame with the thick brown hair and the mustache, now showing signs of aging, as if I needed reassurance that it was him and not some sort of imposter. People that famous weren't supposed to be that nice.

Lunch at the camp consisted of assorted greens and grains and tofus and not a hint of meat. Maravich was consumed with healthy diet, almost to the point of obsession. He must have known how it looked to the outside because he made a couple comments to me that indicated he was concerned there might not be something I liked on his vegan menu, almost as if he was self-conscious. I would later learn why it mattered. He was living on borrowed time and was trying to spread his own dietary gospel.

I think it was six months later that I opened the paper to learn he had died. I was blown away over having not known it was coming. My mind went back to the camp. It was still fresh in my mind and it all made sense. I'll remember Pistol Pete more for his acts of kindness than any of the things he did on a basketball court.

 

[rogdochar]

Get all videos by and on Pistol Pete at pistol-pete-videos.com. Includes "homework" instruction for youngsters and documentaries.

 

[bradgator2]

That was a different era. Pistol Pete would struggle making a juco roster in todays game

The only thing that he couldnt do today would be use that name.

 

[t-gator]

The only thing that he couldnt do today would be use that name.

Idk he might have been able to pull it off. It's a pretty badass name.

 

[bradgator2]

Pete put out a series of instructional videotapes. Mostly on ball handling exercises.

The ironic thing is.... Urg also put out a ball handling video. Different kind of balls though.

 

[rogdochar]

The ironic thing is.... Urg also put out a ball handling video. Different kind of balls though.

Got one. I thought it was a slip of the tongue, that section called "Between the Legs Ass" ??

 

[stephenPE]

I met him around this time of year in 1987. He was running his annual Pistol Pete basketball camp at Clearwater Christian College. I wasn't sure what to expect, whether he would be another pain-in-the-ass former superstar or something approaching normal.

Boy was I in for a surprise. I wasn't at all prepared for what kind of person he was, a genuinely kind and caring Christian soul with seemingly no ego who was willing to go way out of his way to ensure every one of the kids at his camp got the most from it. I remember looking at that tall, gangly frame with the thick brown hair and the mustache, now showing signs of aging, as if I needed reassurance that it was him and not some sort of imposter. People that famous weren't supposed to be that nice.

Lunch at the camp consisted of assorted greens and grains and tofus and not a hint of meat. Maravich was consumed with healthy diet, almost to the point of obsession. He must have known how it looked to the outside because he made a couple comments to me that indicated he was concerned there might not be something I liked on his vegan menu, almost as if he was self-conscious. I would later learn why it mattered. He was living on borrowed time and was trying to spread his own dietary gospel.

I think it was six months later that I opened the paper to learn he had died. I was blown away over having not known it was coming. My mind went back to the camp. It was still fresh in my mind and it all made sense. I'll remember Pistol Pete more for his acts of kindness than any of the things he did on a basketball court.

One of my former students went to one of those camps and said the same things. He won the hustling award there and has a pic of him and Maravich together. He was trying anything to be healthy at that point. Rob said the food was hard to eat. Btw this former student is also a PE teacher at the school I started at. great guy. Loved basketball as much as me.