"Pistol" Pete Maravich (The Innovator of Showmanship) NBA Legends

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 50-point games why'd you try to shake on Starks [Applause] you through the 1970s the times kept on changing as lightning-quick guards like tiny Archibald and Calvin Murphy shaped and baked opponents with their fancy footwork while finding new ways to get to the hoop but the master of improvisation was the man known as the pistol Pete Maravich just say the name Maravich or the nickname Pistol Pete and the mind's eye recalls the flying hair the floppy socks the incredible moves he was box-office and he was a metaphor for what the sport of basketball can be keep your eye on his hands as Pete Maravich demonstrates some pretty slick ball control you know your dad is one of the best players ever ever pick up a basketball Pistol Pete Maravich my opinion the greatest playmaker playing today I'll probably have to say Pistol Pete flying here at the top rolled down socks at the bottom a 6-foot five-inch enigma in between Pete was blessed with a great amount of ability natural athletic ability people do a lot of amazing things with the basketball he was really a showman I mean people go out there but you know put him to put on a show I mean that's that's what he wanted to do that's a he looked at himself as a showman he transcended what basketball has become which is a game that is as much entertainment as it is sport and he was the penultimate entertainer the true entertainment and I think he looked at entertainment more than basketball he was an entertainer at heart and his ability to pass the ball and dribble the ball and do outlandish things on the court which sometimes even overruled the game played a game with a tremendous player as flamboyant as any player I've ever seen with the basketball and an entertainer maybe the best entertainer our games ever seen I played for the fans there was no doubt about that famous for his playground moves and circus shots he'd always added his own special touch of children chef Pete was a showman he was a showman and so we were all just sitting at an amazement I mean he was just he was uncanny unstoppable It was as if you had melted down all 12 Harlem Globetrotters and then filled up to skinny six six white frame with everything they had you know this growth try the type of guy nobody hand the ball better than pistol but he wasn't just satisfied with that he had to put a show on this it was like a guy the game was boring to him so he had to create things to keep him interested she's coming down making a nice pass you have to go through his legs two times around and back okay that's one the things that I did with the basketball bounding back pass between legs things of that nature takes in reaction to rules quickness drills to improve your quickness your coordination your confidence and your overall ability to handle the basketball knowing the impact that he made on the game you know my dad probably has to move out of the way you know a ice probably got more out the way Kobe's probably I'm go out the way but Pete Pistol Pete was unbelievable man you go back and look at feeling of what this guy was actually doing with the basketball watch him for a moment and then try to conjure the right word while you watch remember what you're seeing happened more than a quarter century ago that ball looks like a part of his hand and I was I said he must spend a lot of time dribbling and dribbling how many hours a day would you spend with a basketball bouncing and shooting and say when you're 12 years old when I was 12 done during the summer months about eight hours a day between 88 and a half and going 1a months about four hours a day it was like the ball was an extension of him I dribbled so much so many different ways learning new types of drills to dribble with one ball with two ball do what I call stutter dribble back over you know and you never see a white boy doing that on top of it there's a white boy I'm talking my designer brother but he must have had some brother in him because he was a Dazzler Pete Maravich was so far ahead of his time he was 10 plays ahead of everyone else greatness that was Pete Maravich did he just do what I think he did but watch again for this is the gift he left us with I'm the right word yes that was sweet very deceptive pastors usually on a three-on-one situation he started out throwing the ball in this direction like you're gonna throw it after this man coming in and actually what happened to go the other way what's the right word magic when such magic was usually found only in the confines of the barnstorming Globetrotters his name was Pete Maravich he was magic wasn't he probably and he probably brought the term Showtime to the lexicon of the NBA Pete Maravich was Showtime before there was Showtime you know the no-look passes the dribble the ball and then Pat it with one hand that's where I saw that from Pistol Pete that's where I got it from be faked with his right hand like he was going to the player on his left and he just whipped it and then he hit it tipped it with his left hand to the player on his right he went in for a layup and the officials call traveling the people went crazy he went to the official and said you can't call that you've never seen that move before the passes that we bring you out of you see always doing something different with the basketball you never knew what he was gonna do but you knew it was gonna be exciting you were never quite sure what he was going to do with the ball in the open court because he had a thousand moves to either shoot it or pass it a great passer great shooter [Music] Pete just has so much razzle-dazzle in his game he was just hard to dog he just took your breath away the way he dribbled the way he went behind his back the way he passed scoring forty four points a game with no three-point line and you looked at the three-point line now and I think he was ahead a lot of 60 50 point games he was doing a lot of things that was that had us all sitting around fan wow he would pass the ball through the eye of a needle and the wrist passes the the fake behind the bag the way he would fake passes that the entire world would react to it he pulled it back and Stroke the shot he could handle the ball he could shoot the ball who's the pure shooter and able to shoot the way he can shoot and different angles I mean he could flip the ball with his left hand over here and it hit the board and shooting right in the basket really transition from college from LSU into the NBA be able to score the basketball and be able to pass like that and he's just having a whole bunch of fun take it in he could wrap it around I mean he was doing stuff that you never saw so he'd make you look foolish out there if you didn't know what you were doing and anytime you're gonna chance to freak out the old Pete marrow a piston would do he would take the ball and set it behind his back catch the ball shoot I asked him once if he'd ever play the perfect game he said no but I'm going to sow some night I'm gonna take 40 shots and I'm gonna make them all and he still didn't think he was playing well enough when he scored like 60 or 50 so a great player like that you know echoes greatness he was a lovely person I mean a lot of people didn't know Pete but it's nothing people do for for you in terms of helping you anyway you can't find actually terms of basketball clinics or whatever necessarily would do this and I just thought he was a great talent he used this basketball as a form of self-expression and one of the real leaders in bringing basketball into the sort of area of artistry it was like his form of art there were many many occasions when people came out to see him play basketball and do the things that no one did at that time that they now take for granted in basketball whether it was one touch or the peripheral vision or the the drive to the hall and slam dunk II and all the things everybody talks about Pete Maravich was the forerunner of people still to this day he's beautiful to watch forever known simply grandly s pistol I guess it just shows he was a prodigy he was a sensation I guess there's never been another mozart there's never been another John Lennon or Elvis so maybe that's what it is maybe there'll never be another pistol because there just can't you your dad was a good ball player and a coach yourself and he was kind of like a guy you really looked up to well my dad was my hero there's no doubt about it I wouldn't be in the position I am today if it hadn't been for my father after a short professional career in the 1940s press moved on to coaching high schools and small colleges he was very precise and everything he did he knew what he was doing and he knew what he wanted and he played for him that way you practice for him that way everybody thought press marriage as this mock scientists about basketball I mean he was so involved in the game you know about the fundamental parts of the game and how it should be played already a stepfather when his firstborn son Pete arrived in 1947 press Maravich charted a course straight to the gym chris was talking one time about how some people are going to play a piano some people are going to be painters some people are going to be writers and said then he thought Pete was born to play basketball because he had basketball genes when you started playing basketball your dad had a particular strategy that he used on you when to make a hunger for basketball developing there's no doubt about it Pete would come on the court in the backyard and say let me shoot get me the ball and press would said no go back in the house you're too small and press sitting on one occasion he'd left the ball on the court and went back in the house and looked back through the kitchen window and saw the fetus slipped onto the court picked up the ball and started shooting and press says I knew at that moment I had him my dad would come home from practice he would shoot every day I'd be by the window watching him and I try to go out and shoot with him but he would just tell me you're too young you can't reach the goal I'd go back in sometimes crying or whatever one day my mother said go out 2mp let's try it one more time so he won't he won't let miss you go out one more time so I went out I I was looking around the corner daddy come on out over here so he let me he said I'll let you shoot but I want to teach you first he should put my hands on the ball and then I shot and that was it it was like his dad was dangling something out in front and would intrigue and Pete would get interested in it and then his dad would take another step and then another step until he was hooked and he was obsessed by the game of basketball when he was 12 years old he opened the window to his room jumped out of the window and spent the night in the woods cuddling the basketball when press without the wheel of the car Pete would sit in the backseat by the window put the window down and his press drove slowly Pete would dribble the ball in bed at night take the ball and just repeat his shooting motion over and over again and say fingertip control backspin follow-through over and over and over just so he would get a perfect rotation on the ball I used to take the ball to bed with me I'd sleep I'd sit in on the bed and shoot and say three things while after my mother tucked me in and said she loved me I would say fingertip control backspin and follow-through I would sneak out the window door and thunderstorms and play in a muddy - area I sneak out my back window I'd go to this little spot where there's a mud hole it was kind of a real hard mud and I'd start dribbling the ball as if mud and everything splashed up on me and and literally scared to death because of the thunder and lightning because I felt like if I could dribble in that mud net water and everything else control it I could certainly do it on a court I would take my ball to the to the movie and sit on the owl watching the movie and dribble I used to take the basketball to bed with me I slept with the basketball - I was about 13 years old I would get in bed I'd lay in the bed for one hour before I ever went to sleep and I would repeat three things fingertip control backspin follow-through even though I loved my parents basketball meant much more to me out of ignorance even though he was handing this dream down to me the dream was to later on really become a nightmare no I mean that's an eerie connection with basketball in 1956 the Maravich family moved to South Carolina where pres went to coach Clemson well he built a reputation in the ACC Pete was building one of his own playing on the high school varsity as a 12 year old in 1959 he threw a pass between his legs and the crowd went berserk it was a small crowd but they went nuts and at that time something clicked in him very much like any entertainer when practice was over at high school he'd stay another hour to this ball handler and shooting hook shots and half-court stuff like that when I was seven years old my dad sat me down he said Pete if you'll listen to me you might be able to get a scholarship in basketball because we can't pay your way and maybe you not only get a scholarship but maybe you go to the pro level and you'll play on a team that wins a world championship and you'll make a million dollars playing basketball and they'll give you a big diamond ring and I'll have your name on it and say world champions and to a seven-year-old my eyes lit up and I said dad that's what I want he said if you let me teach you you just commit you dedicate your life to basketball and that's all you have to do and you'll live happily the rest of your lives and that's what I did I became a human basketball I was a basketball Android [Music] you while Pete led Broughton to the state semifinals in 1965 press in his first year as North Carolina State's head coach won the ACC tournament father-and-son stood together on the brink of a dream press was determined to coach Pete all of us who knew Brest knew that that was his lifetime goal to coach Pete in college but unfortunately he didn't hit those books as hard as he should have when he was a young man consequently he didn't quite make the grade on the SATs while Pete spent a year at a nearby prep school his father let it be known of the college coaching fraternity that a package deal was possible he didn't have to wait long I still hold the record for the all-star game I scored 47 points in the east/west high school all-star game back in 1965 but still there it hasn't been broken and some great players have come through their press was making around $12,500 head coach at NC State and I think he got around 15,000 to go to LSU and Pete wasn't accepted and NC State so both of them you know they go to LSU and then it's history from there you a reporter came up to me after the game and he I used to shoot the basketball from down here because I was too weak to shoot it from up here and so I used to take the ball and take it and release it like this and this reporter saw him and he says what looks like this guy is drawing a pistol I used to take the ball and go down like this like this and it resembled to this person that got drawing so he said they call him Pistol Pete college basketball had never seen a scoring machine like Pete Maravich Pistol Pete Maravich of LSU sporting floppy socks and a flashy style Maravich averaged over forty four points per game but more impressively he created a hoops frenzy at a school long known only for football one of the toughest cells in America was to sell basketball in Louisiana they wasn't until Pete showed up on campus and started playing that work spread like wildfire that here was a bonafide superstar as soon as he touched the ball people went to the edge of this see LSU was three and twenty the year before he joined the varsity and suddenly he was drawing people all over the place it was like a phenomena almost like they get Elvis Presley kind of situation where people would just go in droves to see this kid and the what they called Showtime which surrounded him I love them at LSU socks flopping he had flavor and like wait a minute where this guy go up we had that something something people love Pete Maravich is Generation all wanted to play basketball like he did guys were in the low-cut sneakers and the trim white socks and the the tight-fitting pants and Pete showed up with us here flopping all around and he had these ugly old high sweat socks that just flopped all over the floor the food is Top Gun Pistol Pete Maravich was maybe my all-time favorite college player I can remember I was covering Kentucky but he was a freshman and the students would come and watch the freshman games back then you couldn't play varsity basketball until you're a sophomore but they would come and watch me play on the Freshman team and then leave you can't watch Maravich film and say I'm gonna do that - do what Maravich did with a basketball is a gift from God as soon as he touched the ball people went to the edge of a scene and there was this great rumor that was circulating that he had developed a shot that he was gonna dribble down the court and right before that basket give it a hard dribble in a ball on the bounce of going the basket press Maravich decided he was going to create the perfect basketball machine and he came awfully close he's consumed with strategy tactics the psychology of basketball everything he sees goes into the hopper when what comes out is Pistol Pete he decides early on that he is going to give his son to the game playing for his father press at Louisiana State University from 1968 through 70 the pistol completed his amazing career as college basketball's most prolific scorer were these floppy socks and dazzling ball handling Pete Maravich put pizzazz in the game of basketball coach pressed Maravich what is this amazing nineteen year old boy Pete as the six five sophomores shoots his way to the NCAA scoring title his days in Baton Rouge with his father press coaching were housed in times setting scoring and attendance records averaging 44 points a game in his sophomore and junior years but scoring was only part of the pistols arsenal we felt like his ball handling and his assistant ease overshadowed his scoring abilities that sounds crazy when a guy ever just forty some points a game so we made the decision that we were gonna play him straight up and guard the heck out of the rest of the people coach rupp didn't think that Pete could beat us all by himself and so we would play him one-on-one the six games that we played against each other in college I think Pete averaged over 50 points a game average more than 43 points a game setting an all-time major college record with shots that even amazed his father those of us that were close to press could tell how proud he was of Pete and behind Pete's back he would just say glorious things about people he would never tell Pete that he was that great part of what Pete was searching for was his father's approval and I don't think he got it very often he was so obsessed by the boy and his talent that he would take the film's home and would play them over and over and over and over and over again all night they had strong wills short fuses and on the court at timeouts that you each other out press usually won but Pete would go out after a timeout and do something so spectacular the old man would throw up his hands and say you know what can I do I remember one game in particular during a timeout where presto we're gonna do this and pizza will won't we try that and he basically end up you know smack him on top of the head and said Pete he said I'm the coach you're the player we're gonna do it the way I say to do it as he entered his senior year Maravich was just under seven hundred points short of Oscar Robertson's NCAA scoring record more and more people want to be around him one of a part I wanted to talk to him when you get his autograph this one too gets close to him as they could he really started becoming a loner he quit going to class he basically for all practical purposes moved out of the dorm just wanted to be by himself Marivic scored over 50 points 28 times in three all-american seasons for the Tigers but his n-c-double a record of 3667 points is one statistic that may stand forever well what I do every year my first notes column of the year is I just remind people of what Pete Maravich did that he averaged 44 points a game for three seasons and I don't think people understand what that number is and that's a number that will never be approached ever again in college basketball I think without a doubt he was the greatest offensive player ever to play the game if you want to break his record that was with no three-point shot all you have to do is score 15 three-pointers every game you play your entire college career and you'll break pistils record no one's ever going to do it only two players have led the NCAA in scoring for three consecutive years and that's Oscar Robertson and Pete Maravich the game in 1973 breaks Oscar Robertson's record is really anticipated as the crowning achievement in the career of both father and son what's astonishing is that we're 30-plus years past pistols career and no one since has been able to approximate what he was able to do now they've added 10 to 12 15 more games per year and nobody is ever gonna come remotely close to his records we want it touch 44 points pretty to give you an idea of how good that is second place is Austin Carr Notre Dame at 34.6 Maravich just blew away the food he was the best college basketball player of all time he didn't play his freshman year he averaged like 38 points a game in college the legendary following that Pete Maravich has is the truest testament to how great he was because this was a guy who made SEC basketball what it is you know in college pistol and I fought for the the scored leader in the country and all three years I was second to pistol and I did a lot of things in college I said I've said something like around 50 basketball records from high school college and and Pro and I used to make excuses the only reason pistol scored more than me is because his dad coached him and so on and so forth until I got to play against them I'm the leading scorer of average over 44 points a game for a three-year period goodness gracious it's hard to describe somebody that was about six six six seven handle a ball is well or better than myself I'm the leading scorer of all time in college basketball it'll be broken someday we're right there the top you had all school you in fact a lot of your scoring records you set there LS you still stand I got a chance to play with him for the first time in the high school all-american game in Memphis and it's tough you trying to play your game and you're watching him [Music] you better get your own army pal [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Oh [Music] you you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] but he said what are you gonna do when you grow up Pistol Pete and I said well I'm gonna play pro basketball I'm gonna be on a team that wins a world championship get a diamond ring and make a million dollars his legend continued to grow he was ready to take his act to the ultimate stage and in 1970 he made his much-anticipated NBA debut and you invested literally your life into basketball and you became at that time forward probably the first million dollar contract ever signed the best part I was one of them in 1970 I had three offers I could have went with the ABA I could have went with the NBA and I was the first white man ever to be offered a million dollar contract with the Harlem Globetrotters we are most happy to announce that Pete Maravich will play professional basketball for the Atlanta Hawks [Music] you you outmaneuvering the ABA is Carolina Cougars the Hawks I the collegiate sensation for five years at nearly two million dollars but it wasn't only money that set Maravich apart when I first came here and announced the starting lineups the first time I got about three death threats because the people were complaining because I just mentioned black guys all those the guys who were starting but once Maravich arrived the color green became the dominant issue my reaction was thank God for people average over the six years I was in the NBA they told all of us that if he was 65 and under you can't make any money so at the time Bill Russell in little chamber was only two guys at making money when Pete came in he changed the whole pay structure and I went into the pros and I signed the largest contract in the history of sports not basketball sports drafted by Atlanta in 1970 Pete Maravich entered the pros as a high dollar high-profile player whose flamboyant talent bolide the pressures that were building within after being selected third in the 1970 draft Maravich displayed his skills during his early days in atlanta he went to the NBA as the perfect franchise Savior but as a rookie in Atlanta he quickly became an outcast the only problem with Pete Maravich was the four other guys he just didn't relate to the rest of the team loved by the fans but rejected by his veteran teammates seen as a showboat so you're playing against super human beings and since the competition is so great the players are much smarter they're keener they're aware of what you're going to do you can do your as you call your thing out on the court but you got to be careful not to do the repetitious type of stuff that you can do in college because of the fact that this won't work in a prose speaking of your thing you do do things a little different than than most other players that have come out of college in recent years do you think this is the the coming trend in basketball or do you think it's just you know I think this is the coming trend definitely I think the players are getting much bigger miss much stronger and they're definitely getting taller the guards are getting faster they can handle the ball better I think that the 70s will be the type of basketball that will be played with the common behind the back dribble the common behind the back pass common between the legs and different moves while in the air with the ball he had 250 players in the league that he was going to compete against they were gonna try to knock him down every time he put the ball between his legs or did something that was flamboyant pistol was way ahead of the game just we've got the reputation of being a hot dog because he was so talented that he was bored with the game people would point fingers at him well he's too selfish he takes too many shots that's why they don't win he was the ultimate outsider he was the great white player in a black man's sport he was a an individualist in a team game things this is a real world and you run into some problems I mean you just didn't know how to handle big money you were country boy and all of a sudden you had the big money just couldn't handle it well I tried to fill myself up with things that everybody tries to fill themselves up with I've driven everything from a Rolls Royce to BMW Mercedes the Porsches you name it I've gone anywhere I wanted to vacation anytime I want to used to carry three to five thousand dollars in cash around with me all the time with teammates he was aloof with opposing players like myself he was aloof he just knew other legend of coastal Pete but you didn't know Pete Maravich there was a wild streak in him and you could tell it the PR man at LSU said you know something if he doesn't changed something's gonna happen he'll never live to be 30 he got wrecked in the cocktail lounge and he's ranting and raving and because he jumps up who cracks his head on a table splits his head wide open remember waking up early in the morning to a phone call and heard the girl that I was with talking and she said that was my husband on the phone I said your husband she said yes I'm separated and so was the other girl I immediately hollered upstairs repeat finally got him to wake up I said man we got to get out of here so we got our clothes on and we running and we starting to go out the front door when we see this car pulling up I think it was a pickup truck actually with two guys in it so we go running and it was on the second floor already so we opened this wind and we're looking down and it's about a 10-foot 12-foot drop to the ground and so we didn't have any choice boom we're out there [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] despite his national following and 24 point average Maravich wasn't adding wins to Atlanta's effort to upgrade although they had reached the Western Division finals the year before he arrived the Hawks never won a playoff round in his four seasons it seemed that without his father to guide him Maravich was drifting pistol idolized press Maravich so you better be very careful and never once say well now you shouldn't do it that way what if press had told him to do it that way there would be points where he would go you know three four or five games passing up wide open shots when he should have shot the ball was more management's handling of the situation that it was the personal relationship between the players nobody could tell Pete anything if he did something then they would take care of if he would have been more disciplined with it his own life not just the basketball he'd have been way ahead of the game but at this point this was a troubled angry difficult to coach Pete Maravich who also would take out his sorrows you know in alcohol I don't think that still could ever drink in my opinion two beers and you have to get pistol off the wall he was a very carefree guy probably drank more than he should have during his playing career in February of 1974 Maravich boiled over after being ejected from a game in Houston for arguing with an official in about the middle of the night I get a call I need to go up and down hallway where he's staying very frustrated about his game about a lot of things next day everything was fine except he was a little bit wild on the plane too and I had no other choice but to suspend II cotton came to me at that point and said you know we got to start thinking about making a move here well I started doing that very quietly and you know it was very very interesting there was no interest interest did come from the New Orleans Jazz when the NBA expanded to 18 teams the pistol was going home there was no bigger draw certainly not in Louisiana then than Pete Maravich as long as Pete was here they always called a little easy on a purchase Pete then says what did you get for me and I told him trying not to be too elated but I reeled off the picks we were gonna get laid the whole package there was a little pause and Pete said is that all you and he was traded to the expansion New Orleans jazz for two years worth of draft choices Maravich was traded to the expansion New Orleans jazz he was once again playing in Louisiana and over the next few years Maravich would blossom as one of the league's top scorers while continuing to delight the fans with his unique flair what he did in a second year that I had him change his socks shaved his beard for a new number on through bounce faces played defense on guys that if you're putting on the right guy play the game of basketball was the first year he made first-team all-pro and he deserved [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] Meritage yes right around Ford that's got him past Maravich now that's Flyers Maravich all alone as they work that play players it out of there to Maravich on dunno Robinson see if my herbage tries to get it right back he does [Music] Meritage from the side jumper over car 16.3 Meredith Kane tears can be that's Merryweather the center with it marriage to Griffin retired at 75 first foul on ever our third on Detroit in the fourth set things up Robinson has daylight [Applause] and the one-point lead he comes Maravich in a hurry watts on his left pistol pulls up for the jumper [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Maravich from 20 [Applause] as equal as average he has 28 saying that Maravich might be on the trading by an angry response from Pete he suggested that perhaps the judge to trade their general manager Louis Chappell five seconds for they get it up port and this is going to do it Robinson's going to stop at the end again I can remember when Pete got traded from Atlanta where he started his career over to New Orleans when the team went down there and his expansion to you and they had never won a game they were old and 14th and they were like the worst team in the league and auto war was the Senate he couldn't do anything but Pete was just lighting him up I'm the Portland Trailblazers we go over there we had a team and it was not the championship team but we had a good enough team and we were pounding a murder wait up at halftime and Pete in the second half just takes over and he goes absolutely wow he's playing one against five and he's up and down the court shooting jumpers hooks full court behind the back passes through guy's legs he does everything and at the very last play of the game were up 1 and Pete dribbles up four of our guys go chase him because I know he's not gonna pass and he's falling at him bounce and he shoots it as he's tumbling over the row of fans in the corner literally and I am standing underneath the basket waiting for the last rebound of game we're gonna win the game and they're not gonna win the game ever the New Orleans Jazz and the ball swishes as great a shooter as he was Pete's enduring legacy was his mastery of the basketball he had an endless repertoire of trick shots and fancy moves this regular shot Greg a jump shot another jump shot that's his money shot he's the current NBA scoring leader was the leader last season bubbles with a regular jump shot regular regular swish bubble now the whistle neither letter on bubbles Hawkins Tran scooper scoop regular jump shot and makes that one let me jump shot it's got the advantage bagging close out Hawkins here that will do it mystical Pete Maravich the NBA scoring leader advances to the second round with a win over bubbles talking go ahead I take one dribble throw it behind your back catch with the right hand laid on table sighs okay that's easy for him to say this is a Pistol Pete specialty round the back through the legs up from the other side [Applause] when he threw in 68 against New York Maravich goes to a little dip shot in a similar shot earlier they got pull the spring and so Maravich advances to the quarterfinals get about McAdoo of the Knicks goes out lot of problems letter Gervin the Pistons also gotten some people that little scoop shot he takes shots other people haven't tried before there's a good example as the second letter goes up on George Gervin [Applause] that's so much a tough one he's got there than done that before and three letters are up in George Gervin Gervin takes control Thanks this competition coming to you from the Omni international complex in Atlanta [Applause] off the backboard that is a tough shot it's tough a shot as there is straightaway off the glass better have it and so we're even I'll be back boy the eventual winner of the horse Kappa Titian will receive a check for $15,000 [Applause] better arrow the pistol is now a letter from elimination as George Gervin is filling the basket up yeah all day that's it jumps at it's one letter from the elimination guys the shooting advantage back and he's going to sit down again [Applause] letter ever for a second I'm a sit-down chef puts a number a letter up on George Gervin I have been on this side of the bastard come to the opposite side and bacon here you see those four letters up for each and n that's the next one that goes up sends the loser out and I win around to the semi-final and so NBA scoring champion George Gervin of San Antonio goes out in Pistol Pete Maravich is a seven-foot lost in the horse kappa fishin but the pistol could still deliver showtime performances both guns were blazing on February 25th 1977 where you can use a Walt Frazier and the Knickerbockers like your private tool [Music] pistol he wears number seven this year Maravich the captain of the club and averaging twenty nine point eight points of all game I'd almost gets a steal a bit for here's American the pistol who is an offset to negotiate a new contract with New Orleans [Music] dozen points for festival after the game the Knicks have a charter flight back to New York here's a Maravich shot when there's having a tough time defending against Bristol pre-render the line for the second time he is one for once that's the first foul on Monroe red Holzman is screaming at Don Murphy 350 left in quarter number one eight perfect Maravich in his seventh year from LSU he's an offensive machine he is basically a defensive forward so the pistol at the time those God is too long compared of it earlier this year we had a shootout between Maravich and Montreux in a game of the garden this Philippe really play which Michael thought a lot of times to a smile by butch beard we've got 143 left in the quarter that's really something 17 of 27 for Pistol Pete and Maravich to the foul line that was his 18th point therapist takes the rebound away from Donnie going up the Coleman Maravich he's got this guy he can do it I don't know how you stop a guy like that you know fire there's Maravich they got it to the guy they want pistol in and out of the lane here nominate the 15 members of the chance to China to change speed marries nobody else been able to do anything with control [Music] [Applause] [Music] are killing the next Kelly Joe Mullaney doing a fine job in muffin absolutely incredible 29 points I thought it was the third quarter back on January 11th in the third quarter important there is the shot by pistol that said something too kinky birthday pinkie is picked off here [Music] now defensively against back to the pistol goes on the drive right to the basket it is good at ease and he has hit for the highest number of points of any player against the Knicks this year he's got 41 10 points per shelf and here is Maravich dribbling through that press he's going to go in and drive shoot on the wrist go ran right over top play cameraman perched the courtside Maravich still working four shots here goes the pistol double-team score it Arabic now with 48 points the pistol firing 450 [Applause] there they go and he gets the layup at the hard job today he reusable peckin smart look at his team look at Coleman Coleman leap into the air when he scores 65 for the Post poll six right now here's a basket for him if he can convert [Applause] look at him fight for this ball [Applause] [Music] the incredible game by Pete Maravich tonight 27 field goals 14 free throws for 68 points the highest score ever produced by a guard in the NBA and they're in some fantastic guards who have played basketball in this league he just went off that but it was the most amazing thing I'll ever remember seeing as a player [Music] only Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor had ever scored more in a game the victories were few but the crowds were once again enormous I remember walking down Bourbon Street one day and a shoeshine kid came up and he said can I shine your shoes I said yeah why not so he he shined my shoes and I gave him $300 and I kept walking on and a kid said excuse me I said yes and he said you think you'd be walking back this way this week again so really I did I really did have it what I thought was all I had all the success all the fame all the popularity I was on Sports Illustrated cover four or five times and had everything I dreamed of you see from very early age Ben I thought that if I could just get that success and and sit by my pool twinkle my toes in the water and hold my little drink everything would just work out fantastic [Music] [Music] you [Music] after leading the league with a 31-point average that season Maravich and the Jazz were in the hunt for the 1978 playoffs when Pete was brought down the outlet pass to repeat at midcourt and took one bounce behind his back and then raised his leg and flipped it through his legs perfect down at the other end - to Aaron James for a layup and when he did he came down oddly on the knee and you could hear the crack like a rifle shot along the first few rows of the stadium he had to have knee surgery and it ended his season and the injury probably was the main reason the Jazz never were able to stay in New Orleans because I believe had they made the playoffs that year it might have taken off to a point where the franchise would be moved and would have stayed in New Orleans in 1979 hindered by a knee brace Maravich appeared in just 49 games averaging 23 points before diminishing crowds when the Jazz moved to Utah after the season Maravich had worn out his welcome I think he was disillusioned after he got his knee hurt his own alcoholism was at work alcoholism is a disease and Pete had access to his drug of choice and he had free time there was an unfortunate situation after the game in Seattle where he had over him vibed and went to the wrong room and started knocking on the door kicking in the door and it was the wrong person there wasn't his room then it was decided it was best for Pete to move on and he got together with the ownership and management of the team had worked out a settlement with his contract he was waived and picked up by the Boston Celtics you joining the Celtics in January of 1980 Maravich came off the bench to help them post the best record in the NBA he totally impressed me coming in because I thought he was mainly offensive player but he worked hard on the defensive end and that totally blew me away if we didn't win those last couple games we would not be in first place in the division and because they just took over the game and shot us into the best record NBA people far more knowledgeable and I say that if Pete Maravich had gone to the Boston Celtics out of college that the Celtics and Red Auerbach and the rest of that group would have made him into a team player and he might have been the greatest player of all time brilliant seasons Pete retired from the NBA in 1980 Jersey was ceremoniously retired by the Jazz in December 1985 [Applause] Pete Maravich was a magician in a basketball uniform a wizard in short pants it wasn't only that he scored so many points a record-breaking average of 44 a game in college and Louisiana State University an impressive average of 24 a game in 10 professional seasons it was the way he scored those points the slick sleight of hand that made Pistol Pete a basketball original that earned him a place last year in the Basketball Hall of Fame you I like to thank also my wife and my two boys that are here tonight Jason and Joshua and my wife Jackie they mean so much to me though he adored the spotlight Pete Maravich was a quiet sad man who for years decades had been desperate for some meaning to his life [Music] the day that I did get saved in 1982 basically I was contemplating suicide I had been doing that for basically a year and and why I mean why would a man who's whose name is a household word I mean her kids scream when he comes down the street people pay money to come watch you do things with a basketball I mean why in the world would you be talking about blowing yourself away well because I think were society of getters and not givers and and I've gotten all my life of course I worked for everything I had but I thought that getting these things all these things would make me happy and and it did I was temporarily happy it's fleeting momentary its happiness but it's not true joy it's not peace what Jesus Christ talks about it's not peace at all and when he came into my life he literally transformed me I mean totally drastic but you see I can only speak for my shoes I can't speak for anybody else's I got to run my race I can't worry about this guy this guy I know what God's called me to do he literally transformed me in wordly and outwardly and when he did that I was in such awe of that I still AM every day of my life you know as long as your heart beating and you got a little breath left we should be thankful in a lifelong search for stability Maravich wandered into bizarre realms and I searched all through the 1970s for what meaning there was to life I had to know the meaning what was the meaning and I got involved in all kind of different things I was involved in yoga and TM I was involved very heavily in ufology philosophy I was involved in different religions Hinduism especially I was involved in everything but the thing about it is none of it really satisfied me they were just all brief interludes of satisfaction much like my life was brief interludes of just ego gratification satisfaction ye demands that steam being a vegetarian he was always searching for some kind of peace that he couldn't find in basketball when he found his Christianity is when he found true happiness my early church life was absolutely probably zero I was not raised in a Christian home more devoted to that than anything I've ever seen basketball included once he became a Christian he would read his Bible hours at a time every day what did you did you go to a church or did you go to something what did you do just to say to get your life check well to make a long story short it was just one night I went to bed after really just searching and searching and searching for years and years and I was there and and many things came up into my mind that night and the things that were coming up in my mind were sin there was no doubt about it I knew right from wrong and yet I will continually habitually fell into these things even when I would swear them off make resolutions and everything I would just keep going into it this night things kept coming up kept all night long and finally I just cried out in my spirit my wife laid next to me she was not saved at the time it was still dark and I cried out to God and said Lord can you save me can you forgive me because I've done some of the dirtiest things in the world my life has changed so dramatically that nothing not a thousand NBA championships not a thousand Hall of Fame rings not a hundred billion dollars would I trade from my position where I'm right now they try to change his personality and he tried to please so many people that he was a different person all the time and when that happens you eventually lose your identity and that's what happened to pistol at one point he lost his identity and because of it things start falling apart for I think he was searching for happiness all the different things he went through I mean he loved the game but I think it became a burden to him do you realize that if you live to be 80 years old you have only lived over a little over 700,000 hours and half of that $350,000 is spent sleeping and watching television if you're the average person I don't have much time left and the time that I have I'm giving tanginess Christ I'm giving it to him because that's what I'm called to do I'm not called to come up here I'm not called to be nice and speak in generalities and Pete you might offend some people that's fine I heard a pastor say one time agent Rogers if you don't make a mad sad or glad you haven't done your job I feel compassion for people that I've never felt before everybody I meet I feel for because you see there is a heaven and there is a hell it was a great thinker in other words I used to talk to him about conceptualizing and basketball yes what do you mean by that I said you have to think one two maybe three patterns ahead of time what's going to happen he also helped his father find religion together they continued their passion at the pistols basketball camp in Clearwater Florida he was ready to go at six o'clock in the morning and you know he shut it down at twelve or one o'clock in the morning so he was working eighteen and nineteen hour days had a hand in every part of the camp he had a big salad bar lots of watermelon no soft drink no ice cream no sugar that was the good diet for Pete and but we did that while he was at our camp those five years then in 1986 Pete learned that his father was diagnosed with cancer he was going to do everything humanly possible to try to cure press he did not leave press aside he was with his dad probably the last six months of his life literally day and night he has some confident that he was the one that had been used to blame press to a place of peace and press his life first Maravich died on April 5th 1987 it was a casual pickup basketball game in a California Church gymnasium Pete Maravich was relaxing doing what he loved the most there was much we never knew about Pete Maravich those precious few years we had him but more than any one thing it was what killed him that stunned us most Pistol Pete died Tuesday morning of a heart attack in Pasadena California stricken while playing a pickup basketball game and a local church I knew that he had really come through a difficult time in his life and there had been a dramatic change in his life when he met Jesus Christ and I really wanted to hear him tell that story but I had not met him until that morning at 7 o'clock when we met at the gym to play basketball I think he was going about half speed but there was a move or two that he made that took our breath away we played about three games and at that time some of the guys went to get a drink of water someone outside to get some fresh air and before I knew it was just dr. Dobson and Pete on the court and I was underneath the basket rebounding for Pete as the two of them talked he said you know I've loved being here today he said I've really got to get back into the basketball even if it's pickup stuff like this and I said how do you feel today and I promise you his last words to me were I feel great I just feel great and I turned to walk away and I don't know why but I looked back at him for some reason just in time to see him fall and he fell hard he didn't break his fall I mean his face hit the boards I walked over very carefully along with dr. Dobson thinking that Pete was gonna jump in our faces but as soon as we got close we could see his eyes rolling back in the color in his face starting to change and then I saw that he was in a seizure and I got down over him and I held his tongue and he kept his air passage open for about 20 seconds and then he just he just arrived once like that his body moved once and it was gone the man died in my arms and I'll never forget that very morning that as that ambulance went over to st. Luke's Hospital in Pasadena California the siren wasn't going there was no red lights no sound and it wasn't going very fast as tears poured down my face I kept saying no no but down deep I knew and it wasn't more than 20 minutes before the doctor came out and said I'm sorry guys Pistol Pete Maravich the all-time scoring champ of college basketball who spent ten years in the pros died as he lived playing basketball he was only 40 years old [Music] that white yeah I was out I was out of it for about six months after in another nother dimension because really that's all I had was Pete it just doesn't make sense that a guy could go through the rigors of an NBA game let alone an NBA season and not manifest any kind of symptoms at all and then all of a sudden in a pickup game haven't exploded at autopsy he had only one coronary artery now generally you have two coronary arteries but he was able to play professional and college basketball at the highest possible levels with no symptoms and no problems until much later in life if you do remember some of Pete's background there was some alcohol use at certain parts of his life the official autopsy says that the single coronary artery led to some of the problems he never should have lived past his teens that he died at 40 shocked us all he was born lived and played so ferociously all those seasons with a badly damaged heart most artists when they are living people don't recognize him and recognize their great talent and after they are gone and I think this is what really happened to be Maravich I remember he used to tell me he said you know when when I die you know people will forget about me after a couple of weeks it seems like to me everybody wants to dwell on the same times or depressed time he had a good life he had a great life he did what he wanted he played basketball that was his love just so Pete brings back a lot of memories I can remember when I was growing up was a household name and I'm not that old I think Pete Maravich probably did as much for basketball as just about any big-time scorer ever has a lot of people don't know I used to work out repeat marriage when I was in college in the summertime and so he helped prepare me for the cold I think Pete was the first superstar to play for the Hawks going in the Attic you know this past couple of years and reading article after article and how big he was and still is he revolutionized bats while doing that time you know he was before his time still Pete was a pioneer he's almost larger in death now than he was in life he was so far ahead of his time that the way they play today there's almost a mirror image of what he did his ball handling skills his scoring ability was it was amazing and there's still some things he's done that I haven't seen people do today so it doesn't surprise me that he's bigger than he was there's plenty players who worked on their games and did whatever they did to try to compare to the great Pistol Pete he was an amazing player amazing person I'm excited to be a part of the night where we honor Pistol Pete it's one of the greatest players ever 30-game retiring the 44 Pistol Pete Maravich that's right love that that's gonna be done to the Pistol Pete Mavericks and as I was going off my bed I reflected back when I was 19 I remembered a simple little prayer of forgiveness and someone you oh it's true and I know where I'm going I have a purpose and I just want to share with people not forced to Bible honey but everybody's got to make their choice in life Adam and Eve had a choice we have choices to make and that's all I want people to know that Christ can change your life totally not ritual not ceremony but totally individually you can have great joy you can live for him and for your family you

Channel: Face PC Gaming

Views: 332,608

Keywords: Entertainment, PISTOL PETE, PETE MARAVICH, NBA, NBA LEGENDS, HD, 1080P, FACE PC GAMING, new orleans jazz, ATLANTA HAWKS, BOSTON CELTICS, Showtime, The Innovator of Showmanship, NCAA LEADING SCORER, PURE SHOOTER, PURE SCORER, BEST HANDLE EVER, BEST PASSER EVER

Id: 91y9V3zls4M

Length: 78min 32sec (4712 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 12 2018