Pistol Pete Maravich - Up Close with Roy Firestone

ground moves changed the way the game was played the Bayou bomber as he was affectionately called had a remarkable career at Louisiana State University for three years he led the NCAA in scoring averaging 44 points a game this King of the long ball played nearly his entire college and pro career before the three-point shot was indoctrinated still Maravich holds the NCAA record for most career points with 3667 but his most memorable two points may have come in his junior year during a game against Georgia let's go back to your junior year at LSU the final game against Georgia you've got to remember this game because this was one of most spectacular and ends of a season I've ever seen against Georgia you hit a bucket to go to overtime then in overtime you blew him out you put on a 90-second basketball dribbling clinic for 14,000 people at this arena when three defenders came to cover you on the last shot of the game you hooked in a 35 foot jumper swish was actually not a jumper but I thought shot I mean I've not got a hook shot 35 footer and is it true that the cheerleaders from Georgia carried you off the court well what happened as I was going off the court I noticed all that Georgia defenders were coming at me and leaving all of my teammates open of course there was only like four seconds on the clock so with two I just let it fly right by our bench and after I let it fly I just walked off the court behind a bench to the locker room and it happened to go in so the Georgia cheerleaders came running up to a ramp got me brought me back down put me on their shoulders and the thing what are the Georgia players say well they were mostly congratulatory they they were they were part of that but it was it was the end of a season and it was I guess that shot has become kind of legendary and the fact that it's gone from you know from 35 to 45 to 55 and keeps on going out but but it was exciting that was an exciting era for me yeah SEC basketball in that era and watching the people wanting to get into the you know I mean they would bust windows to get in to watch us play knighting in Southern Cal for the they busted windows out they got ladders they would climb through the windows and they knocked over a security guard fifty players did that I mean 50/50 fan there were myths and legends associated with Pete Maravich I want to get the truth on some of these stories first of all that you were offered a contract by the Globetrotters to be the first white Globetrotter yes that's true yeah I was offered a million-dollar contract to play with the Globetrotters and so I was so during my senior year in college when I was going back and forth analyzing who I wanted to play with of course I had an ABA was after me Carolina Cougars I was dealing with him I was dealing with that with the basically Atlanta Hawks and and also with the Harlem Globetrotters so I basically had three ways to go three directions and it was a lot of flattery it's it's it's I guess a lot of people may say that what that speaks of the type of player he was but I consider that flattery because I the game itself today is that type of game it's a game of spectacular moves and spectacular plays there were those who were detractors of Maravich even then many in fact one very notable person by the name of Pat Riley said in 1978 Maravich is the most overrated superstar who ever came down the pike every guard in the league wants to send a limo to pick Pete up at the airport and play against his soft defense I not only don't think Pete could play any other way I don't think he wants to big Pat would change his opinion today or you think he'd keep it well I don't know I you know I I like that a lot I think he's a you know he's not only a very successful coach but I think he's uh he's a very hard-working coach and and you know everybody has an opinion of people I and often thought about it you know when I played against different players and and so on I would go in the dressing room and I'd look at the stats like anybody else and and they would say well you know he can't play defense or fist if he can't do this not looking but me and I happen to be playing we had like 10 or 12 points or 14 points not have 45 or 50 and I say you know who is who's defending who and but but that's that's part of the game you know you you get a particular reputation and then it's it's it's like taking a pillow Roy going up on top of the Empire State Building letting all hanging up letting all the feathers go out and then two days later trying to retrieve every feather you can't do it and once that reputation is establish you can't retrieve them all there's there is a difference between image and reputation I want to talk about a player that could easily be compared to to Pete Maravich and on a lot of levels and that's Larry Bird you played with Larry Bird your final season in the NBA the parallels are stunning great white pure shooter basically country boys tragedies growing up both lost parents to suicide but there are differences I wonder if you can compare and contrast Maravich and Bird well gee whiz Larry Bird I think is the best well you know Larry's not really the best rebounder in NBA he's not the best passer I don't think he's not the best dribbler he's not the best shooter he's not the best scorer he's just the very best and the reason for that Roy I think is the fact that you do more than to play with your feet I can name several coaches who said Larry Bird would never make it in the NBA because he was too slow footed but you there are certain players with an instinct like Larry Bird a guy like Magic Johnson Kareem abdul-jabbar that are so far above everyone else because of the way they think the game of basketball you can't you can't you can't practice that that's just something that is god-given and Larry Bird has that as far as comparing him to me I couldn't compare him to me at all i don't i don't like comparisons at all but i think that he is perhaps the best player today playing the game i don't think he's the best ever because her that leaves my son out but other than that i'll get to that a little bit though III do think he's the best playing today and of course again I don't like comparisons you can't compare him with Kareem I think you compare centers you can compare guards and compare forward more on the last days of Pete Maravich is NBA career how his creativity made him the player he was and his chance to win that elusive NBA championship next on up-close classic [Music] I think the electrifying way he played the flamboyance that he had on the court the magic the ball was like a yo-yo with Pete so some people that are gonna watch this show are gonna say wait a minute did he forget Michael Jordan did he forget Shaquille O'Neal no I'll never forget either one I think he was the greatest offensive player welcome back from gym rat to NBA Hall of Famer Pete Maravich became a scoring machine for both the Atlanta Hawks and the New Orleans Jazz after his achievements at LSU a variety of offers poured in from the NBA the ABA and the Harlem Globetrotters which at the time was an all-black organization he chose the NBA and signed what was at the time the highest paying NBA contract ever with the Atlanta Hawks he was a five-time all-star and led the league in scoring in 1977 personal achievements aside Maravich never found success in the title hunt unimpressive playoff appearances only fueled basketball purists who continually criticized Pete for his selfish play many felt that he placed style over substance in his tenth and final season Pete Maravich finally had a chance to win an NBA title when he teamed up with the Boston Celtics and rookie Larry Bird wasn't weird for you to be a Celtic so late in your career after your skills had gone I mean if there was one team that the Pete Maravich would have loved to play for people will say how could you say he was a flashy guy the Celtics aren't flashy but in fact you were a basketball purist on a lot of levels you go to the Celtics finally after 10 years in the NBA and you really don't have it even though you retired before their championship season that one thing you wanted the ring eluded you and yet again was it weird playing for something well it was it was at that point in my life because I was really physically worn out mostly mentally worn out I just did really and I knew I come into the south there were a winning team and I knew that there would be there would be some jealousies some Envy there because you know why do we need him we know where to find we're in first place and everything else but so but it was really an enjoyable time for me to be able to to finally play on a team that I knew when I left the locker room we're gonna win I never had that before and so it was it was really a good thing at the time Bill Walton had said the worst thing that can happen to a professional basketball player is to be the best player on a bad team because no matter whatever happens you'll always be thought of as a loser Lew Hudson your teammate echoed those thoughts how do you relate to that well there's no doubt about that I think geographically if everyone could name where they wanted to play basketball they play in LA or Boston I mean that's just it because they're winning traditions are gonna win every year and they're always gonna be at the top but we you know I can't designate where I'm gonna be and I do know that through the times that I had playing pro basketball which were very bad times you know you either win or you lose so it's a flesh peddling business and I know that I went through a lot of adversity but through that adversity III grew up a great deal and and I think that's one of the things that you that you really have to do yet you have to learn through adversity if everything goes well for you then perhaps you don't know later on in life when you're not playing basketball and find the cameras what's going on in your life can we talk for a few moments about the exploitation of Pete Maravich in the sense of this have you were paid very well clearly but they exploited not the brilliance not the basketball brilliance not the gifts but the showmanship the theater only you talked about that for a second well I guess so I you know ever since I was perhaps 12 years old Roy I I threw a behind-the-back bounce pass and during a junior varsity game between the defenders legs I looked around and I saw the fans and how excited they really got that was back in 1959 and I just saw the excitement of entertainment that that you could bring to people and that they would really enjoy that and so I wanted that it was like a drug inducement to me and that's the way I'd learned the game anyway my dad had developed so many different types of creative fundamentals to keep me from boredom and so because I played six to ten hours a day every day 90 days during the summer and you know I'd do uncredible things you know I would dribble blindfolded in the house I would I would take my basketball to bed with me I'd lay there after my mother kiss me tuck me in I was there and shoot the ball up in the air say fingertip control backspin father is it true that your dad would drive you to school every morning and right alongside the car you dribble well not every day but that but that was sometime but sometimes we he would get me a very first time we went out on a on a road that was straight and he told me to put my self out the side of the car and dribble and I I told him I said dad you're nuts he said just do as I say and I didn't really know why I did that but I know now and the reason is because he was building levels of confidence in me and that when there was nobody doing that I came here this morning on a freeway I didn't see my dribbling the bomb so you know it's yeah and you don't see a lot of that element yeah I don't see that when we come back more about the man who shaped the career of Pistol Pete and the Maravich legacy continues from Father press the Sun teeth and from father Pete two sons Jason and Josh at a camp this summer coaches with evening at my camp up in North Carolina and they were teasing him and said I bet you can't even make a free throw you know you're only 8 years old you can't even Priory surroundings I bet I can and he said ok go ahead and start shooting in May 27 I was behind it welcome back to the ESPN Zone on Roy Firestone this is up-close classic the close relationship of a father and his son press and Pete Maravich were alike in many ways what stands out the most undoubtedly is the obsession they shared for the sport of basketball press Maravich had played professional basketball in both the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America he was also a coach and a scout throughout his adult life under presses tutelage Pete learned discipline and the finer points of the game it was press his dream to revolutionize the game of basketball and he did so vicariously through his son the author of a book entitled heir to a dream Pistol Pete lived not only his own dream but that of his father you have your heroes I think your greatest hero might have been your dad press certainly he's the greatest coach you ever played for before we talked about you dad I want you to take a look at a quote - David Halberstam from inside sports back in 1980 he said this about press press consciously or unconsciously glory din Pete sagiv montañas reflected Fame father and son with identities to for the good of either you agree not really III would I would say that the title of the book says its heir to a dream my dad always had a dream to fulfill and that dream was to basically make basketball something that was not a stagnant or fundamental as it was he wanted elevate he wanted to kind of revolutionize himself and and because of the war he played pro basketball he played the lawn and Sanyo yeah and he you know he was a heck of a basketball player and in fact he he really handed that dream down to me he wanted me to fulfill that dream and really that's what I did Roy free for him I fulfilled his dream of having something to do with elevating the game of basketball on a level where it became much more than just a stagnant type that was played in the 50s but in the 60 Pete you're so close with your dad how devastating was it to lose him it was very devastating but in fact I really don't have any pain because the fact I was there for his last breath I watched his last breath being taken my wife and I really shocked my wife at that point my dad I was with him for five straight months Roy 24 hours a day I traveled some 20,000 miles trying to get treatment with him I carried in places like he used to carry me in the backseat of a car two camps in the summertime we were very very very close and I think that's good I think a father and son should be that close I think the heroes today should be the fathers they should not be some athlete you can admire athletes you can admire rock stars you can admire people but it should be the fathers though the heroes of kids today now I think most kids most kids like to be like their fathers the ones that are close to them the ones that show them love and so I was very very close to him and but I have no pain because of the fact that my dad had made peace with the Lord and and he was he was so gentle the last couple of years of his life it was incredible what happened time it's interesting because there's another generation of Maravich as there's Jason your eight-year-old son who's a terrific basketball player you were telling me would he hit how many eight out of 30 well throws camp this summer coaches were teasing him at my camp up in North Carolina and they were teasing him and said I bet you can't even make a free throw you know you're only eight years old you can't even probably storm he's I bet I can and he said okay go ahead and he start shooting in May 27 on it was behind it but you don't coach him you said he rebelled from your coaching yeah I really don't be honest with you a girl up from NBA Entertainment Aliya Wilcox sent me a tape a highlight all-star tape this is back about a year and a half ago and I said Jason I'm gonna put this tape in here and look at he said I don't want to watch it you know he want to be a basketball player I thought just dropping I left all of a sudden within two months he'd watch that some 75 times knew every player and all of a sudden it just was a thing that encouraged him to go play so he plays now and I have another son Joshua who's very aggressive he's five years old and he come he could be a heck of an athlete too I talked about other great athletes that you played along so people now realize that for a brief shining moment Pete Maravich was a teammate of Julius Erving two games the Atlanta Hawks you had 14 assists in one of the games you said it was sheer pleasure to play with dr. Jay it was there was no doubt about it you know he was such a gifted player and I'd never really played with that type of player before as gifted as he was and so to play with him knowing that he played with you know an instinctive type of basketball where you didn't have to send him a telegram to go back door he didn't have to call timeout and write him a letter a tell him look the guys who were playing you do this he would just go I throw it up you would jam it people would go nuts and she was I had so much fun passing the ball to him and he was always on the lane he was always there so it was fun to play with him there he was at the end last year well you know he's just uh he's not only a great one of the greatest basketball player he's ever played but he's just a great human being and he's touched a lot of people and he's touched a lot of kids and and just everyone that doc gets around he just really touches you love to touch figuratively and literally Wilt Chamberlain some of your best contests were with will it was one night apparently that you were guys were going at it on the court he said how high can you have how high can you jump and I asked him about how - Japanese said about 14 feet you said my my shot goes 14 feet one inch right yeah well that's why I developed a prolate first time ever played against wilt in Atlanta you came to me at the center circle he said now pistol don't don't bring the ball in or you have Spalding on your forehead and I said well I'm coming I'm coming hard so I came in the very first time I kind of mocked him I did one of his fall away you know one-handed shots if he put it up about 16 rows he said I told you don't bring it in here you want to tell him I want to go dinner off you right that's right I'll have some dinner off you and I then I would come in I develop the pro lap and he would he would go up and it was like like seeing his hand like this and the ball would be going right over and he'd be about 1 inch too short but it was a lot of fun playing against it had so much fun early on and then it started to change it became the business in fact what you came to the Hawks as a professional you develop Bell's palsy a paralysis in your face yes because of the great pressure and anxiety that this game had caused it just ceased being that the game you had known yeah you know basically Roy it started my junior in college all of a sudden when my dad popped me over the head in front of 12,000 people and said I'm the coach shooter player I started realizing that this game was not as fun as it was when I was a young person all I want to do was play the game have fun and and that was it but it really did become a business and if you will no sports you either win or you lose if you win then you're on all the shows you're on everything you're all everything if you lose forget it everybody has an opinion about you and that's just the way it is what up close classic returns Pete Maravich the person a new lesson to be learned this time not in sports but religion [Music] only on ESPN classy welcome back admired by many for his basketball talents Pete Maravich did not escape controversy he became quite introspective for a while striving for personal success and searching for his own spirituality peace and tranquility eventually entered Pete's life but only after he had confronted his demons Pete Maravich there were some troubled times of the times he was drinking a lot staying out late get involved his fights and bars there were times he would say this to the press I wish I were invisible so I could kill the heads of all the rich banking families redistribute the wealth and make the world a better place and I hope someday to put a huge target on the roof of my house accompanied by the words come take me so that spaceships might circle and land and take me away how did you find that Roy this is what I found yeah well that was during a period of a real searching which began basically after about my 15th birthday and searching to why I'm here and what's the what's the purpose of this life is it just to get or is it to give or what what is the purpose and basically led led me through a lot of different stages from different religions and Hinduism reincarnation to hypnosis astral projection UFOs no apology wasn't very radically in the nutrition and so on with macrobiotic one year vegetarian three years I was into karate yoga trans dental meditation I went all those different rounds looking for a piece looking for something it was lasting because I wasn't finding anything what the world told me success was was the material things and all these things but I found at 1982 when I became a born-again Christian it was a very sort of a Damascus type experience and and from that day on I've been literally transformed by Christ and and it's changed my life dramatically I can't explain it to people I'm not out to make the world Christian at all any more that I can make them a Corvette but I can only speak for my shoes and let them know that the joy and peace that I have today is greater than the happiness and rewards that the world offers we'll be back with more an up close classic after this [Music] welcome back tup close classic I'm Roy Firestone sadly Pete Maravich collapsed and died at the age of 40 he was doing what he loved playing basketball in a gym in California remarkably doctors discovered that Pete Maravich had lived his whole life with just one coronary artery instead of too many marvel at how he could have survived let alone lived such a rigorous life he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame the year before his death and posthumously selected as one of the NBA's 50 greatest players you know it's been said that the goal is not at the end of the road but it is the road itself Pete Maravich is Road was a fascinating one he lived his 40 years to the fullest dedicated to his family and his sport thanks for joining us I'm Roy Firestone we'll see you next time on up-close classic [Music]

Channel: 1avardac

Views: 212,768

Keywords: Pete Maravich, LSU, basketball, Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Jazz, Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics

Id: wo9bTmbzCdg

Length: 22min 59sec (1379 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 01 2019