What do you know about Pistol Pete?

Question

I've heard his life was basically sad and depressing.

Answer 1

Peter Press Maravich (June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988) was an American basketball player known for his dazzling ballhandling, incredible shooting abilities, and creative passing. He learned at a very young age fundamental basketball and ball handling drills from his father, coach Press Maravich. He would follow his father and coach throughout the eastern and gulf seaboards as a young man before exploding onto the National Basketball Association (NBA) in his own right.

Nicknamed "Pistol Pete", Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University (LSU) and for three NBA teams. Maravich is still the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer, averaging a staggering 44.2 points per game, without the benefit of a three-point line and despite the fact that when Pete was in his first year of college, the NCAA had separate freshmen and varsity basketball teams and freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity team. Years later former LSU head basketball coach Dale Brown charted every college game Maravich played, taking into consideration all shots Pete took. The coach calculated that at the NCAA rule of a three-point line at 19-foot, 9-inches from the rim, Maravich would have averaged thirteen 3-point scores per game, which would have given the player a career average of 57 points per game.

as to his life:

A leg injury during the 1977-78 NBA season started the downward spiral into alcoholism, and signaled the decline of his career. After the injury forced him to leave basketball in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life." He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. In 1982, he became a Christian and began traveling the country sharing his new found faith in Jesus Christ.

A few years prior to his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him to the utmost. Not as a basketball player."

On January 5, 1988, Pete Maravich collapsed and died, at age 40, of a heart attack just after playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at the First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena with a group that included Focus on the Family head James Dobson. (Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show later that day.) Dobson has said that his last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel which supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.

"He'll be remembered always", former LSU head basketball coach Dale Brown said on hearing the news of Maravich's death. "When we see some tousled-haired kid with drooping socks standing on some semi-darkened court or in a yard after everyone else has gone home, he will be shooting a basketball, and we will remember Pete."

At the age of 25 and years before his death, Maravich told Pennsylvania reporter, Andy Nuzzo, "I don't want to play 10 years in the NBA and then die of a heart attack at 40."

Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Answer 2

He died from a heart attack after a pick up basketball game and he went to LSU were he became and still is the leading scorer in college basketball history.

Answer 3

he wore #7 for the new orleans jazz, he was one of the greatest players in nba history and if i'm not mistaken, i believe his dad was his high school basketball coach.

Answer 4

GREAT AT PLAYING H-O-R-S-E..HAD GREAT FASHION SENSE IN HIS ERA..TALK BOUT THE SOCKS HE WEAR DURING GAMES..

Answer 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y5KAaerc...

Pistol Pete was driven by his father from the age of 3 to become the greatest basketball player ever.  His father devised drills for Pete to practice and he did for hours on end every day.  He became an incredible shooter and ball handler.  His father was both his high school coach and college coach at LSU.  He set scoring records at LSU that will never be matched.  He always felt tremendous pressure to be the greatest player.  When he entered the NBA is was given the first mult-million dollar contract and was greatly resented by the black players on the Atlanta Hawks who considered Pete to be a "white hope" and a "hotdog" who was not nearly worth the money he was getting especially since they were being paid so much less than he was.  They didn't want to give him the ball and Pete was not really a player who had ever been trained to play without the ball.  He always had been a drinker but in Atlanta pretty much became an alcoholic.  The players on the Hawks grew to realize that had tremendous talent and could do uncanny things with a basketball but still didn't want him to star on the team in order to teach management a lesson.  Still, Pete became a star despite the tension but was quite depressed.  The Hawks could do nothing but trade Pete, so the traded him to the new New Orleans Jazz franchise.  There Pete became an even bigger star and won two NBA scoring titles, but the Jazz wouldn't really spend any money on anyone else.  The management didn't care if they won or lost because the fans just came to watch Pete put on a show and that was enough for them.  Pete displayed ballhandling skills that have never before or since been seen in the NBA. The Jazz drew huge crowds by offering cheap $1.50 tickets in th giant Superdome but this also hurt them because they had trouble selling season tickets with so many cheap seats available.  The Pete blew out his knee,  The fans quit coming and the Jazz moved to Utah.  Pete tried one last time to win a championship and went to the Boston Celtic but he was no longer the player he once was, so he retired.  He drank heavily and became interested in UFO's and wanted the Aliens to take him.  He became a recluse.  Finally he became a Born Again Christian and seemed to be happy for the first time in his life.  He died at age 40 of a heart attack after a pick-up basketball game with some of his church buddies.  His last words were, "I feel great."  It was found that Pete had a heart defect and was missing one of his heart valves.  People with this defect generally don't live past the age of 20 and cannot engage in any sort of strenous physical activity at all.  It is a medical wonder how Pistol Pete did what he did.

Answer 6

d**n talk about people cutting and pasting stuff he was a wizard with the basketball average the most points per game ever in college at lsu but just read whatever these 2 above me copied and pasted from a website that will probably answer your question