Peter Maravich
What People Say

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A little truth if Maravich play now. "Yeah right Pops. That Pete Maravich was a real wizard, but he played in the Stone Age and couldn't cut it against today's offerings of the likes of Jason William, Kobe Bryand and Allen Iversion." Yeah right. Lets put it to you straight folks. With today's wide open brand of NBA basketball, the three point line and liberal interpretations of what constitutes a travel, a carry, or continuation, Maravich today would eat everyon'e lunch. There would be no stopping him outside the usual dumbed down mugging tactics and in a world where proficient outside shooting and creative passes not the ego-gratifying wasting ones-border on extinction. Maravich was the original and genuine Showtime, and endlessly creative genius who could beat anyone one on one.

"Pete does things that make you say to yourself, 'Wait a minute, let me see you do that again.' It's like demanding an instant replay just so you can believe the incredible thing you've seen. Let me give you an example. I watched him pull off a stunt against Kentucky that made me shake my head, just as it would have made Red Auerbach or Red Holzman or Richie Guerin shake their heads. Pete came dribbling down the court right-handed, passed the ball between his legs, picked up the ball with his left hand, dribbled clear, and dropped in as pretty a left handed hook shot as you ever saw-from thirty feet. I haven't seen a ball-handler like him since Bob Cousy and Dick McGuire were in their prime. Pete can rip a team to shreds with his passes, just as Cousy and McGuire could. But each of them had weaknesses as a shooter. Maravich has none. He can pop 'em in, long or short, right or left. There isn't a shot he can't make." - "Easy" Ed Macauley

"I don't mind saying I was glad to see him graduate. We were able to go back to concentrating on how to stop human shooters."- legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp

"The problem with Pete was he was that he was born too soon. People would have love him today. But Pete was a little before his time, a bit out of context. People labeled him a hotbog for doing things that are widely accepted today." - Lenny Wilkens

"He's always entertaining, he'd always on. He dazzles you and electrifies the crowd. I'm supposed to be the coach and I'm supposed to be watching the whole game. I would end up just watching him." - Lou Carnesecca

"He was the original. When you talk about showtime, you talk about creative, and bringing a whole different concept to the game of basketball, Pete was the original" - Pat Riley

"Pistol was like a guy that the game was boring to him, so he had to create things to keep him interested. - Walt Frazier

"Some guys break the law of gravity. This guy breaks the laws of physics." - Red Auerbach

"Pete was so far ahead of his time I don�t think he was appreciated. He had no three-point shot and no shot clock. To average 44.2 points per game today, you�d have to essentially score 15 three-pointers in every game you play.� - Dale Brown

"For him to come along and do some of the things he did for a white boy was kind of shocking. He kind of played like he was on a playground all the time. He was so great, the ball seemed to be on a string every time he had it. He was a great shooter." - Paul Silas

"Guys back then did not dribble the ball behind their back, between their legs ... they could not dribble the ball with each hand equally as well. He had that flair about him which was at that time not really acceptable in certain circles." - Paul Silas

""Maravich was showtime before there was showtime. His deft ball-handling and spectacular no-look passing triggered from every imaginable contortion in every tempo, was nearly as impressive as his prodigious shot-making from all locations and angles on the floor. Even when his teams were losing the crowds turned out to see Pistol Pete's explosive finesse and flamboyance, both as a collegiate superstar at LSU and as a pro later with the Atlanta Hawks and hometown New Orleans Jazz." - Robert Lipsyte

"43.8, 44.2 and 44.5, respectively, in his Sophomore, Junior and Senior seasons. What is as at least as impressive about his numbers as the fact Pistol amassed them in only three years, is that there was NO THREE-POINT SHOT when Maravich was lighting up the scoreboard from long range. If he could beat you to the hoop, he would drive for an acrobatic finger-roll. If he couldn't outpace you on the dribble, he'd back up and launch it from downtown. If scoring was an artform, Pistol Pete was Picasso."

"He was like a great singer, with a style all his own, a pacing that was different, a flair for the unusual." - said broadcaster Chick Hearn

"Raw-talentwise, he's the greatest who ever played" - Lou Hudson

"He was ahead of his time. These people who compare Jason Williams to him? He couldn't hold a candle to Pete Maravich. First of all, Pete didn't travel when he made the moves, like Jason does. And no way Jason could shoot like that. In our day, we had to druibble with the hand on the top of the ball. When Pete was coming down on the fast break, at any given moment the ball would be out in front of him like it was suspended in air, and he would make a swipe at it with his right hand as though he was going to pass it to his left, but would go underneath the ball and then twist his right hand back over so it was facing back to the right and pass the ball that way to the guy on the right wing, and he did it so soomthly and quick. He was a lot of fun. - Jim Barnett

"Now with the game being so wide open, and with the three point shot to boot, he would be even more dominant. With his size at six five, and with his long arms and ability to jump you know he had all that going for him, I think he would be even more dominant. When you look at a player, you have to look at the total package. Defenses are better now, and that would take some of the stuff, but the league is trying to allow the offense to flourish more. The way Pete handled the ball, it would be difficult for a guy like Iverson when getting double teamed but it would be difficult doing that with Pete because he could go anywhere with a basketball. You couldn't stop him. He could sin on you, go behind his back, he could hestiate, he had a pull up shot, flip shots, he loved to find people-he could do anything with the basketball time and time again, and in different situations. Plus he could shoot the hell out of it. - Dave Cowens

"He was really a credit to the city of New Orleans because people would come from all over to see him play. It was just the type of magician he was with the basketball. He was basically showtime. You may want to say the Lakers call themselves showtime. Pete Maravich was definitely showtime." - Tommy Green

We got to the gym, and everybody was saying, 'Well, where is this kid?' and somebody pointed out this little skinny guy, you know 6'5 and about 150 pounds and, you know, we all said, 'Ah, come on that can't be him. Which one is he?' And after we watched him for a little bit...he goes down court, you know, between his legs, behind his back....we said, 'Hm, I guess he is for real!'" --Ralph Jukkola

I was totally amazed. He'd come down on a three on two fast break and would be in the middle, a teammate on each wing. Without premeditating, he'd react to what the defense would do. Sometimes he'd act like he was going to hit the ball off the dribble to the wing with one hand and instead fake it and slap it with the other hand. Other times he'd go through his legs, behind his back, or make the no-look pass for easy layup. He had ten different ways to make the play. Another thing, he could take the ball to one side of the court, with defenders on him, and anticipate where teammates would be and throw blind to the open man. It takes skills and unbelievable know how to do that." - Rusty Bergman

"He could do things with a basketball that nobody else probably ever had dreamed of at that time." --Randy Lamont

"He was unique. He was one of a kind." --Rich Hickman

"He was so magical on the court...He was a magician with the ball." --Ralph Jukkola

"His passing, I think, was even better than his shooting." --Randy Lamont

"Playing with Pete really made us all a little bit better ball palyers." --Ralph Jukkola

"He is the greatest wizard with the ball I have ever seen....

"His image supposively was that he was a ball hog. To the contrary! I thought he was too unselfish. Let me say this, if I had been coach he would have taken more shots than he did for his daddy." --Dale Brown, former Head Coach at L.S.U.

"In today's media environment Pete Maravich would have been a soap opera superstar. He would have been on TV every night. ESPN would have loved him. I would been down there, and I wouldn't have had enough adjectives to describe him. That's how talented he was. He was way ahead of his time. He was doing things years ago that the kids are doing now. Today you see a Kobe Bryant in the transition, handing the ball and big players out on the perimeter six-six and over handling the ball-and Pistol was doing that stuff years and years ago." - Dick Vitale

"There was no way you could relax on the court when Pete had the ball. You had to expect anything at any time. He was constantly working to improve his weaknesses and trying to learn different things. He was never satisfied." --Rich Hickman

"Pete just didn't practice his shots by himself in the gym. Like most great ball players, he was a game shooter, actually practicing his shot under pressure of game conditions, either in one-on-one or in scrimmage. No one blocked his shots." --Ed Biedenbach

"It was weird. He guessed every single player before he got the real Pete. I guess Pete just didn't look like a star. He was so skinny that his uniform hung on him, and we'd all had our heads shaved for ROTC. Pete sure has a funny shaped head." --Rich Hickman, referring to a time when he had a friend of his come to a Freshman practice to see Maravich play

"Back at the hotel there was a knock at the door. I always answered things, the phone or door, because Pete had so many people trying to see him, wanting to talk or just plain bother him. So if there was a call and someone claimed to be a friend of his, I'd just say he's out, take the number, and tell them he'd call back. Well, in most cases, Pete hadn't heard of them and didn't return the call.

"Anyway, I opened the door and there's this guy in the hall, asking to see Pete. By now, Pete's got his head under the covers and I know he doesn't want to talk to anyone. So I tell the guy that Pete used to live around here and that he and his father went to visit some old friends and wouldn't be back until real late. And I wasn't really too nice about it either. The guy just stares at me for a second, says 'Okay' and leaves. When I go back into the rook, Pete looks out from under the cover and says, 'You know what, that might have been my brother.' Then we both went to sleep. The next day he found it was." --Jeff Tribbett

"Listen heah, Pete Maravich will be the Babe Ruth of professional basketball before he's through. He'll be to basketball what Joe Namath has been to football. When the Kansas Cit Chiefs were in New Orleans, I took Hank Stram [their head coach] out to see Pete. Man, he couldn't his eyes. All night he kept sayin' the same thing. 'What a flanker that kid would make.' It was unreal." --Al Hirt

<"He does things on the court that you want to see again, because you just don't believe it. I remember seeing him against Kentucky. He did something that made me shake my head. It would have done the same to Red Auerbach, Red Holzman, or Richie Guerin. He was dribbling up court right-handed, went between his legs with it, then picked it up with his left hand, dribbled clear and connected on as pretty as a left-handed hook as you'll ever see.

"I haven't seen a ball-handler like him since the heyday of Bob Cousy and Dick McGuire. He can do the same thing as those two guys, rip a team to shreds with his passes. His real advantage is his shooting. Cousy and McGuire both had limitations. Not Pete. He can hit from long or short range, right or left-handed. There isn't a shot he can't make." --Ed McCauley

"We were at a basketball camp at Campbell College back when Pete was in the tenth grade. Every night there was a counselors game with the college kids who were on staff. College kids and sometimes they'd let a high school kid or two play. Pete was in there on a night when Bob Cousy was playing. Cousy was a good friends of Bones McKinney, who was working at the camp. Anyway, on this night Pete comes across half-court and throws this amazing half-court pass with spin on it and Cousy stops the game. Stops the game and says, 'Time out. Who in the hell is that kid?'" --Charlie Bryant, former assistant to Bones McKinney at Wake Forest

"We had this concrete wall at one end of the gym and Pete used to go off by himself and practice throwing passes off that wall. Hundreds of them. Between his legs, behind his back, off his head. You name it.

"Then he would go to the center court circle and work on dribbling. Every possible dribble you could imagine. I used to try to get my guards to do those kids of drills, but they couldn't. They got too tired. He would be out there doing it in 100-degree heat. One time I said to him, 'Pete, all these years I have never seen Oscar Robertson throw a pass behind the back or between his legs. All he ever thows are two-handed chest passes.' He just looked at me and said, 'Coach, I want to be a millionaire some day and they don't pay you a million dollars for two-handed chest pases.'" --Lefty Driesell, coach of Davidson

"You talk of Jerry West or Oscar Robertson or any of those great ones who scored and passed so well. Maravich is better. He's a show." --Lou Carnesecca, coach of St. John's while Pete was at LSU

"One man never has nor ever will win a championship by himself. Yet people say, 'You can't win with Pete Maravich.' Win where? Lord knows, I came into the pros with a lot of pressure on me. No matter what I did it would never be enough But put me on the Celtics and suddenly everyone would think I was the greatest player alive. 'Look, Pete Maravich has grown up.' Well, it would still be me, the same Pete Maravich playing the same way."

"Pete was, in hearts of hearts, a showman. But that year [1975-1976] he played the game. Players today play basketball. They don't play the GAME of basketball. Pete could do both. He could paly slam-dunk run-up-and-down basketball. And he could play the GAME of basketball--take advantage of what the other team gives you. That year he played the GAME of basketball." --Butch van Bred Kolff, former coach of the New Orleans Jazz

"Anybody can write a check. But he would load the turkeys in his car and we'd go around handing them out." --Alfred Young, pastor of the Christ Temple Church, referring to Pete who gave out 100 turkeys every year on Thanksgiving.

Magic Johnson: "Maravich was unbelievable. I think he was, like, sort of ahead of his time in the things he did."

Isiah Thomas: "The best showman of all time? I'd probably have to say Pistol Pete."

Rick Barry: "He could do things with a basketball I've never seen anybody do."

"I knew it would be hard for Pete to be on the bench, but he never complained. Any player likes to start, especially one that's been the focal point of everything since the time he began playing ball." --Richie Guerin, Atlanta Hawks Coach

"It's a disgrace that Pete Maravich was not named Rookie of the Year. Cowens and Petrie are fine players, but neither will accomplish what Pete will accomplish in this league. There wasn't a better rookie in this league than Pete. I put him in the same class as Oscar, West, and Monroe, when they came up. You know, it's difficult for a man Pete's age to handle the constant pressure that he was exposed to all year. He always impressed me the way he kept his cool and through all teh criticism and hostilities that he had to face. To do all that and still have a rookie year like he had, you gotta be some kind of ballplayer." --Richie Guerin, Atlanta Hawks Coach

"The radio was playing and morning news was on. I was startled to hear that Pete Maravich, the basketball player, had collapsed on a basketball court in Pasadena, just fell over and never got up. I'd seen Maravich play in New Orleans once, when the Utah Jazz were the New Orleans Jazz. He was something to see--mop of brown hair, floppy socks--the holy terror of the basketball world--high flyin'--magician of the court. The night I saw him he dribbled the ball with his head, scored a behind the back, no look basket--dribbled the length of the court, threw the ball up off the glass and caught his own pass. He was fantastic. Scored something like thirty-eight points. He could have played blind. Pistol Pete hadn't played professionally for a while, and he was thought of as forgotten. I hadn't forgotten about him, though. Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it's like they didn't fade away at all." --Bob Dylan, in his book Chronicles Volume One

"There have been great athelets and players who have achieved more, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone else who could do with a basketball what Pete could do. I have seen his arms extend out to the left and looking like he's going to make a pass to the left and his hands go out that way, but the ball bounces back behind him to the right to another guy who catches the ball in midstride and lays it up-and on one even saw this third guy coming down the court. To this day I don't know how Pete made that pass, but he did. His shooting and his ballhanding ever unbelievable, but his passes were just beyond belief. He was the most entertaining athlete I have ever seen. You never knew whatwas going to happen next. I got know the basketball players and through them I knew that their game plan was to be expecting a ball any time no matter where you are on the court because if you're open. Pete is going to hit you.

"Pete brought a Flair pen to the game and scribbled excitement everywhere." - Shelby Strother

Averaging 44.2 points per game "And that's without the three-point line," Kansas' Kirk Hinrich said. "I can't imagine scoring that many a game."

Ahh, faith restored. With trepidation, I wondered if today's college basketball players had any recollection of Maravich. I'm 33 and have rudimentary recollections of him. What about players 11, 12, 13 and 14 years younger than me? The players I talked to at least have a working knowledge of Maravich, whose imagination with the basketball still evokes awe.

""I have some recollections of him. I watched the Sports Century special. He's a special player. That's the standard we try to reach. That's why everyone is in the gym working hard."

"Not surprisingly, Syracuse's Gerry McNamara was most enamored with Maravich's game. McNamara once scored 55 points in a high school game, 41 in the first half.

"To average 40 points a game in college basketball � I don't see that happening in this day and age," said McNamara, like Maravich, known for his long-distance shooting. "Pistol Pete was the best. He was my dad's favorite. Some of the things he did, people still can't do them today."

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