Here’s another clip of Maravich playing H-O-R-S-E with George “Iceman” Gervin. Here’s one showing every shot in his 68-point game against the Knicks. Here’s one showing highlights of his college days at LSU. Here’s a clip of Bill Walton talking about Maravich.
Watching the awesome clips above inspired me to find quotes about him:
“He was like a great singer with a style all his own, a pacing that was different, a flair for the unusual.”–-Chick Hearn
“He [Pete] was an artist. His canvas was the basketball floor and his brush was the basketball.”–Paul Westphal
“You were never quite sure what he was going to do with the ball in the open court. He had a thousand moves to either shoot it or pass it.”–Jack Ramsay, Hall of Fame Coach
“The radio was playing and the 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, 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 over the glass and caught his own pass. He was fantastic. Scored something like 38 points. He could have played blind. The man was a true virtuoso. There were no Pete Maraviches before he came along, and there never has been since. This Mozart of the Hardwood….”–Bob Dylan (from “Chronicles”)
“Legendary LSU Superstar “Pistol Pete” Maravich took his swirling basketball magic to paradise 17 years go. Heaven couldn’t wait for showtime. Between the leg dribbles, behind the back passes, dishing the ball off the dribble at full throttle in the blink of an eye, physical acrobatics in getting a shot off…it was magic. It was also instinctive, inventive and incredible.
Maravich pushed basketball to new limits. Consider this: Pistol Pete scored 3,667 points during his LSU collegiate playing career, averaging a staggering 44.2 points per game for 83 varsity college basketball contests. All of this occurred before the advent of the 3 point shot.
It was the kind of show that filled arenas all over the Southeastern Conference. What the SEC saw was a gangly, angular kid who played basketball with a pained expression, with a blend of jazz and classical music, with an apparant air of nonchalance. What he accomplished in college was truly “Ruthian” and will never be matched.”–Barry Mendelson
“I modeled myself after him, (and) he was only a couple years older than me. He was so far ahead of the game as far as ball-handling and creativeness. Back then it was like, ‘Oh, that’s showboating.’ No, he took the game to another level.”–Mike D’Antoni
“All those things that made him a great player, they were also his curse. It was hard for him to blend his game with other players. He had been groomed to see how many points he could score rather than how many games he could win. That’s the enigma of Pete Maravich.”–Paul Westphal
“We’re all doing things he did first.”–Steve Nash
“Pistol Pete is a legend to all who understand the history of basketball.”–Jason Kidd
“Pete was ‘The Man.’ I’d just sit there and shake my head and say to myself: ‘How’d he do that?’”–Magic Johnson
“Oh my. He did things with the basketball that players – still today – can’t do. If Maravich was playing today, he’d be a god.” — Isiah Thomas
“(Oscar) Robertson was the best guard I ever played against. Jerry West was the best I ever played with. And Pete is the best I’ve ever seen.”–Elgin Baylor
“I’ve got a lot of Pistol Pete in my game.”–Steve Nash
“Like a master chess player, Pete Maravich saw things that nobody else did.”–Bill Walton
“He was the greatest ball handler I’ve ever seen in my life. He could do things with the basketball that were unbelievable.”–Rick Barry
“A lot of guys break the laws of gravity. Pete breaks the laws of physics.”–Red Auerbach
“I learned all my tricks from Pete Maravich.”–Kobe Bryant
“The stuff that Pistol did with the ball was the breaking ground for what we can do today.”–Jason Kidd
“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
“The best showman of all time? I’d probably have to say Pistol Pete.”–Isiah Thomas
“He was one of the truly great players that could fill an arena. He was an excellent player. He could dribble with both hands, shoot with both hands, and see the whole court. I enjoyed playing with Pete. His biggest influence to my mind was his ability to pass. When he stepped on the court, it was like a warning sign: ‘Watch out. I know how to play this game.’”–Larry Bird
“Through following basketball and enjoying his flair for the game, I feel as though I knew him. He was a great scorer and a great passer at the same time. The passes he made were unbelievable. He was so ahead of his time.”–Magic Johnson
“Pistol was a big influence on me. I’ve often tried his moves on the basketball court. What he did on the court are things that players today still can’t do.”–Isiah Thomas
“He was the original. When you talk about ‘Showtime,’ you talk about creativity, and bringing a whole different concept to the game of basketball. Pete was the original. He opened the minds of a lot of players as to how the game should be played. What he could do with the basketball at full speed was incredible. He was the best ball handler I ever saw. Ever.”–Pat Riley
“The way Pete played transcended the game. He was an artist. His canvas was the floor and his brush was the basketball. Only one guy got to be Elvis. And only one guy got to be Pistol Pete.”–Paul Westphal
“He was a startling player. One of a half dozen I’ve ever seen who I’d buy a ticket to see play. He was as dazzling a passer and as great a ball handler as I’ve ever seen. He was like a great singer with a style all his own, a pacing that was different, a flair for the unusual.”–Chick Hearn
“He was unstoppable. It’s as if they had melted down all 12 Harlem Globetrotters and then filled up this skinny 6-6 white frame with everything they had.”–Ralph Wiley, ESPN
“He personified why I love basketball; why I enjoy watching it; writing about it; why sports itself is such an important part of human existence.”–Curry Kirkpatrick, Sports Illustrated
“He was to basketball what the Sgt. Pepper album was to pop music: revolutionary and liberating.”–Bob McEwen, Rochester Times Union
“Today’s game is about spacing, drawing double teams, and shooting off the pass. No one in the history of the game was better at that than Pete. He could do more things with the ball than anyone who ever played, and do them all well.”–Alvin Gentry
A couple articles:
About his last year in the league, playing with a rookie Larry Bird
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7DF143BF933A25752C0A96E948260
Bill Simmons reviewing a couple of bios about him
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070124
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