40 Facts About Pete Maravich

Pete Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University's Tigers basketball team; his father, Press Maravich, was the team's head coach.

Pete Maravich was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1970 NBA draft, playing four seasons for the team.

Pete Maravich was traded to the New Orleans Jazz, then an expansion team, with whom he spent the majority of the rest of his career.

Pete Maravich was named an All-Star five times and was named to four All-NBA Teams during his professional career.

One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Pete Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time.

Pete Maravich died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.

Pete Maravich was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary team in 1996 and 75th Anniversary team in 2021.

Pete Maravich enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport.

Pete Maravich showed his son the fundamentals starting when Pete was seven years old.

Obsessively, young Pete Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.

Pete Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school.

Pete Maravich graduated from Broughton in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game.

Pete Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.

Pete Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.

Pete Maravich managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game.

Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks during the first round, as Pete Maravich averaged 22 points a contest in the five-game series.

However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Pete Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.

Pete Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points and dishing out 6.9 assists per game.

Pete Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest and continued his crowd-pleasing antics.

Pete Maravich was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.

Pete Maravich led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game.

Pete Maravich scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in four games.

Pete Maravich earned his third All-Star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.

Pete Maravich scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance, but his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired.

Pete Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever.

Pete Maravich appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who did not practice were not allowed to play in games.

Pete Maravich signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird.

Pete Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" on offense off the bench.

Pete Maravich appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.

Pete Maravich had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and though injury-dampened, his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities.

Pete Maravich 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.

Pete Maravich explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982.

On January 5,1988, Pete Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40, while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson.

Pete Maravich had flown out from his home in Covington, Louisiana, to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day.

Pete Maravich was survived by his wife, Jackie, and their sons Jaeson, then 8 years old, and Josh, then 5 years old.

Pete Maravich's children were very young when he died, and Jackie Pete Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral.

Pete Maravich said his dad told him he did the same thing.

On June 7,2024, Josh Pete Maravich died in the family home in Covington, Louisiana, at 42 years old.

In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Pete Maravich be installed on the campus, revising the stipulations required.

Game-used Pete Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction.