“Football reigns king” is a common narrative when discussing college athletics. It makes by far the most money and is the most popular. In the 1950s and 1960s it was doubly true, especially down south in the SEC. The conference featured just one true basketball school, Kentucky, along with two respectable schools in Tennessee and Vanderbilt, the other eight were all football. This was especially true of Louisiana State University, LSU had won the football championship in 1958 and had an abysmal basketball program. From 1955 to 1966, the Tigers averaged just nine wins a season. The school had a great three-year stretch from 1952 to 1954 under Hall of Famer Bob Pettit, who grew up in Baton Rouge and only stayed in state because he “doubted I [Petit] could measure up to expectations on a fancier scholarship”. Clearly Petit lacked self-confidence because he would have shattered expectations anywhere. At LSU he averaged over 27 ppg and would go on to have a legendary career with the Saint Louis Hawks. Under Petit, the Tigers reached the top five in the AP twice and made it to the final four as well as the elite eight. They went 27-0 in SEC play during his final two seasons.
But with Petit’s departure the program fell into dark times, resulting in the aforementioned nine wins a season stat. The administration didn’t help. Coach Jay McCreary labored fruitlessly to break the color barrier, but the higher ups wanted nothing to do with it. McCreary is on record saying he, “would have sold his soul to recruit such Louisiana stars such as Elvin Hayes and Willis Reed”.
Though it is doubtful McCreary would have been able to land blue chip prospects such as Hayes, playing at the “Old War Skule”, which was the nickname for the Tigers dismal gym.
It got so bad that Frank Truitt, McCreary’s successor left after just one season to become the head coach at Kent St. The “Morning’s Advocate” wrote that his lone season was, “a good start… a lot of fans will hate to see Truitt leave”. He went 6-20.
Athletic Director Jim Corbett needed a new head coach following Truitt’s departure. Corbett was a former chairman of the NCAAs Television Committee. He understood the business aspects of basketball. He needed to sell the game to the deep south, where football reigned supreme. He needed someone that could change the culture of basketball at LSU, someone that could be a big attraction. So he set his sights to North Carolina.
At just six foot three and a measly 150 pounds, Pete Maravich looked far from a basketball star. It looked more likely he would get killed on the court rather than drop 30 in the 4-A division of North Carolina’s basketball league, one of the top in the country. But nobody could stop Maravich from scoring.
[i] “A lot of schools would put football players on him,” says the Raleigh Times’ Paul Phillips. “They’d bang him and beat him, but he never took his eyes off the basket. Somebody could knock him upside down and his eyes would still be on that basket”.
Unfortunately, stopping Pete wasn’t needed to beat his school, Broughton, the Caps returned just two players and in such a strong league they struggled to a 9-14 finish. Which set the tone for Pete’s career, scoring instead of winning.
Despite little team success, Maravich put up eye boggling numbers. In a two game road trip to Queen City he averaged 40 ppg, continuing to stretch the limits of what could be done in a 32 minute contest without a three-point shot. Against Rocky Mount he had 21 in just the second half, headlines were filled with mentions of Maravich. “Garinger wins; 43 for Maravich, Maravich scores 47 as Caps Trips Eagles, Wilmington Beats Caps Despite 40 by Maravich”. His shot making created interest, an anticipation that Pete would be a star at the next level. In the annual East-West all-star game he poured in 42 points, a record that stands to this day.
When it was over, the East coach was asked, “Why didn’t you take him out of the game?”
“I didn’t know I could”
“It wouldn’t be fair, I am going to send my boy away to play for somebody else”
That’s what Press Maravich said when Pete was in eighth grade and Press was the coach at Clemson. But as Pete’s high school career wrapped up, and Press was now the coach at illustrious NC St, things looked a little differently.
Pete’s high school coach told recruiters that they had to go through his father, and there were a lot of recruiters. Pete Maravich was one of the most sought out recruits in the country. Yet, many people close to the Maravich’s believed that none of them had a chance, Pete was going to play for his dad. “He had to coach Pete, that was a given, In Press’s mind, that was the ultimate” said one of Press’s closest friends and assistant coach. There was one problem, the ACC required student athletes to score at least an 800 on the SAT, a mark Pete was just short on. So the Pistol would go to prep school, Edwards Military Institute, instead of jumping straight to college.
Pete continued to excel at EMI, regularly dropping 40 points, and beat NC St’s freshman team multiple times. Unfortunately, Pete did not meet the minimum 800 SAT score, despite taking the test multiple times the highest he got was a 796, four pain-staking points away. Which deeply disappointed Press, but Pete took it in stride.
Pete ideally wanted to get away from the pressures of his dad and would have been perfectly fine with playing for Bucky Waters at West Virginia. Waters played and coached under legendary names such as the Wolfpack’s Everett Case and Duke’s Vic Bubas. It was also Jerry West’s alma mater. Waters saw Maravich as West’s successor in the league. Saying that he had never seen a player with as much offensive talent as the Pistol. Like NC State, WVU was a basketball school, unlike NC State it did not require a SAT score of 800. The wide open style of play Waters employed was especially appealing to Pete. It seemed like a lock, Pistol Pete was heading to Morgantown. That was until Press received a call from Corbett.
Someone told Jim Corbett that Maravich was the best prospect in the country, someone that would draw crowds no matter how abysmal the on court product was. His father, Press, was not a bad coach himself, a former ACC coach of the year he excelled with maximizing teams with minor talent. Press also needed money. He already was negotiating with the Baltimore Bullets and had nothing to lose. Press asked for what he believed to be an absurd contract of $15,000 a year. Corbett accepted, and they agreed to a deal on the spot, Press would receive a $5,000 a year raise. That was not the best part of the deal for Press. He now would coach his son.
The problem was, the idea of going to Baton Rouge repulsed Pete. He did not want to be part of a package deal; he was dead set on going to West Virginia. The two argued for nights.
“You’re going with me,” said Press
“The hell I am,” said Pete. “I’m going to West Virginia, I already talked to Bucky Waters.
“The hell you are,” said Press
“LSU, that’s a doggone football school,” said Pete. “They probably don’t even have a gym down there”
“You go to West Virginia, you never bring your ass back into my house again”.
Finally, Pete came up with an offer of his own: “If I’m going to LSU, you got to buy me a car”.
These types of arguments went on for nights, with both sides repeating their demands. Pete brought up the car in an argument in front of Les Robinson, the freshman coach at NC St and Press stormed out muttering “car my ass”.
[I] “Ordinally, if a recruit asked him for a car, Press would’ve probably smacked the kid. But this wasn’t any ordinary recruit. This was a blue-chipper. The only one he ever signed,” – Les Robinson in “The Life of Pete Maravich”
The negotiations raged on, but they all ended with Press reiterating his position: “Don’t ever come home again”.
Pete eventually caved, partially because of Press’ threat to kick him out of the house, but also because of the violent urgency in his voice. It was how he sounded when Pete came home drunk, but elevated to the 100th degree. It was unlike anything Pete had heard. He had little doubt that if Pete went to WVU, Press would have gotten out the .45.
So with that, the Maravich’s were on their way to LSU, where Pete would become the highest scoring college basketball player of all time.
Later, Press would explain to Les that he was being crippled by payments. To say Les was perplexed would be an understatement. The coach was making 15 grand a year.
“I got the house payment,” Press explained, “and the two car payments.”
“Two?”
“Yeah,”, said Press. “I got Pete a car”
On The Hardwood 