News flash for kids: The history of the NBA did not begin with LeBron James. News flash for Generation X: It didn't begin with Michael Jordan, or with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. News flash for Baby Boomers: It didn't begin with Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, either.
Before any of them, there was Bob Pettit. It didn't begin with him, either, but he was one of the earliest great NBA players.
Robert Lee Pettit Jr. was born on December 12, 1932 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was cut from the varsity basketball team at Baton Rouge High School as a freshman, and again as a sophomore. He played in a church league, and then grew 5 inches in a year, reaching 6-foot-7. He made All-City as a junior, and led the school to a State Championship as a senior.
Other notable graduates of Baton Rouge High: Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Jim Taylor, Baseball player Dalton Jones, singers Jimmy Clanton and Johnny Rivers, and Governor Bobby Jindal.
Pettit stayed in town, and attended Louisiana State University, leading the Southeastern Conference in scoring all 3 years he was on the varsity. Upon his graduation in 1954, the school retired his Number 50, making him the 1st LSU athlete so honored in any sport.
He was drafted by the Milwaukee Hawks, and moved with them to St. Louis in 1955. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 1955. In 1956, he led the league in scoring and rebounding, and led it in scoring again in 1959. He was named Most Valuable Player both times.
He helped the Hawks reach the NBA Finals in 1957, '58, '60 and '61, and his 50-point performance in Game 6 led them to the Championship in 1958. It remains the only time the Hawks franchise, which moved to Atlanta in 1968, has ever won the title. It hasn't even been to the Finals since 1961. Despite an ABA team in the 1974-75 and 1975-76 seasons, St. Louis has never had an NBA team again.
Pettit was named to 11 All-Star Games, and was named the Game's MVP 4 times. He was the 1st player to score over 20,000 points, although before he retired in 1965, Chamberlain surpassed him as the league's all-time leading scorer. He was named to the NBA's 25th, 35th, 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. He, Russell, Bob Cousy and George Mikan were the only men named to all 4 of those teams. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970, and the Hawks retired his Number 9.
During his playing career, he was listed as 6-foot-9 and 205 pounds. In a 1991 interview for Sports Illustrated, he said that if he played in the current era, with its weight training, he might have been a solid block of 270 pounds, and be a power forward on the same level as the man then considered the best at the position, his fellow LSU grad Karl Malone. Given that Chamberlain said that Pettit gave him trouble, I believed him.
After retiring from basketball, Pettit worked in the banking industry in Baton Rouge, and then founded a financial consulting company. He and his wife, Carole, had 3 children and 11 grandchildren. He died this past Wednesday, September 23, 2026, in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana, at the age of 93.
His death leaves Cliff Hagan as the last surviving member of the 1958 NBA Champion St. Louis Hawks.
No comments:
Post a Comment