The Legacy Of Pistol Pete Maravich
My journey into becoming Pistol Pete's most avid follower began when I was an 11 year old child living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
. My infatuation started while I was watching an episode of "NBA Inside Stuff", a common Saturday program that many basketball fans watched in the 1990s, as the program was doing a story on Pete Maravich. As I sat there, with my eyes fixated on what I was witnessing on television, my young mind began to race in awe as I was witnessing an individual do something that I had never seen before.After the program was over, I approached my father in a child-like fashion asking him "Dad, do you remember a guy named Pistol Pete?" The look on my father's face is one that I will never forget as he turned to me and had a look on his face as if I had just spoken holy words.
"Of course I do, he is one of the greatest basketball players ever but most I remember of him is his trademark floppy socks." We spoke a little bit longer as he told me about Pete's scoring records and how he was ahead of his time in his style of play, etc. There are defining moments in everyone's life, your first haircut, your first kiss, getting a driver's license, but one of my defining moments was unique to me, when I accepted Pistol Pete as my role model and icon that very day.
From that day on I was all about Pete Maravich. I sought out his Homework Basketball tapes, watching them religiously into the night and then practicing those drills the next day until I physically couldn't any longer.
Those socks that my father spoke of were now being replicated around my skinny ankles, as I dribbled the ball up the court sporting my new number 7 rec league jersey. I asked my friends to start calling me "Pistol" Pollack, as that nickname sounded like music to my ears.
I continued this throughout high school, by this time getting some physical comparisons to my role model. My tall frame was wirey and skinny, my hair shagged out in Maravich-esque style, my demeanor somewhat alike his; sheepish and shy on the court but bursting on the inside with love for the game of basketball.
When I was 18, I got a tattoo of a basketball with a crown on top of it on my right arm, commemorating Pete and his "Heir to a Dream" theme that he spoke of in his 1987 biography, followed by another tattoo at the age of 24 of the angel that graces Pete's Baton Rouge grave stone.
On the day I write this, I can see more clearly than ever that Pete Maravich has made me into the person I am today. His picture hangs above my bed in my home and I look at it every night before I go to sleep as I hope that he is looking over me, sending me in the right direction.
I had the honor a few years ago to meet one of his son's, Josh, before my school, the University of Florida played his LSU Tiger team (not to mention that even though I attend the University of Florida, I am a die-hard LSU fan due to the impact Maravich has had on their program).
Though born in 1984, 4 short years before Pete's untimely death, I feel as if I was there watching every one of his games live. Not many people my age speak of Pete Maravich, they speak more of the hip-hop style of today's game that include the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. Little do they know that Pete Maravich is one of the people responsible for this style of play, though he played it 30+ years prior. It is my duty as a basketball fan to constantly remind everyone where this style of play came from.
I see myself as more than a fan of Pete's; more like a way of life. What I would give to just to be able to talk to him in person and shake his hand, even if it is for 10 seconds. The best way that I can see to carry on Pete's legacy is to name my first born son in his honor, and to carry on Pete's everlasting legacy, both on and off the basketball court.
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