BEAVER, Pa. â Pete Maravich, in a 1974 interview with the Beaver County Times, said: "I don't want to play 10 years in the NBA and die of a heart attack at age 40."
He played pro ball for 10 years, from 1970 to 1980, and died of a heart attack Tuesday in Pasadena, at 40.
"That's a little scary," said sports writer Andy Nuzzo, who had interviewed Maravich when he played for the Atlanta Hawks.
"The story was laying on my desk when I got to work (Wednesday). I read it, and read it and read it and read it. I couldn't believe it. Everything matched."
Nuzzo was assigned the 1974 story because Maravich, an area native, "was unhappy about the fan reaction he was getting, unhappy that he was being labeled a hotdog," Nuzzo said.
maxburke on August 5th, 2017 at 18:33 UTC »
Figured someone should mention that Maravich averaged a record 44 points per game in college before the three-point shot was established.
Sumit316 on August 5th, 2017 at 17:46 UTC »
Pete Maravich was very famous for his off court life. He has done some crazy things in his short career.
He painted TAKE ME on his roof to attract passing UFOs. He once lived for 25 days entirely on fresh-squeezed juices. He got drunk before big games, cried when he lost, and drove his alligator-skin-topped car 100 mph through downtown New Orleans.
In the NBA, Maravich pioneered the now familiar role of the underachieving ball hog (he wore a pendant that said ME 1ST). Whenever he had a run of success—he led the league in scoring one year and once put up 68 points on the Knicks—a nagging injury or a mystery illness would knock him back into despair. This was the sad irony of the Pistol: He imported a new species of joy into the game, and it made him totally miserable. (A friend once said his eyes looked like “two piss holes in a snow pile.”)
Magic Johnson admitted to Pistol Pete Maravich’s two sons that he borrowed the term “Showtime” from Maravich stating, “He was the real showtime.”
Bob Dylan was inspired to write the song "Dignity" when hearing about Pete Maravichs death in 1988 (heart failure).
aLoftyCretin on August 5th, 2017 at 15:59 UTC »
I specifically requested the opposite of this.