A Guy Named Pete

The fellows who play football for Louisiana State University call themselves the Tigers, and the name has a certain edge of truth. In basketball, Tabbies would have been more like it. L.S.U. did produce Bob Pettit, who went on to make it big in the pros. That was in the early 1950s; since then, the school has had only one winning season, losing a dismal 212 out of its 323 games. Then two years ago L.S.U. hired away North Carolina State's Coach Press Maravich--and presto! Look at those Sabertooths! So far this season, they have won nine out of twelve games, including six of the last seven, and rank as a strong contender for the Southeastern Conference championship.

And to what does Coach Maravich at tribute his sudden success? Hard work, clean living, a solid basketball sense developed over eight years at Clemson and North Carolina State. And, oh yes, a guy named Pete--Peter Maravich, 20, his son and favorite basketball player. At 6 ft. 5 in. and 170 Ibs., Pete Maravich looks, as one sportswriter put it, "like a cross between a clarinet and a filter king." But basketball, at least in college, is still a game for shooters not bruisers, and in that department Pete comes on like gunsmoke.

Put It Up. In twelve games, he has pumped in an incredible 202 field goals and 136 free throws for 540 points and a 45-point average per game. No one in college or pro ball even comes close this year (U.C.L.A.'s Lew Alcindor is averaging only 28.3 points), and with any luck, Maravich should break the alltime college scoring record (1,209 points) set by Furman's Frank Selvy in 1954. Pete's lowest score was 30 points against Alabama; his highest was 58 against Mississippi State. One night last week against Georgia, he rattled off 42 points, including two last-second foul shots that gave L.S.U. a 79-76 victory. A few nights later, he dropped in 52 as L.S.U. trounced Tulane 100 to 91. Not that Pete is a ball hog. He is enough of a team player to lead the squad in both assists (61) and rebounds (104). But, as his father says, "He's got to put it up there for us to go anywhere. I'll kill him if he doesn't shoot."

Some players are best close in, with driving lay-ups, looping hook shots and little tap-ins; others are long-distance gunners. Maravich has the feathery touch and fluid coordination to do it all. Davidson Coach Lefty Driesell remembers one practice session when Pete demonstrated one-handed push shots. "He got out about two feet past the top of the circle--21 ft. from the basket--and drilled in 40 straight. I never saw anything like it." Poppa Press just says: "I get to the point where I don't coach him. I just watch."

Maybe that's how it is now. When Pete was a tyke, basketball was how the day started and ended. From the time he was seven, he spent hours out in the backyard shooting baskets with his father, and listening to lectures on the niceties of finger control, form, stance, depth perception. By the time he finished Raleigh's Needham Broughton High School, Pete was already averaging 32 points a game and displaying an almost total dedication to the sport. They still talk about the time he hobbled around the floor with a plaster cast on a badly sprained ankle--and still scored 42 points.

Watch the Wolves. Close to 100 colleges tried to recruit him--dreamers all. Off to L.S.U. it was, and while Dad was suffering through a miserable 3-23 first season with the varsity, Pete was enjoying life on the frosh, dropping in 43.6 points a game, and leading his team to a 17-1 season. This year he is even hotter, though rival coaches have tried everything from triple teaming to simple mayhem. "They're attacking him like wolves," says his father. "They punch him, they push him, they belly him, they hold him, they knee him."

All of which could be a problem when and if Pete goes on to the rougher, tougher pros. At a spindly 170 Ibs., he lacks the muscle to fight for the ball with the likes of a Wilt Chamberlain or a Bill Russell. He's getting there, though. Pete has already gained 10 Ibs. at L.S.U., and he figures to put on another 20 to 30 Ibs. by the time he graduates.

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