Pistol Pete left mark on Charlotte

Published Dec. 17, 2009 at 8:25 a.m.
Pete Maravich had dozens of huge scoring performances in a dazzling college career at Louisiana State. He scored more than 60 points in three games. In only three college seasons, he set an NCAA career scoring record that still stands.

But the best college game in the life of the best college basketball scorer in history might just have been the one Maravich played 40 years ago this week against Clemson.

It happened in Charlotte on Dec.20, 1969.

In front of a crowd of 7,282 at the original Charlotte Coliseum, most of whom had paid $5 apiece to see "Pistol Pete," Maravich scored 49 points in LSU's 111-103 win against Clemson.

"We had no clue how to stop him," John Coakley, a point guard on that Clemson team, said this week. "I can't remember how many defenses we tried against Pete. But I do remember that none of them worked."

While 49 is an eye-popping point total these days, for Maravich that was common. He averaged 44.2 points in his 83-game college career.

What was uncommon? Maravich's efficiency.

He was as hot that night as he ever got in college, making 22 of 30 shots from the field. Many of the shots came from what would now be classified as 3-point range, although there was no 3-point shot at the time.

Said Dickie Foster, a forward on that Clemson squad: "I guarded Pete some of the time that night. I remember one time Pete was 25-30 feet away from the basket. I sloughed off just a little, watching for picks behind me, thinking there was no way he would shoot from there. And he buried it."

Maravich made 73.3 percent of his shots on that night in Charlotte. It was the best shooting performance, by percentage, of his college career. He shot 43.8 percent for his college career.

And yet, immediately after the game, Maravich sounded somewhat disgusted with himself.

"I don't think I really played that well," he told the Charlotte Observer's Bob Lipper.

Maravich also had nine assists and six rebounds in the game, but he was upset about his 11 turnovers. Known for his daredevil, freewheeling passes as well as his shooting, the 6-foot-5 guard had thrown one pass that particularly upset him.

"I felt tired out there," Maravich said. "I've never thrown a behind-the-back pass off my butt before, but I did tonight. That shows a lack of stamina."

Why was the game played in Charlotte? The Queen City was picked by the team's coaches, a Clemson official said, as an ideal neutral site.

Maravich had connections to both Carolinas. He starred on high school basketball teams in the Clemson (at Daniel) and Raleigh areas (at Broughton) before going to LSU on scholarship so he could play for his father. LSU coach Press Maravich also did stints as head coach at Clemson and N.C. State.

The game wasn't a sellout. The coliseum, built in 1955 and now known as Bojangles' Coliseum, was about three-quarters full. "Felt like capacity to me," Maravich said at the time.

The fans were described in media reports as loud and ready to watch the Maravich traveling circus. Besides the $5 adult tickets, a number of student tickets were sold for $2 - making the game one of the better bargains in Charlotte sports history.

Clemson's Coakley had a longstanding relationship with Maravich. Back when Press Maravich was Clemson's coach, Coakley's father also worked on the Clemson campus as the dean of men. John Coakley and Pete Maravich met almost every day for two summers at an on-campus gym.

"For two summers, Pete and I basically played for six to eight hours a day," said Coakley, who would later enter the military and become a lieutenant colonel. "Drill after drill after drill. Ball handling. Quickness. Free throws. Working on your left hand - Pete was big on that.

"He taught me how to play, and it ended up paying for my college education."

Coakley admits he could never do any drill as well as Maravich could. "He did things with a basketball most folks couldn't dream of," Coakley said.

To preview the 1969 LSU-Clemson game, the Charlotte News published a story with the headline: "LSU will use its pistol to try and kill Clemson."

The game occurred exactly five months after man first walked on the moon. President Richard Nixon was in office (pre-Watergate).

Press Maravich was known for wanting his son to shoot. Press yelled "Put it up! Put it up!" when Pete passed up a couple of shots early.

The Observer's Harry Lloyd would write later that Maravich hit nine straight shots at one point, "all but one of them from outside."

Wrote Lloyd: "Later with the game salted away, Maravich hit two more baskets that gave him the Coliseum scoring record. Bill Bradley of Princeton set the old mark of 45."

Clemson wasn't very good that season, ending up 7-19. LSU was better, but in those "one-NCAA-tournament-berth-per-conference" days couldn't dethrone Kentucky. LSU went 22-10 that season and ended up playing in the NIT, where the Tigers finished fourth.

Maravich ended his college career without ever playing in the NCAA tournament.

He went on to an exceptional 10-year pro career. Although never able to win an NBA championship, he was voted a five-time NBA All-Star, averaged 24.2 points and was elected to basketball's hall of fame in 1987.

On Jan.5, 1988, Maravich died of a heart attack while playing a game of pickup basketball in California. He was 40 years old.

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