Bob Pettit, the dominant scorer and rebounder who led the St. Louis Hawks and became the NBA’s first Most Valuable Player in 1956, has died at 93.
Louisiana State University, Pettit’s alma mater, announced Thursday that he died the previous day. The school did not disclose a cause of death.
A celebrated All-American at LSU, Pettit spent all 11 of his NBA seasons with the Hawks and earned an All-Star selection every year. He guided the franchise to its only championship in 1958, defeating the powerhouse Boston Celtics.
Pettit also captured the NBA’s MVP award in 1959 and was named All-Star Game MVP four times. Only Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant has matched that total.
AP Photo/File
Pettit established himself during an era that featured stars such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor. Yet much of his career came before the NBA reached a broad television audience, and playing in the smaller St. Louis market limited his national exposure.
Listed at 6-foot-9 and 205 pounds, Pettit was a formidable presence at power forward before that position had become a familiar part of basketball’s lexicon. He seldom missed a game, could play center and helped pioneer a style for big men that included facing the basket rather than operating exclusively with their backs to it.
Pettit won Rookie of the Year in 1955, his final season with the Hawks in Milwaukee before the franchise relocated to St. Louis.
One year later, he became the league’s first MVP after averaging 25.7 points per game to lead the NBA in scoring. He topped the scoring race again in 1959, averaging 29.2 points.
Pettit retired following the 1964-65 season with career averages of 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds. At the time, his 20,880 points ranked first in NBA history, while his 12,849 rebounds stood second.
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The Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Pettit in 1970.
“Lean, graceful, and always well-conditioned, Bob Pettit’s physical build made him one of the first big men to play facing the basket,” the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame says in his biography. “But Pettit’s resolve set him apart from his peers; he simply would not be outworked.”
Robert Lee Pettit Jr. was born Dec. 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father worked in law enforcement and served as sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish. Pettit developed later than some of his peers, not reaching the Baton Rouge High School varsity until his junior year.
As a senior, he led Baton Rouge High to a state championship and attracted more than a dozen college scholarship offers. He remained in his hometown to attend LSU, where he emerged as a star during his sophomore season—the earliest point at which players of that era could join the varsity team.
Pettit led the Southeastern Conference in scoring in each of his three seasons, averaging 25.5 points as a sophomore, 24.9 as a junior and 31.4 as a senior.
Pettit is one of just three LSU players—along with Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal—to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Bronze statues honoring Pettit and O’Neal stand outside LSU’s home arena, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU retired Pettit’s No. 50, while the Atlanta Hawks retired his No. 9.
Much of Pettit’s career unfolded during the Celtics’ extraordinary championship run, one of the most dominant stretches in the history of American professional sports.
He came within two victories of winning three NBA championships. The Hawks reached the Finals four times during Pettit’s career, meeting Boston in every series and losing twice in seven games.
Boston won the first matchup in 1957 after a Game 7 that required two overtimes. A year later, Pettit and the Hawks claimed the title, interrupting the Celtics’ stretch of nine championships in 10 seasons. Atlanta also lost Finals series to Boston in 1960, again in seven games, and in 1961, in five.
After retiring from basketball, Pettit returned to Baton Rouge and worked in banking and financial consulting. In recent years, he remained a familiar presence at LSU and New Orleans Pelicans games.