Date: 09-07-2015
Maravich left lasting impression on basketball
By Chip Hucheson
Times Leader
My first love in the newspaper business has always been sports. My first newspaper writing began with Little League, Triple-A and Pony League baseball stories. Before out of high school the sports coverage extended into Caldwell County High football and basketball.
That love for sports writing was fueled by working in the sports department at the Kentucky Kernel, which was a five-day-a-week publication at the University of Kentucky. The last year and a half was as sports editor, and what an opportunity that was — and at the time I didn’t realize just how special those days would be.
It was a different era — when you had easy access to UK football and basketball programs.
UK football or basketball practices were routine stops most afternoons.
I covered John Ray’s debut as UK’s head football coach, and my senior year was one of a handful of writers and broadcasters invited to his home for a small Christmas party. I was just a student at UK, and everyone else there was already well-known — people like legendary broadcaster Cawood Ledford, and UK beat writers from the Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader, plus a few TV folks mixed in.
Can you imagine being able to wander into John Calipari’s office any afternoon to chat about an upcoming game, or rehash a recent game? That would be unheard of today, but in 1969 and 1970, I could go to Memorial Coliseum most any afternoon and ask Coach Adolph Rupp’s secretary if he was available. It might mean a 10 or 15 minute wait, but he’d always make time, even if it was just a 10-minute interview.
Truth be told, I was petrified of the man. He was already a coaching legend, and I had heard him belittle players in practice to the point that they’d almost try to crawl under the hardwood to escape his tongue-lashing. Mike Pratt, who was an All-American under Rupp (and now UK radio network’s color broadcaster) told me that during a game he could hear Rupp hollering at him, but the last thing he would ever do would be to let the coach know he heard him.
Those memories came flashing back this week when I read Jim Davidson’s column on this page about basketball great “Pistol Pete” Maravich, who was lighting up scoreboards for LSU during the same time I was writing about basketball at UK. One of the perks of being the sports editor at UK was that the school’s athletic department allowed me to take a road trip with the team each year — and mine as a junior was to accompany the Wildcats to play at LSU and Alabama.
In those days, most conference games were scheduled on Saturdays and Mondays, so it was a great break from classes and gave an inside view of how the players lived as they prepared for games.
And that trip in the winter of 1969 offered a chance to meet “Pistol Pete.”
LSU played in what was known as the “Cow Palace” on the campus at Baton Rouge, and Maravich and I sat on the bleachers before the game and talked basketball. He and UK’s Mike Casey had become friends while playing together in the U.S. Olympic Trials, so my friendship with Casey helped set up the interview with Maravich.
I don’t remember anything we talked about, but do recall that he was laid-back and engaging — not uttering the scripted remarks you hear from players these days. And the idea that a reporter could talk casually in the stands with one of the game’s greatest figures sure wouldn’t happen today.
One thing’s for sure — he was a joy to watch. He was one of the most gifted basketball players I’ve ever seen. He could shoot from anywhere — and often did. In a season chocked full of memories, few could compare with the final game against Georgia.
LSU had the lead and was holding the ball with time running out in the second overtime. Maravich was a one-man show against the Georgia defense, dribbling through the Georgia defenders. With three seconds left, he let fly a hook shot from the corner of half court and began walking toward the dressing room. You guessed it — the ball hit nothing but net. Georgia players congratulated him while the Georgia cheerleaders carried him off the floor. It’s a shame there was no TV or video of that night. Maravich later said that 45-foot hook shot became more legendary as the years went on.
When LSU played UK, Rupp made no secret of his strategy. He said they knew Pistol Pete would get his points, but their game plan was to keep other players from scoring. That worked — Maravich put up big numbers against the ’Cats, but Kentucky never lost to Maravich. In fact, the Wildcats went over 100 points in every game against Pistol Pete.
When he arrived in Memorial Coliseum to play UK his senior year, the place was jam-packed. UK students could not be denied admission at that time, which meant people were standing everywhere. There were estimates that the crowd was more than 1,000 more than the capacity. Pistol Pete lived up to expectations. He was unstoppable, finishing with 55 points. Rupp even tried to use All-American center Dan Issel to guard him, and we can still remember Maravich shooting a high-arching shot from the corner that hit the bottom of the net, just getting over Issel’s outstretched arm. UK did just what Rupp had wanted to do — Maravich got his points, but Kentucky won 109-96.
A month later in Baton Rouge, Maravich tallied 64 — which is still the most points anyone has scored against a UK team. But the ’Cats won that one, 121-105.
As Jim Davidson notes in his column, Maravich had all the glory one could want in this world. Thankfully he found that peace that passes all understanding. Davidson’s column is sure worth reading, and the story there provides me my best memory of Pistol Pete.
