Bob Pettit

Robert E. Lee Pettit Jr. (born December 12, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player.

Robert E. Lee Pettit Jr. was born on December 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Pettit's basketball career had humble beginnings, as at Baton Rouge High School, he was cut from the varsity basketball team as both a freshman and sophomore.

He played church league basketball as a sophomore and grew five inches in less than a year.

His father, sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish (1932–1936), pushed him to practice in the backyard of the Kemmerly house until he improved his skills.

It worked: Pettit became a starter and made the All-City prep team as a junior.

As a 6-7 senior, he led Baton Rouge High to its first state championship in over 20 years.

Pettit was then selected to play in a North–South all-star game at Murray, Kentucky.

After high school, Pettit had scholarship offers from 14 universities and accepted a scholarship to play at nearby Louisiana State University (LSU).

He was a three-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and a two-time All-American as a member of the LSU men's basketball team.

(Freshmen were not allowed to play varsity basketball in those days.) During those three years, Pettit averaged 27.8 points per game.

He was also a member of the Zeta Zeta Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon at LSU.

A clean sweep of SEC Conference opponents became LSU's second SEC Title (their first came in 1935) and the school's first NCAA Final Four.

Pettit made his varsity debut at LSU in 1952.

He led the SEC in scoring for his first of three consecutive seasons, averaging 25.5 points per game.

He ranked third in the nation in scoring and also averaged 13.1 rebounds per game, helping his team to a 17-7 win–loss record for a second-place finish in the league, and was selected to the All-SEC team.

During his junior year, Pettit helped the Tigers sail through a 23-game regular-season schedule with only one loss (to Tulsa).

He averaged 24.9 points and 13.9 rebounds per game for the 1953 season.

He was honored with selections to both the All-SEC and All-American teams.

Pettit averaged 31.4 points and 17.3 rebounds per game during his senior year and once again led LSU to an SEC Championship and garnered All-SEC and All-American honors.

He set a then-SEC scoring record of 60 points against Louisiana College in his second game, and also the SEC record for scoring average, with both records being broken by Pete Maravich.

Pettit also was the second player in major-college basketball history to average more than 30 points a game.

He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954–1965).

In 1954, his number 50 was retired at LSU.

He was the first Tiger athlete in any sport to receive this distinction.

In 1954, the Milwaukee Hawks selected Pettit second in the first round of the NBA draft after the Baltimore Bullets' selection of Frank Selvy.

With $100 in the bank, he signed a contract with Hawks owner Ben Kerner for $11,000 – an all-time high for an NBA rookie then.

Pettit's awkward ballhandling and a lack of strength to battle NBA bruisers weighing 200 pounds that early in his career, had Hawks coach Red Holzman move him from center, his position at LSU, to forward in his first training camp.

In 1956, he became the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award and he won the award again in 1959.

He also won the NBA All-Star Game MVP award four times.

As of the end of 2022-2023 regular season, Pettit is still the only regular season MVP in the history of the Hawks.

Pettit is the leader for most career rebounds (12,849), and most rebounds per game with 16.2 in Hawks franchise history.

"In college I played the standing pivot", he said in an April 1957 SPORT magazine interview.

"My back was to the basket. In the pros, I'm always outside. Everything I do is facing the basket now. That was my chief difficulty in adjusting, the fact that I had never played forward before."

The first NBA player to score more than 20,000 points, Pettit was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970.

He is one of four players who was named to all four NBA anniversary teams and one of only two living members as of 2023 with Bob Cousy.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time.

In 1999, he was named Living Legend for LSU at the SEC Basketball Tournament.

He is a member of the LSU Hall of Fame.

Bob Pettit Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is named after him.