BATON ROUGE – It seemed like many times Bob Pettit wasn’t necessarily comfortable with the notoriety of being Bob Pettit.
For generations of basketball fans, from Baton Rouge to St. Louis, he was a legit Naismith Hall of Famer. A self-made two-time All-American who led LSU to the 1953 Final Four. One of the 50 greatest NBA players in history with the St. Louis Hawks, twice league MVP, two-time scoring champion, a 10-time All-NBA first-team honoree, an 11-time All-Star and four-time All-Star game MVP, an NBA champion in 1958 when he became the first player to score 50 points in championship series game and retired in 1965 as the league’s all-time leading scorer.
Pettit, who died Wednesday at the age of 93, was all that and more. But he only carried himself that way on the court, heeding the advice given to him when he was a college sophomore by teammate Joe Dean Sr.
“When you walk out on that court, you’ve got to think you’re the greatest thing out there,” Dean told Pettit. “You have to believe you are the greatest. There’s nobody as good as you are. You understand?”
Dean’s advice stuck with Pettit for the rest of his basketball career. It started with two seasons at Baton Rouge High through 1950, then four seasons at LSU through 1954 and 11 NBA years with the Hawks.
“I’d wake up every morning, shave, look in the mirror,” Pettit recalled, “and say `You are the greatest, nobody can stop you.”
The basketball court was virtually the only place that Pettit exuded the ego and the quiet swagger necessary to become an NBA legend, starting when he was named the league’s Rookie of the Year.
Pettit certainly enjoyed reaching his goals, but he preferred to focus on the journey than the destination. He never got enamored with his accomplishments because he truly took it one season at a time.
That’s not a cliché. It was Pettit’s thought process, honed from years of youthful failure waiting for a growth spurt while attending Baton Rouge High.
As a ninth-grade football player, he lasted one day when a running back ran for a 65-yard TD through a hole he was supposed to be defending.
As a ninth-grade basketball player, he played in just three games and scored zero points.
As a ninth-grade baseball player, he was the first player cut from the team.
At 5-10, 118 pounds, he also tried out for track and field.
“My teammates thought I was a javelin,” Pettit always said jokingly. “They picked me up and threw me 180 feet.”
As 10th grader, he was cut from the basketball team and played in a church league.
“At that point, all l wanted to do was earn a varsity letter,” Pettit said.
Thanks to Pettit’s dad, who erected a backyard basketball goal, young Bob practiced day and night. It was always about mastering the fundamentals, proper shooting technique with both hands, boxing out on rebounds, not trying anything outside of his skill set.
It was an approach that served him well until the day he retired.
His dogged improvement, paired with a growth spurt, made Pettit a 6–7 star center who led his BRHS team to the state championship in 1950.
Only a handful of colleges recruited him. It took just a steak dinner at Baton Rouge’s upscale restaurant Bob and Jake’s with LSU head coach Harry Rabenhorst for Pettit to sign with the Tigers.
After playing on the freshman team for head coach John Chaney – “He taught me more about playing basketball than any coach I ever had,” Pettit once said – Pettit eventually averaged 27.4 points and 14.4 rebounds (both LSU career records), including 31.4 points and 17.3 rebounds as a senior in 1953-54.
He was the second overall pick in the NBA Draft and wrangled an $11,000 a year salary by agreeing to report to the Hawks a month early to help sell season tickets.
He was immediately moved from center to forward, having to learn to play facing the basket offensively.
And after his first season, Pettit realized his 210-pound frame needed added muscle to survive and thrive in a league where the games often had as many fights as hockey. So, he turned to Baton Rouge weight trainer Alvin Roy for an off-season lifting regime alongside LSU football team members at Roy’s health club near the Tigers’ campus.
“With all the pushing and shoving under that backboard, I’ll need to be stronger,” Pettit said. “So I went to see Alvin Roy and said ‘Alvin, I need to get stronger, can you help me?’ He said, ‘Man, I’m the man. I can help you. I’ll never make you to where your muscles will hurt or hinder you.’”
Pettit eventually put on 30 pounds of muscle through the years and became almost impossible to defend because of his sure mid-range jumpers and strong drives to the hoop.
While he constantly added elements to his game, such as improving his free throw shooting or his outside shooting stroke, Pettit usually stayed true to what he did best.
“I was very aware of my abilities,” Pettit said. “I was very aware of my limitations. Scoring off offensive rebounds accounted for 8 to 10 of my points as well as 8 to 10 free throws. I’d be off and running when my jump shots fell.”
His opponents, such as fellow Naismith Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, marveled over Pettit’s year-to-year consistency that led to his career averages of 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds, the best pro stats of any former LSU star in history.
“Pettit knew what he could do and what he couldn’t do,” Robertson said. “And what he could do, he did expertly.”
A series of injuries in the 1964-65 season led to Pettit’s retirement as he transitioned to the banking industry. But the move was something he had prepared for in off-seasons.
He was named to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1970, to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 and had his LSU statue unveiled in February 2016 (62 years after LSU retired his jersey upon graduation).
A humbled Pettit was pleased with the statue and the enormity of the honor.
“I asked him (the sculptor) to give me hair and muscles, and he has done that,” Pettit said with a smile at the ceremony. “I never dreamed this. I’ve had quite a few honors over the years, but nothing compares to this.”
Through the decades, Pettit maintained courtside season tickets to LSU home games and attended when his schedule and health permitted. Also, he made annual donations to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Until the very end, he believed in his home state and his home state returned his love.
We have lost an athletic legend and an even better gentleman. Godspeed, Mr. Pettit.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com