Pete Maravich

Pete Maravich (June 22, 1947 - January 5, 1988), known in the basketball world as "Pistol Pete", was a legendary player who starred in college and for three NBA teams.

Born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and of Serbian descent, Pete had seemed to marvel his family and friends with his basketball ability since he was young. His father Press Maravich, former player turned coach, showed Pete the fundamentals starting at age 7. Pete would spend hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long range shots. He decided on the guard position, the only position he would ever play.

He attended three high schools as a teen: Daniel High School in Clemson, South Carolina, Needham Broughton in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Edward Military Institute in Salemburg, North Carolina. During his years at those schools, he wowed college scouts with his ability to play his favorite sport. And so, in 1966, Pete decided to attend Louisiana State University, where his father was head basketball coach. This is where he, along with his trademark floppy gray socks, became legendary.

He scored a record 3,667 points for his career at LSU, which lasted from 1967-1970, and averaged 44.2 points per game for his career, also a record. His records are even more remarkable for two reasons: First, in Maravich's time, freshmen were ineligible for varsity sports - meaning that he only had three years to compile his career point totals instead of the four years today's college players have. Second, he played more than 15 years before the NCAA instituted the three-point field goal. Many of his outside shots would be three-pointers today.

Maravich was named The Sporting News' player of the year in 1970. He scored a personal record of 69 points versus Alabama during a game that year, and garnered numerous other awards and college records. He graduated from LSU in 1970, but the respect he garnered among many of Louisiana's basketball fans would bring him back to that state soon.

In November of 1970, Maravich started his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks. After four years there, he was back in Louisiana upon being traded to the New Orleans Jazz. Many say that he had his best years in the NBA as a player while in New Orleans. In the 1979-80 season the Jazz became the Utah Jazz, and Maravich was soon traded to the Boston Celtics, where he played for one season alongside Larry Bird before retiring.

In 1982 Pete Maravich found religion and became a motivational speaker, incorporating Christian faith into his message. He enjoyed the life of a retired basketball player.

Maravich was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. He was, and still is, the youngest player to be inducted.

On January 5, 1988, while playing a pickup basketball game with a group that included Focus on the Family head James Dobson (Maravich was scheduled to appear on Dobson's radio show later that day), he collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of only 40. An autopsy revealed that his death was due to a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect; he had been born with only one coronary artery instead of the normal two. After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially naming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Maravich was a 24.4 points per game scorer in his NBA career, scoring 15,948 points in 688 games. He scored 68 points in one game versus the New York Knicks and shares the record for most free throws made in a quarter with 14. He was a 5-time All-Star, and led the league in points in 1977 when he scored 31.1 points a game. In 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest NBA players in history by a panel made up of NBA historians, former players and coaches. His widow and their two sons accepted the honor in his place.

In 1991, a biographical movie about him, Pistol Pete, was produced in Hollywood.

Pistol Pete also came out with Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball video series. The series contains four different videos, one on passing, ball-handling, shooting, and dribbling. The videos are meant for people of all ages who want to learn the great skills and drills that made him one of the best basketball players of all time.


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The videos are meant for people of all ages who want to learn the great skills and drills that made him one of the best basketball players of all time. This day is chosen probably because it is one day before the Saint Anthony's day, there known as the marriage saint, when many single women perform popular rituals in order to find a good husband (or, more modernly at least a boyfriend). The series contains four different videos, one on passing, ball-handling, shooting, and dribbling. On this day, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, exchange gifts (lingerie, chocolates, and more), cards and usually a flower bouquet. Pistol Pete also came out with Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball video series. "Day of the enamored", or "Boyfriend's/Girlfriend's Day") is celebrated. In 1991, a biographical movie about him, Pistol Pete, was produced in Hollywood. Instead, on June 12, "Dia dos Namorados" (lit.

His widow and their two sons accepted the honor in his place. In Brazil, there is no such day as Valentine's Day. In 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest NBA players in history by a panel made up of NBA historians, former players and coaches. In Persian Culture (Iran) this popular date is discreetly celebrated by most lovers despite the disapproval of such occasion by the hardline Islamic government as a copycat of the west, but Persian youths and adults manage to celebrate following the traditions of the west disregarding the limitations and restrictions imposed by the government. He was a 5-time All-Star, and led the league in points in 1977 when he scored 31.1 points a game. (A slightly different version of this day is celebrated in Japan as Tanabata, on July 7th (the same day, but transcribed to the solar calendar)). He scored 68 points in one game versus the New York Knicks and shares the record for most free throws made in a quarter with 14. It is called "The Night of Sevens", on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar; the last one being August 11, 2005 [2].

Maravich was a 24.4 points per game scorer in his NBA career, scoring 15,948 points in 688 games. In Chinese Culture, there is a similar counterpart of the Valentine's Day. After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially naming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. In Korea, there is also an additional Black Day, held on April 14, when males who did not receive anything for Valentine's Day gather together to eat Jajangmyun (Chinese-style noodles in black sauce). An autopsy revealed that his death was due to a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect; he had been born with only one coronary artery instead of the normal two. However, more recently men have taken the name to a different meaning, thus lingerie is quite a common gift. On January 5, 1988, while playing a pickup basketball game with a group that included Focus on the Family head James Dobson (Maravich was scheduled to appear on Dobson's radio show later that day), he collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of only 40. Originally the return gift was supposed to be white chocolate or marshmallows (hence the name "White Day").

He was, and still is, the youngest player to be inducted. Many men, however, give only to their girlfriends. Maravich was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. On this day (March 14), men are supposed to return the favour by giving something to those who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day. He enjoyed the life of a retired basketball player. By a further marketing effort, a reciprocal day, called White Day has emerged. In 1982 Pete Maravich found religion and became a motivational speaker, incorporating Christian faith into his message. This chocolate is known as giri-choco (義理チョコ), in Japan, from the words giri (obligation) and choco, a common short version of chokorēto (チョコレート), meaning chocolate.

In the 1979-80 season the Jazz became the Utah Jazz, and Maravich was soon traded to the Boston Celtics, where he played for one season alongside Larry Bird before retiring. Rather than being voluntary however, this has become for many women – especially those who work in offices – an obligation, and they give chocolates to all their male co-workers, sometimes at significant personal expense. Many say that he had his best years in the NBA as a player while in New Orleans. In Japan and Korea, Valentine's Day has emerged, thanks to a concentrated marketing effort, as a day on which women give candy to men they like. After four years there, he was back in Louisiana upon being traded to the New Orleans Jazz. Valentine. In November of 1970, Maravich started his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks. Nickelodeon was widely criticized for attempting to evade the Christian connotations concerning the Catholic St.

He graduated from LSU in 1970, but the respect he garnered among many of Louisiana's basketball fans would bring him back to that state soon. Valentine's Day special, yet was referring to the holiday as "Love Day". He scored a personal record of 69 points versus Alabama during a game that year, and garnered numerous other awards and college records. Controversy was brought forth on 11 February 2003 when Nickelodeon aired an episode of Blue's Clues that was an obvious St. Maravich was named The Sporting News' player of the year in 1970. Those without a significant other often speak with sarcasm by referring to Valentine's Day as "Singles' Awareness Day". Many of his outside shots would be three-pointers today. The day has come to be associated with a generic platonic greeting of "Happy Valentine's Day.".

Second, he played more than 15 years before the NCAA instituted the three-point field goal. In 1929 due to tensions between gangs in Chicago, members of a gang led by Al Capone killed several members of Bugs Moran's gang in what became known as the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. His records are even more remarkable for two reasons: First, in Maravich's time, freshmen were ineligible for varsity sports - meaning that he only had three years to compile his career point totals instead of the four years today's college players have. Starting in the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving fine jewelry. He scored a record 3,667 points for his career at LSU, which lasted from 1967-1970, and averaged 44.2 points per game for his career, also a record. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates. This is where he, along with his trademark floppy gray socks, became legendary. In the United States in the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to include the giving of all manner of gifts, usually from a man to a woman.

And so, in 1966, Pete decided to attend Louisiana State University, where his father was head basketball coach. (Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary".). During his years at those schools, he wowed college scouts with his ability to play his favorite sport. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, and she took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received. He attended three high schools as a teen: Daniel High School in Clemson, South Carolina, Needham Broughton in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Edward Military Institute in Salemburg, North Carolina. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828 – 1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. He decided on the guard position, the only position he would ever play. Valentine's Day was probably imported into North America in the 19th century with settlers from Britain.

Pete would spend hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long range shots. In most versions of these legends, February 14 is the date associated with his martyrdom. His father Press Maravich, former player turned coach, showed Pete the fundamentals starting at age 7. Among the legends are ones that assert that:. Born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and of Serbian descent, Pete had seemed to marvel his family and friends with his basketball ability since he was young. Valentine were invented during this period. Pete Maravich (June 22, 1947 - January 5, 1988), known in the basketball world as "Pistol Pete", was a legendary player who starred in college and for three NBA teams. It is probable that many of the legends about St.

A 14th century valentine is said to be in the collection of the British Library.
It was common during that era for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other their "Valentines". This belief is mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement of Foules (1381). Valentine's Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where February 14 was traditionally the day on which birds paired off to mate.

The first recorded association of St. Hoeller assesses Valentinius on the subject : "In addition to baptism, anointing, eucharist, the initiation of priests and the rites of the dying, the Valentinian Gnosis mentions prominently two great and mysterious sacraments called "redemption" (apolytrosis) and "bridal chamber" respectively" [1]. Stephan A. In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, an emphasis sharply in contrast with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity.

The influential Gnostic teacher Valentinius was a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143. Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar. In 1969, as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days of purely legendary origin, the Church removed St. Valentine were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, which has become a popular place of pilgrimage on February 14.

In the 19th century, relics of St. There is a widespread legend that he created the day to counter the practice held on Lupercalia of young men and women pairing off as lovers by drawing their names out of an urn, but this practice is not attested in any sources from that era. Valentine was first declared to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I in 496. The feast of St.

Valentine and romantic love is not mentioned in any early histories and is regarded by secular historians as purely a matter of legend (see below). The connection between St. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), at least three different Saints Valentine, all of them martyrs and all quite obscure, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of February 14:. Young women especially would come forth voluntarily for the occasion, in the belief that being so touched would render them fruitful and bring easy childbirth.

As part of the purification ritual, the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to the god, and after drinking wine, they would run through the streets of Rome holding pieces of the goat skin above their heads, touching anyone they met. In Ancient Rome, the day of February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented as half-naked and dressed in goat skins. In the calendar of Ancient Athens, the period between mid January and mid February was the month of Gamelion, which was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera. The association of the middle of February with love and fertility dates to ancient times.

. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines. The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards.

The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. The day's associations with romantic love arrived after the High Middle Ages, during which the concept of romantic love was formulated. The history of Valentine's day can be traced back to a Catholic Church feast day, in honor of Saint Valentine. Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, commonly by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous.

St. Valentine secretly helped arrange marriages. During a ban on marriages of Roman soldiers by the Emperor Claudius II, St. Valentine was to be martyred for being a Christian, he passed a love note to his jailer's daughter which read, "From Your Valentine.".

On the evening before St. a martyr in North Africa, about whom little else is known. a bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) also suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than the priest. a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was buried on the Via Flaminia.