Farewell to Bob Pettit: Reflecting on the Legacy of an Incredible NBA Legend

Bob Pettit, one of the great figures of the early years of the NBA and the first MVP winner in the history of the competition, has passed away at the age of 93. LSU, his university, announced on Thursday that Pettit died on Wednesday. The institution did not disclose the cause of death.

Pettit was a dominant figure during a time when the NBA was still building its identity and did not enjoy the enormous television exposure of later decades. The power forward played all 11 seasons of his NBA career with the Hawks and was an All-Star in each of them.

His greatest collective success came in 1958, when the St. Louis Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics to win the only championship in franchise history. Pettit appeared in four NBA Finals during his career, all against Boston, and in two of them, the Hawks were one victory away from the title after losing Game Seven.

The first MVP in history

Pettit was named Rookie of the Year in the 1954-55 season, the last of the Hawks in Milwaukee before their move to St. Louis. A year later, he made history by becoming the first MVP of the NBA.

In that season, he led the league in scoring with 25.7 points per game. He would win the MVP award again in 1959, when he finished as the NBA's top scorer with 29.2 points per game.

He was also named MVP of the All-Star Game on four occasions. This record has only been matched by Kobe Bryant.

His statistical dominance was even more remarkable given the context of the time. Pettit finished his career with averages of 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds per game. When he retired after the 1964-65 season, he was the all-time leading scorer in NBA history with 20,880 points and ranked second all-time in rebounds, with 12,849.

A power forward ahead of his time

Standing at 6'9" and weighing around 205 pounds, Pettit was a significant physical presence during a time when the power forward position was not yet fully defined.

In addition to playing as a power forward, he also played center and was notable for not limiting himself to playing with his back to the basket. His ability to face the basket allowed him to become one of the first great interior players capable of combining physical presence with offensive skills from different areas of the court.

The Hall of Fame highlighted this characteristic by describing him as a player with a lean physique, elegant and always in great shape, whose determination set him apart from his contemporaries.

Pettit spent his entire career in an NBA that also featured stars like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, and Elgin Baylor. However, his career coincided with a time when professional basketball still had limited television exposure, especially for players competing in smaller markets.

Four Finals against the Celtics

Pettit's career was closely related to the great dynasty of the Boston Celtics. The Hawks reached four Finals during his career, and they faced Bill Russell's team in all of them.

The first, in 1957, ended with a Boston loss in Game Seven after a match that required two overtimes. A year later came the rematch, and the Hawks claimed the 1958 championship, temporarily disrupting the Celtics' dominance.

Boston again prevailed in the 1960 Finals, once more after seven games, and in 1961, this time in five games.

Pettit thus finished just two victories shy of winning three NBA championships. His only ring came precisely against a Celtics team that dominated much of that era.

A legend of LSU

Before arriving in the NBA, Pettit had already built an extraordinary career at LSU. He was an All-American and led the SEC in scoring during all three of his college seasons: 25.5 points per game as a sophomore, 24.9 as a junior, and 31.4 as a senior.

He was one of the great sports icons of Louisiana and remains one of the three LSU players included in the Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside Pete Maravich and Shaquille O'Neal.

The university retired his number 50, and a statue of Pettit stands in front of the LSU arena next to O'Neal's.

The Hawks also retired his number 9. The franchise emphasized after his passing the importance of Pettit both for the organization and for the history of basketball.

Pettit was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970. After retiring from basketball, he returned to Baton Rouge, where he worked in banking and financial consulting while remaining connected to the sport. In his later years, he was a regular at LSU and New Orleans Pelicans games.

With his passing, one of the great pioneers of the NBA is gone. Pettit was the first MVP of the competition, a champion, a four-time All-Star MVP, an eleven-time All-Star, and a Hall of Fame member. His number 50 at LSU and the 9 retired by the Hawks remain as part of a legacy built during the early years of an NBA that was still far from becoming the global phenomenon it is today.

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