From the S&S archives:
When Pistol Pete Maravich is holding court, no one can steal the spotlight

MANNHEIM, Germany (S&S) — When Pistol Pete Maravich is on court, no one — not even Papa Press — steals the spotlight.

Pete delighted the youth-dominated audience at the Maravich baseketball clinic here, displaying a few of the many tricks in his bag. He didn't take a back seat in the talking department, though he insisted from the start that he was the demonstrator and his father the commentator.

With his folksy manner that appealed especially to the younger generation at the Benjamin Franklin Village Sports Arena here, Pete first wowed them with his shooting.

Then he awed them with his wide variety of passing skills, behind the back, behind the head, between his legs — the whole bit. For each new routine, he summoned a youngster from the gathering to assist him — that went over big.

Pete, who according to his dad was passing behind the back as an eighth-grade cage sensation, demonstrated with a right-on-the-money shot that travelled over half the length of the court.

Pete and his Dad have two more appearances on their European tour, during which Press estimates the pair has appeared before nearly 10,000. They are at Ramstein Saturday and Wiesbaden Sunday.

The Ramstein clinic will be in the South Gymnasium at 5 p.m. The final stop is at the Wiesbaden Air Base Gymnasium at 3 p.m., Sunday.

Pete insists he was really more expert at many of the drills in his repertoire at age nine, when he was practicing them daily. The reason he became so skilled hour upon hour of practice, every day.

Papa Press admits he was bent on making Pete a basketball player from the start. He said he realized early that if is son was ever going to make it to college, it would have to be through sports. He set out to make his son the very best basketball player there is.

"First I had to let him try out all the other sports, and one by one we eliminated them and settled on basketball," Press says with a sly smile.

"There were times that I'm sure he hated me (Pete nodded agreement). But I just made him practice," Press said. "I drove him, but at the same time trying to introduce little things to keep it interesting."

Pete picked up the nickname "Pistol Pete" when as a youngster he developed a shoot-from-the hip style because the ball was simply so big. Though the shooting style is long gone, the nickname stuck.

From it perhaps stems Pete's reputation of being a gunner, though last year in the NBA Pete averaged only 19 shots a game compared to 29 for Golden State ace Rick Barry, Press noted. That is one of the things that gets under the mild-mannered Press's skin.

Pete's record at Louisiana State University, playing for his Dad who was then head coach, is in the records. He scored 3590 career points, including 1304 in his final season, both major college records at that time.

Pete's play sparked LSU to the National Invitation Tournament and the best record LSU has ever had in recent times.

Did the father-son combination create any problems with the squad of LSU?

"No, absolutely not," said Press. "The boys on the squad all realized how talented Pete was. And don't forget Pete was our assist man," he said.

Then came the pros and the great bidding war between the Carolina Cougars of the ABA and Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. Pete picked Atlanta because, according to him, the Hawks backed up every part of their offer with solid guarantees. For an estimated $1.9 million over five years, Pete joined the NBA.

Through his four years with Atlanta, Pete averaged 24.3 points per game climaxed by his 27.7 record in 1973-74. In May of 1974 he was traded to the expansion New Orleans Jazz, a move about which he voices no regrets whatsoever.

With New Orleans, Pete's scoring dipped to just over 21 a game, but he points out he was instructed to shoot less, which he did. But his rebounding, assists and steals statistics jumped correspondingly, he points out.

"Really I'm quite satisfied with my performance overall last year. And I think the team will come along next year. Don't forget none of us had ever played together before last season," he said.

What about the future of pro basketball, will there be a merger?

"Yes, I definitely look for a merger, but not right away. One of the reasons is our player association which is one of the strongest organizations in existence.

Asked if player salaries haven't perhaps gotten a little out of tine, perhaps too high for the good of the game, Pete admitted this was possible.

However he notes a downward trend in that area, particularly for new players who are not being offered quite as much, nor are they able to command no-cut contracts with as much ease as in the past.

He also pointed the finger at the media for exaggerating player salaries, as much as tenfold he said.

Reviewing his own goals, Pete says he has achieved just about everything he has set out to achieve in pro basketball — except to play on a championship team. Once he accomplishes that, he hinted that he may just hang up the sneakers for good.

It's hard to imagine that Pete ever tires of basketball, but he frankly admitted he really did, now and then.

What does he do to get away from it all — dabble in a little karate and sack out at the beach. Right now he's really looking forward to a two-week respite at the beach when he and Papa Press get back from their clinic tour.