Nba Hall Of Famer Bob Pettit Dies At 93

Bob Pettit, one of the NBA’s earliest stars and once the league’s all-time leading scorer, has died, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced Thursday. He was 93 years old.

No cause of death was provided for Pettit.

Pettit played 11 seasons for the Milwaukee and St. Louis Hawks, who have since moved to Atlanta. He entered the league in its ninth season as a second overall pick out of LSU and quickly introduced a new dimension as a 6-foot-9 forward who had both the muscle to battle in the paint and a shooting touch from the perimeter.

He was an immediate success for the Hawks in their last year in Milwaukee before their move to St. Louis, earning Rookie of the Year and All-NBA first-team honors. He would go on to earn All-Star and All-NBA honors in every season of his career, as well as the NBA’s first MVP award in 1955-56 and another in 1958-59.

It was the 1957-58 season where Pettit cemented himself as an all-time talent. He played in the NBA era known for one thing, the dominance of Boston Celtics.From 1957 to 1966, the combination of Bill Russell in the paint and Red Auerbach on the sideline won Boston championship in every season.

With one exception.

Pettit led the Hawks to a six-game win over the mighty Celtics for the franchise’s first championship in 1958, recording 50 points and 19 rebounds in a 110-109 series-clinching win in Game 6. Those 50 points were a record for the most to close out the Finals until Giannis Antetokounmpo posted the same total to finish off 2021.

The result certainly left an impression on Russell, who spent the rest of his life praising his former foe:

“Bob Pettit worked harder than almost any player I’ve ever seen,” Russell say, reflecting on his friend and adversary. “That series was no exception – he scored 50 points in Game 6 of that Finals. His name was synonymous with second effort.”

Stuffing the stat sheet in nearly every game, Pettit became the first player in NBA history to reach 20,000 career points. He was an obvious choice for the NBA 25th Anniversary Team in 1971, and then the 35th Anniversary Team, and then the 50th Anniversary Team, and then the 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.

Only Pettit, Russell, Bob Cousy and George Mikan made all four teams.

Pettit’s retirement in 1965 was hardly a surprise. Per The Athletic, he notified the Hawks owner he intended to retire two years earlier after being offered a role as assistant vice president at American Bank in Louisiana. He spent the next four decades in the financial industry before his next retirement.