Customer Reviews

Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read tons of sports biographies and loved many of them, but this has got to be the best one I've ever read. I'm too young to remember Maravich's glory days, but I'm a big basketball fan, so I just picked this up randomly. It hooked me almost immediately. Maravich was an amazing player, way ahead of his time, but his life story is fascinating for much more than just the basketball. And Kriegel's writing is brilliant--very novelistic. You rarely if ever see writing this good in sports biographies.

I wasn't originally expecting much from this, but it blew me away. I can't recommend it enough.

Sports biographies are usually written by authors who care enough about the athlete to avoid the hard facts and lean toward the fiction. In 2005, a book entitled "Namath" was released. The author was Mark Kriegel. A few chapters in, I realized that this book was different from most sports biographies. This writer could tell a great story while using the truth and avoiding the fiction. "Namath" was both informative and entertaining.
Recently, Kriegel's newest biography "Pistol" was released. This time he takes us through a lifetime of basketball and the Maravich family. Setting fiction aside, he exposes the personal struggles and success that was once Pete Maravich. This is one of the best sports biographies that I have ever read. As good as "Namath" was, this one's better.

I noticed the Washington Post's reviewer referred to certain passages in Mark Kriegel's PISTOL as "infelicitous." I'm no expert in these matters, but it seems to me that the use of such a term in regard to a sports biography is not only pretentious but--well, downright infelicitous.

Not being a basketball fan, I initially resonated with PISTOL because much of the action unfolds in my old stomping grounds, the Beaver Valley, just north of Pittsburgh. Kriegel captures a time and place that has faded into the mists of history. And he captures it vividly: As I read the section on the steel mills of Aliquippa I swear I could taste the acrid soot in the back of my throat.

And I soon found the book dealt with a much broader subject than the title implied. The setting of PISTOL may be a basketball court, but the story evokes images from the great myths. Daedalus and Icarus; Laius and Oedipus; the ghost and Hamlet: All speak of the power fathers exert over sons, for good or ill. And Kriegel has captured that essence in this outstanding biography. If you don't shed a few tears as you read this bittersweet story, you surely are made of stone.

PISTOL transcends its genre, and in so doing marks Kriegel as one of the great chroniclers of American culture in the twentieth century.

As for the reviewer from the Washington Post, I would advise him to get used to Kriegel's "infelicitous" phraseology. It's called style, Mr. Reviewer, and Kriegle has it in abundance. Let's hope he brings us many more stories of fascinating, flawed Americans.

After reading the excerpt is Sports Illustrated I knew I had to have "Pistol." It's riveting and compelling, I couldn't put it down. Kriegel's "NAMATH" was good but this book is GREAT! When you are reading you forget these people are no longer with us. No other book has talked about Press and Pete. Press alone is worth the read. What an amazing story! As I read the book, I can see Pete on the court,like it was yesterday. EVERYBODY WANTED TO BE PETE. Kriegel writes a well crafted story, as if you are there with him. An AMAZING book.

Whether you are a basketball fan or not this biography of Pete Maravich will provide you with lessons to be learned. People search for happiness in all the wrong places such as alcohol, fame, or even in their chosen profession. Pete Maravich's stage was a basketball floor, but during his heyday as a college star at LSU and being coached by his father happiness eluded him. His introduction to the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks and later with the New Orleans/Utah Jazz, and finally the Boston Celtics brought him more heartache than pleasure. It wasn't until his playing days were over and by simple faith accepted Jesus Christ as his savior that the load he had been carrying was finally removed. He found happiness in the simple things in life by being devoted to his two sons and telling others what Christ had done for him. The loss of his father was a difficult blow to him, but he took comfort in knowing that he, too, had accepted the Lord into his life. Biographies of people can teach us a lot, not the least of which is that others, who we often think of as living famous and glamorous lives, are often saddled with problems we can be thankful we don't have. While anyone who enjoys biographies would enjoy this book I think it would be especially appreciated by high school students who love basketball.

"Pistol" is as much a story about Press Maravich (Pete's dad) as it is of Pete himself - the two really were one, contained in two bodies. Press was a professional basketball player in the early days of the game; more significantly, he was also an outstanding coach with very impressive accomplishments of his own. His coaching assistance (eg. developing drills for the young Pete), combined with Pete's native talents and seemingly never-ending practice, resulted in a basketball star that shone for years at all levels of the game.

Press was lured to the head coach position at LSU in a package deal (bring Pete also) that was an effort to build a program there; Pete didn't want to go, but his father's insistence convinced him otherwise.

The plan worked - in Pete's freshman year the frosh team outdrew the varsity, and eventually his varsity years led to the building of a much larger basketball arena. On the bad side, however, most experts also concluded that during those years Press went from being a great coach to being coach of a great player, allowing and encouraging his son's show-boating and ball-hogging. The really bad news was that during the time his mother became an alcoholic, and was largely ignored in the hoopla over Pete.

Pete's college career also included bouts of heavy drinking and partying, and episodic injury problems. He left without graduating - 29 hours short, off to pursue a professional career that began with a million dollar-plus contract to play for the Atlanta Hawks. Pete's first professional years did not go well - established members of the team believed Pete received favoritism because of his celebrity status, then his playing style did not sit well with the team's new head coach (a problem that would follow Pete throughout his professional career). As a result, Pete was traded to the new expansion team - New Orleans Jazz.

More sorrow follows - Pete's mother kills herself, Press is fired from LSU and eventually quits his new job, only to die shortly thereafter from prostate cancer. Pete goes on to marry his LSU sweetheart, father two sons, and establish himself as one of professional basketball's 50 greatest stars. Injuries and drinking, however, lead to Pete's deciding to quit, and he became somewhat of a recluse and an intense devotee to Christianity. Fittingly, Pete died on the basketball court at age 40 playing in an exhibition benefit game with Dr. Dobson and others. The cause was a rare and undiagnosed heart defect - doctors wondered how he had played so hard for so long.

Pete's sons had little initial awareness of the Pistol Pete legacy; subsequent learning of it (largely from others) inspired them to pursue careers of their own, though neither attained professional status. Many others who did, however, report Pistol Pete as being their major source of inspiration.

i was a big admirer of mark kriegel's previous book on joe namath, so i was looking forward to his book on pistol pete. i was not disappointed. like david maraniss, richard ben cramer, and other authors of that caliber, kriegel has proven himself a master at writing the definitive biographies of american sports icons. if you're interested in the history of race in sports, or if you're fascinated by the kind of upbringing and personality makeup that makes and breaks a superstar, you should read pistol.

As a basketball fan old enough to watch Pete play in college I looked forward to this book which far exceeded expectations. I read Kriegel's book on Namath and found it a little too detailed and slow to read. This book reads much quicker and provided many facts of which I was unaware. For example, I had no idea that his Father Press was a very successful coach @ NC State nor that he was an excellent player in his own right.

But how does this "team oriented" coach allow his son to be such a "one-man" team? Watching Pete @ LSU was pure joy. Can you imagine a player today launching 40 foot set shots? Well, Pete did and made his share also. His passing ability was second to none.

Unfortunately my frame of reference ended with his college career. Playing in the pros for weak teams meant he was never televised nationally so I did not follow his initial tough beginning followed by his eventual rise. Kriegel fills in all the holes.

In summary, this is an exceptional biography that would interest anyone interested in sports in the 60s including the evolution of racial participation, basketball in general, the NBA, or just a human interest story of someone who led a unique life, turned it around to only then die tragically early. The ultimate biography which I strongly recommend.

Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich is really a book about the Maravich family. The first quarter of the book is about Pete's father, Press. And, Press clearly dominates the first third of the book. Pete's sons are the subjects of the last 20 pages. In between, author Mark Kriegel gives readers a fascinating look at perhaps the greatest college basketball player ever. It is a sad and painful story.

I was a Pete Maravich fan when he was in college, but he fell off my radar screen once he began playing in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks. I couldn't have explained why. But, after reading this book, I understand why. Injuries, playing for a poor team in the South that lacked television exposure, and then being shipped to an expansion team (New Orleans Jazz) took a lot of fire power away from The Pistol.

The NBA in the 70's and 80's was far different than what it is today. Maravich was the original Showtime, but his teammates and the NBA establishment were jealous of him. Too bad, he couldn't have played in today's NBA. Sadly, he never won a championship.

This is an excellent biography that goes beyond newspaper clippings to explain why a troubled star was the way he was.

I was drawn to the book by an ad in the New Yorker, and I ordered it on sight. I do like biographies; however, I don't gravitate to sports bios that often, not since I grew up. I do remember Pistol Pete, however, and I recalled the floppy socks, the great ball handling, and playing for LSU, at first, and later the Hawks and the Jazz.

What is compelling about this book is that the author goes to great lengths to be forthright, true, and quantified. You never, for a moment, think that anything is not true. He doesn't pander to your emotions, nor does he go for extremism. Pete's life was troubled at best,and the author tells us this, shows us this, and let's us determine how both wonderful and tragic Pete's life was.

Tragic, for Pete's life is filled with hubris that he will not and cannot escape. This is no novel, and any basketball fan knows how this story ends, but one cannot help but get caught up in the Maravichs' lives, particularly Pete, his rowdy trouble making brother, his alcoholic mother, and his success in basketball intensity father. What also comes through is what a fledgling sport NBA basketball was before Magic, Byrd and Jordan. The idea that Pete was the first million dollar pro basketball player, the idea that he was the founding cement for the expansion team of the Atlanta Hawks, and the idea that he was a transitional white player, in the sense of time not of play, before it become a game dominated by African Americans are all key to Kriegel thesis.

The reader is left sad and nostalgic for another time. If you recall basketball before it had its own networks, and you recall college basketball's crowning event as the NIT, and not the NCAA, tournament then you'll love this book.

I do believe Kriegel's aufience is limited to those of us that recall Maravich busting open a press, shooting 70% percent of his shots beyond the three point line, before there was a three point line, and when basketball was still a game of strategy, finese, speed, and handling the ball. It is now a game of power, strength, inside game, and stamina. One reads with he question, "Would Pete have been as good today if he played?" After reading the book, the reader is convinced that Pete was destined to be the best on the court whenever and wherever he played.

Finally, Kriegel wrote a biographer on Joe Namath, and I plan toread that it the next month.