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He also played in his first All-Star Game that season and earned the first of 10 consecutive selections to the All-NBA First Team.īob Pettit was the NBA's first MVP and a standout performer for the Hawks.ĭespite Pettit’s Rookie of the Year performance, Milwaukee finished in last place in the Western Division with a 26-46 record. Being in superb physical condition, he was more than a match for the rigors of the NBA, and he proved it in his first season by winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award by averaging 20.4 points and 13.8 rebounds. Although he seemed thin at 200 pounds, Pettit was by no means frail. He had more than his share of doubters, who wondered if the slender 6-9 youngster had the strength and endurance that was required for survival in the NBA. Pettit was selected in the first round of the 1954 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Hawks. By the time he reached his senior year at LSU, he had added five inches to his height. His willingness to work hard to score points and collect rebounds earned him All-America honors twice, and he averaged 27.4 points during his college career. “But at the time, winning the state title meant so much.”Īfter Pettit’s outstanding high school performance, he was rewarded with a scholarship to Louisiana State University.
“You can’t really compare the games,” Pettit told the St. The other was Game 6 of the 1958 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, a game in which he poured in 50 points. He later said that the state title game was one of two contests that he could still remember clearly. One year later, in 1950, he led Baton Rouge High School to its first state championship in more than two decades. When he tried out for the high school team as a junior, Pettit was already 6-foot-4, and he finally made the squad. But with encouragement from his father, a county sheriff, the younger Pettit worked endlessly to improve his game, firing countless shots at the basket set up in his backyard.īob Pettit was first to reach the 20,000-point mark en route to an MVP award, the 1958 NBA title and four All-Star MVPs during his 11-year career. His basketball career had gotten off to a discouraging start after he was cut from the Baton Rouge (Louisiana) High School team, first as a freshman and then as a sophomore.
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learned about second effort long before he reached the professional ranks. He was always battling for position, fighting you off the boards.”īorn in 1932, Robert E. He kept coming at you more than any man in the game. He never finished below seventh in the NBA scoring race, and he left the sport with two MVP awards and an NBA championship ring.Īfter Pettit’s playing days had ended, rival Bill Russell offered this tribute: “Bob made ‘second effort’ a part of the sports vocabulary. The greatest forward of his era, Pettit was an All-Star in each of his 11 seasons, an All-NBA First Team selection 10 times, and an All-NBA Second Team pick once. Louis Hawks, he retired having become the first player in the league to top 20,000 points.
After 11 years with the Milwaukee and St. The scouts, however, failed to factor in Pettit’s willingness to work harder than anyone else on the court in order to succeed.Īnd succeed he did. Although he had been a prolific scorer at Louisiana State University, the tall, thin forward was deemed too slight at 200 pounds to survive the pounding of an NBA season. When Bob Pettit came out of college in 1954, no one thought he was talented enough to make it as a professional basketball player.
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> Archive 75: Bob Pettit | 75 Stories: Bob Pettit Bob Pettit was the first player to score 20,000 points and never finished below seventh in the NBA scoring race.
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