Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich » (Reprint)

Mark Kriegel, a former sports columnist for the "New York Daily News, " is the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller "Namath: A Biography." He lives in Santa Monica, California, with his daughter, Holiday.

Pistol is more than the biography of a ballplayer. It's the stuff of classic novels: the story of a boy transformed by his father's dream—-and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete—-a basketball icon for baby boomers—-all the Maraviches paid a price. Now acclaimed author Mark Kriegel has brilliantly captured the saga of an American family: its rise, its apparent ruin, and, finally, its redemption.

Publishers Weekly

As he did for another larger-than-life sports star whose achievements in his game were always shadowed by his demons outside of it, Kriegel (Namath) offers a rounded, insightful look at one of basketball's enigmatic icons. Kriegel presents Pete Maravich (1947 1988) as a "child prodigy, prodigal son, his father's ransom in a Faustian bargain." His father, Press Maravich, was the poor son of Serbian immigrants to Pennsylvania, a man obsessed with basketball as a means of personal and financial redemption. His rise as a coach loomed over Pete, who described himself as a boy as "a basketball android." A veteran sportswriter, Kriegel is more than up to the task of eliciting Pete's on-court greatness and describing basketball action in a fluid, dramatic fashion (Pete's deadeye shot earned him the nickname "Pistol"). But the book is more notable for how Kriegel evokes Press's support turning into suffocation, and the effect of the impossible expectations on Pete (he played for Louisiana State, then later for the New Orleans Jazz). In the end, Kriegel's portrait is a sad celebration of a gifted player whose collegiate legend never quite blossomed into professional greatness as he battled alcoholism, sought solace in religion and left a troubled legacy that's still felt by his children and those who knew him. (Feb.)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Prologue     1
Special Opportunity     5
Mr. Basketball     15
Pro Ball     29
The Cult of Press     41
Country Gentlemen     53
The Basketball Gene     63
The Devil in Ronnie Montini     71
"Pistol Pete"     77
Changing the Game     87
The Deep End     103
King of the Cow Palace     119
Showtime     129
One of Us     153
Marked Man     167
The Blackhawks     179
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Pete     193
Take Me     211
Smothered     229
All That Jazz     237
The Loser     259
Take Me, Part 2     273
Amazing Grace     293
Patrimony     299
Pete Maravich: The Numbers     325
Notes     337
Acknowledgments     373
Index     379