PISTOL PETE

It has been quite a while since I have thought about Pete Maravich - probably the last time was when I looked at my old basketball cards.



However, I was recently reminded of Maravich by an unlikely source - Bob Dylan.  KenBob loaned me his copy of Bob Dylan Chronicles - Volume One and on page 168, I read this:

"My aunt was in the kitchen and I sat down with her to talk and drink coffee.  The radio was playing and the morning news was on.  I was startled to hear that Pete Maravich, the basketball player, had collapsed on a court in Pasadena, just fell over and never got up.  I'd seen Maravich play in New Orleans once, when the Utah Jazz were the New Orleans Jazz.  He was something to see - mop of brown hair, floppy socks - the holy terror of the basketball world - high flyin' - magician of the court.  The night I saw him he dribbled the ball with his head, scored a behind the back, no look basket - dribbled the length of the court, threw the ball up off the glass and caught his own pass.  He was fantastic.  Scored something like thirty-eight points.  He could have played blind.  Pistol Pete hadn't played professionally for a while, and he was thought of as forgotten.  I hadn't forgotten him though, though.  Some people fade away but when the are truly gone, it's like they didn't fade away at all." 

Well said.  Dylan's book is a most interesting read, with insights and little-know information.  More than the hundreds of songs that he has written, the book confirms that Dylan is a genius.