Pete Maravich Is Gone but Not Forgotten

A great one has left us much too soon. When I was a kid you drove down the court and threw up your wild magic shot and screamed, “Pistol Pete shoooooots.” And when the shot went in, you felt a part of him. You felt his joy. His glory. For one brief moment you were The Pistol and you were proud that you had invoked his name. So when you remember him don’t just remember the numbers he had in college, or the lack of them in the pros. Forget the drugs and bad times. Remember the joy he brought many kids. Kids with torn sneakers and dreams of basketball magic on asphalt courts that drove that court a little harder because of that skinny, strange, wonderful magician known as “Pistol.”

A “Pistol” fan forever.

MICHAEL A. NELSON

Woodland Hills