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Title: “Forever Showtime--The Checkered Life of Pistol Pete Maravich”

Author: Phil Berger

Publisher: Taylor Publishing Co.

Price: $23.95

Phil Berger, onetime New York Times boxing writer, takes a well-crafted look at the tragic lives of two men: Press Maravich, who was consumed by his own coaching career and his drive to make his son, Pete, a great basketball player.

A third party, tragically, was omitted from the equation: Helen Maravich, wife of Press, mother of Pete.

Alone and, some say, driven to alcoholism, she took her own life in 1975.

Berger, in his 13th book, tracks Pete Maravich’s career literally from Day 1, when Pete was 6, in 1953, his father coaxed him out of bed early one morning and made him shoot a basketball for the first time.

Hundreds of thousands of shots, if not millions, followed, of course. The son was well-schooled by his coach-father, but their strong wills collided many times in their lives, even when Press coached his son at Louisiana State.

And always, the brightest lights shone on father and son, driving Helen further into the shadows.

All three are gone now. Press died of cancer in 1987. Pete, 40, dropped dead in 1988 during a pickup basketball game.

An autopsy revealed a birth defect, a missing arterial system. Doctors had no answer for how he survived 10 NBA seasons.

Berger captures well the awe with which people first beheld Maravich’s talent, and quotes Pat Williams, today a vice president with the Orlando Magic. Williams described an LSU game at Georgia in Maravich’s sophomore season:

“Total domination. It was a happening. I drove home that night, electrified by the scene. It was like the Beatles. People shrieking and gasping. What it became for those three years Pete came to town, it was like the circus or Garth Brooks or Michael Jordan.”