Gator Memories - Pistol Pete vs. The Gators
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | Men's Basketball
By Norm Carlson, Assistant Athletics Director/Gator Historian
Sometimes you just have to give an opponent credit where credit is due.
Watching the most remarkable player who has ever faced the Gators perform in Alligator Alley for three years was a thrill you can never forget.
Seated next to Florida play-by-play announcer Otis Boggs on the balcony at the north end of that old arena, I saw “Pistol Pete” Maravich close up on three occasions.
The slender 6'5” Tiger star put on a show that started in his sophomore season, when he scored 47 points and led LSU to a 93-92 win in 1968. They didn't keep “assists” back then, but he must have had a dozen, several of them on behind the back passes that zipped past Gator defenders. Once, he put the ball behind his back, flipped a bounce pass through his legs directly to a guy who laid it in for a basket.
He set the Florida Gym record for points and field goals (17) that night.
It took all of that to overcome the Gators' Neal Walk (34 points, 22 rebounds) and Andy Owens (23 points).
Maravich led the nation in scoring that year, and would repeat that accomplishment the next two seasons.
In 1969, Maravich came into the February contest injured. He had torn a ligament in his right knee, preventing him from going to his left. No bother. He hit 14 field goals, most of them from what is now three-point range. He added 22 free throws to reach 50 points, including 21 of the first 23.
The Gators, behind 33 points by Andy Owens, won the game, 95-79.
In 1970, Maravich entered the game as the leading career scorer in NCAA history with 3,036 points. He was averaging 46.9 points per game and hitting 46.3 percent of his field-goal attempts.
Maravich put on a show in the pre-game, flipping behind the back passes as Florida fans applauded, and clowning around with official Lou Bello. Then, he went out and scored 52 points in a 97-75 Tiger victory.
Owens, who scored 33 points for the Gators and set a school record that season with a 27.0 scoring average, said it best in describing Maravich: “He's just the greatest, that's all.”
“Pistol” Pete truly was the greatest that ever played at Alligator Alley.
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