Nothing but net

 Nothing but net

Johnclarestokes 

it was an icy January...when the Angel came in spite...it was not good to part...leaving the ball in mid flight...but he said, it is time...who makes the last shot...you will soon find...is soon forgot...now lay you down.....the ice will soon thaw....with a swishing sound...in the fields of basketball.

To the memory of Pistol Pete Maravich 

Jan 5,1988

Pistol Pete

John Clare Stokes

Where were you on this day in eighty eight

The day Pistol Pete took his last shot?

Were you on some backyard court

Or were you in a gym in your baggy shorts?

Did you pause to watch the basketball swish?

Or just sit on the bench and for playing time wish?

Do you recall the day the magic came to play?

The capacity crowd watching the floppy sock Tiger

There will never be another Pete Maravich

I was glad I was there to see the all time best.

On this day, January 5, 1988 Pistol Pete Maravich passed away from a heart attack. He was at a church in Pasadena, California where he was playing basketball with James Dobson. He was 40 years old.

"I'd seen Maravich play in New Orleans once. He was something to see. Mop of brown hair, floppy socks, the holy terror of the basketball world. High flying, magician of the court. Scored something like 38 points. He could've played blind. Pistol Pete hadn't played professionally for a while and he was thought of as forgotten. I hadn't forgotten about him though."

Bob Dylan (the morning he heard the news that Pete Maravich passed away), taken from the first volume of his autobiography, Chronicles.

Peter Press "Pistol Pete" Maravich June 22, 1947 - January 5, 1988 Growing up in my life of sport early on I was quarterback Bart Star of Green Bay, wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff of Florida State and guard John Havlicek of the Celtics. Maravich was more my contemporary and I seldom imagined myself him for he was too good.