A Shooting Star Called “Pistol”

Since he was knee-high, he started his jumpshot at the hip, as if he were a gun-slinger. That’s how he got the nickname – “Pistol Pete.”

But his small-town Louisiana neighbors would have called him a real pistol, anyway. Because that’s just the way Pete Maravich was.

Always in the middle of things, always the center of attention. A hard-driver, a showboat – a desperately intense kid.

And from the time he first pickup a basketball at age 7, his inner drive wouldn’t slow him down.

He bounced a ball throughout entire movies at the local theater … dribbled it out the window of his father’s moving car … and won bets by spinning a ball on his fingers and knuckles continuously for an hour.

That intensity led to a Hall of Fame career as one of the finest, flashiest and most famous basketball players of all time.

And for five years – before he died suddenly of a heart attack in a pick-up game Jan. 4 – Pistol Pete’s intensity burned for Jesus.

“It’s like when I pick up a basketball.” He told Ben Kinchlow on the 700 Club last October. “I’m practicing in the Word every day. I’m practicing in prayer.”

Before then, though, his life had been a mess.

Throughout his career, Pete had everything he desired. Money, fame … doing whatever he wanted, when he wanted.

But when he retired in 1980, the intensity still raged within. It hadn’t found its end in basketball – and Pete found no peace.

So he dove into astrology. Then into a fanatical concern for his health. He even arranged messages on the roof of his house to welcome UFO’s - if they were indeed “out there.”

Finally one night in 1982, Pete discovered who was “out there” – in fact, who had been so near to him throughout his life – Jesus Christ.

During his interview on the 700 Club, Pete explained what happened.

Lying in bed one night unable to sleep, he was besieged by memories – troubled thoughts of his past sins.

“I knew right from wrong,” he said, “yet I continually, habitually fell into these things. Things kept coming up all night long.”

“Finally I just cried out: “Lord, can you save me? Can you forgive me? Because I’ve done some of the dirtiest things in the world…”

“I got off the bed and asked Christ to come into my life, to forgive my sins. And he did that.”

“And from that day, my life has changed so dramatically, I can’t explain it.”

Pete knew Jesus as Lord for five years before he died. And in that time, he gave himself to serving God – with all the intensity he’d ever had.

He wanted more than anything to give back to the Lord, Who had given him so much. And his gratitude showed most in his giving to others.

He became an even more devoted husband and father … he introduced youngsters to the Gospel at his basketball camps … and he wrote a book, Heir to a Dream, to give glory to the Lord for what he had done for him.

He had burned toward stardom from the day he was born – and the whole world had heard of “Pistol Pete.”

But up to the day he died, all Pete wanted people to know about was Jesus.

“That’s all I want people to know,” he said on the 700 Club. “That Christ can change your life – totally.”

A Living Message

On Jan.3, the day before Pete Maravich died, talk-show host Larry King of CNN’s Larry King Live” waded through a stack of mail.

He was recovering from heart surgery, and he had received piles of sentiments from well-wishers.

But one package in particular caught his eye. And Larry has said that he prizes this package more than any of the others.

Inside was a leather Bible with Larry’s name embossed on the cover, and a letter that read:

“Dear Larry, I am so glad to hear that everything went well with your surgery. I want you to know that God was watching over you every minute.

“And even though I know you question that, I also know that one day it will be revealed to you. My prayer is that you will remain open, and that God will touch your life as He has mine.

“Once I was a disbeliever. When I could not fill my life with basketball, I would simply substitute sex, drugs or material things to feed my internal, shell-like appearance. I was never satisfied.

“I have finally realized after forty years that Jesus Christ is in me. He will reveal His truth to you, Larry, because He lives.”

“Pete Maravich,
“Pistol Pete.”