Bob Pettit could not make his high school basketball team until his junior year. By 1958 he was scoring 50 points in the deciding game of the NBA Finals and beat the Boston Celtics for a championship.
Pettit, the league’s first Most Valuable Player, died on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. He was 93. Louisiana State University, his alma mater, announced his death the following day and did not give a cause.
Baton Rouge
Pettit was born on December 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After missing out on the varsity side at Baton Rouge High, he made it as a junior and led the school to a state championship as a senior.
He stayed home for college. At LSU he led the Southeastern Conference in scoring in all three of his varsity seasons, averaging 25.5, 24.9 and finally 31.4 points a game, and was an All-American. The university retired his No. 50.
The Hawks
The Milwaukee Hawks drafted him in 1954, and he was named Rookie of the Year in 1955, the franchise’s last season in Milwaukee before it moved to St. Louis. In 1956 he won the first MVP award the NBA ever gave, averaging 25.7 points. He won it again in 1959 with 29.2.
He played 11 seasons, all with the Hawks, and was an All-Star in every one of them.
Fifty points
In 1958 the Hawks met the Celtics in the Finals. In Game 6, Pettit scored 50 points to clinch the title for St. Louis. It is the only championship the franchise has won.
The numbers
Pettit retired after the 1964-65 season with 20,880 points and 12,849 rebounds, averages of 26.4 and 16.2 a game. He was the first player in league history to score 20,000 points.
He entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971. Only two other LSU players have joined him there: Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal.
Every NBA MVP since has followed the trophy he was the first to win.