Audiobook12 hours
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich
Written by Mark Kriegel
Narrated by Lloyd James
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Pistol is more than the biography of a ballplayer. It's the stuff of classic novels: the story of a boy transformed by his father's dream-and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete-a basketball icon for baby boomers-all the Maraviches paid a price. Now acclaimed author Mark Kriegel has brilliantly captured the saga of an American family: its rise, its apparent ruin, and, finally, its redemption.
Almost four decades have passed since Maravich entered the national consciousness as basketball's boy wizard. No one had ever played the game like the kid with the floppy socks and shaggy hair. And all these years later, no one else ever has. The idea of Pistol Pete continues to resonate with young people today just as powerfully as it did with their fathers.
In averaging 44.2 points a game at Louisiana State University, he established records that will never be broken. But even more enduring than the numbers was the sense of ecstasy and artistry with which he played. With the ball in his hands, Maravich had a singular power to inspire awe, inflict embarrassment, or even tell a joke.
But he wasn't merely a mesmerizing showman. He was basketball's answer to Elvis, a white Southerner who sold Middle America on a black man's game. Like Elvis, he paid a terrible price, becoming a prisoner of his own fame.
Set largely in the South, Kriegel's Pistol-a tale of obsession and basketball, fathers and sons-merges several archetypal characters. Maravich was a child prodigy, a prodigal son, his father's ransom in a Faustian bargain, and a Great White Hope. But he was also a creature of contradictions: always the outsider but a virtuoso in a team sport, an exuberant showman who wouldn't look you in the eye, a vegetarian boozer, an athlete who lived like a rock star, a suicidal genius saved by Jesus Christ.
A renowned biographer-People magazine called him "a master"-Kriegel renders his subject with a style that is, by turns, heartbreaking, lyrical, and electric.
The narrative begins in 1929, the year a missionary gave Pete's father a basketball. Press Maravich had been a neglected child trapped in a hellish industrial town, but the game enabled him to blossom. It also caused him to confuse basketball with salvation. The intensity of Press's obsession initiates a journey across three generations of Maraviches. Pistol Pete, a ballplayer unlike any other, was a product of his father's vanity and vision. But that dream continues to exact a price on Pete's own sons. Now in their twenties-and fatherless for most of their lives-they have waged their own struggles with the game and its ghosts.
Pistol is an unforgettable biography. By telling one family's history, Kriegel has traced the history of the game and a large slice of the American narrative.
Almost four decades have passed since Maravich entered the national consciousness as basketball's boy wizard. No one had ever played the game like the kid with the floppy socks and shaggy hair. And all these years later, no one else ever has. The idea of Pistol Pete continues to resonate with young people today just as powerfully as it did with their fathers.
In averaging 44.2 points a game at Louisiana State University, he established records that will never be broken. But even more enduring than the numbers was the sense of ecstasy and artistry with which he played. With the ball in his hands, Maravich had a singular power to inspire awe, inflict embarrassment, or even tell a joke.
But he wasn't merely a mesmerizing showman. He was basketball's answer to Elvis, a white Southerner who sold Middle America on a black man's game. Like Elvis, he paid a terrible price, becoming a prisoner of his own fame.
Set largely in the South, Kriegel's Pistol-a tale of obsession and basketball, fathers and sons-merges several archetypal characters. Maravich was a child prodigy, a prodigal son, his father's ransom in a Faustian bargain, and a Great White Hope. But he was also a creature of contradictions: always the outsider but a virtuoso in a team sport, an exuberant showman who wouldn't look you in the eye, a vegetarian boozer, an athlete who lived like a rock star, a suicidal genius saved by Jesus Christ.
A renowned biographer-People magazine called him "a master"-Kriegel renders his subject with a style that is, by turns, heartbreaking, lyrical, and electric.
The narrative begins in 1929, the year a missionary gave Pete's father a basketball. Press Maravich had been a neglected child trapped in a hellish industrial town, but the game enabled him to blossom. It also caused him to confuse basketball with salvation. The intensity of Press's obsession initiates a journey across three generations of Maraviches. Pistol Pete, a ballplayer unlike any other, was a product of his father's vanity and vision. But that dream continues to exact a price on Pete's own sons. Now in their twenties-and fatherless for most of their lives-they have waged their own struggles with the game and its ghosts.
Pistol is an unforgettable biography. By telling one family's history, Kriegel has traced the history of the game and a large slice of the American narrative.
Author
Mark Kriegel
Mark Kriegel is the author of two critically acclaimed bestsellers, Namath: A Biography and Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich. He is a veteran columnist and a commentator for the NFL Network. He lives with his daughter, Holiday, in Santa Monica, California.
Related to Pistol
Related audiobooks
Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moment in Time: An American Story of Baseball, Heartbreak, and Grace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When the Game Was Ours Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr. J: The Autobiography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Season on the Brink Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A-Rod Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long Shot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jail Blazers: How the Portland Trail Blazers Became the Bad Boys of Basketball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heisman: The Man Behind the Trophy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made It to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boys of Dunbar: A Story of Love, Hope, and Basketball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Junior Seau: The Life and Death of a Football Icon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Express: The Ernie Davis Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doc: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grinders: Baseball's Intrepid Infantry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrady vs. Manning: The Untold Story of the Rivalry that Transformed the NFL Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America's Game: The NFL at 100 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Is Not an Accident: A Memoir of Reinvention Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe” Jackson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl TEAM That Changed Football Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summer of '49 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living Out Loud: Sports, Cancer, and the Things Worth Fighting For Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Biography & Memoir For You
Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Later Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Pistol
Rating: 4.237288135593221 out of 5 stars
4/5
59 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great story of a great player. recomended to basketball fans.