Pettit, "Bob" (Robert L. Jr.)
Basketball
b. Dec. 12, 1932, Baton Rouge, LA
Although he averaged 27.4 points a game in his college career at Louisiana State University and was an All-American center in 1953 and 1954, there was much doubt about whether he could succeed in the NBA. At 6-foot-9 and 205 pounds, he was considered too slender to be a real star.
Pettit answered doubters by averaging 20.4 points per game and was named the league's 1954-55 rookie of the year as a forward with the Milwaukee Hawks. He used a soft, accurate jump shot to score from outside, and he used cleverness, speed and agility to get past bigger defenders to score from close in and to out-maneuver them for rebounds.
The Hawks moved to St. Louis in 1956 and Pettit led them to their first NBA championship in 1957-58, scoring 50 points in a 110-109 victory over the Boston Celtics in the final game of the championship series.
The league's most valuable player in 1956 and 1959, Pettit led the NBA in scoring both seasons with averages of 25.7 and 29.2 points per game. He was also the league's leading rebounder in 1955-56 with 16.2 per game.
Pettit retired in 1965 after averaging more than 20 points a game in each of his 11 NBA seasons, with a high of 31.1 in 1961-62. At the time, he held NBA records for most career points with 20,880, was third in career rebounds with 12,849, and was fifth in scoring average with 26.4 per game. Pettit was selected for the NBA Silver Anniversary Team in 1971.
Pettit was named to the All-NBA first team ten years in a row, beginning with his rookie season, and he never missed an All-Star game in his eleven seasons.