Bob Pettit, the LSU basketball great who became the NBA's first Most Valuable Player and led the St. Louis Hawks to their only championship, died at 93 on Wednesday. He passed away peacefully at his home in Metairie, Louisiana, according to a statement released by his family.
The family released a statement following his death, as reported by Tiger Rag. Pettit's family said he died on September 23, 2026, at his home in Metairie, Louisiana. He remains the university's original multisport icon. No cause of death has been provided.
A Career Built on Overcoming the Odds
Pettit's rise to basketball immortality began with rejection. According to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, he was cut from his high school varsity team as a sophomore, then went through a major growth spurt and led Baton Rouge High School to a state championship as a senior, drawing scholarship offers from 14 universities. He chose to stay home and play for LSU.
At LSU, Pettit starred as a center from 1951 through 1954 and led the Southeastern Conference in scoring in all three of his varsity seasons, finishing with a senior average of 31.4 points and 17.3 rebounds per game, per LSUsports.net. Only Pete Maravich and Chris Jackson have since matched his 30-plus points per game single-season average for the Tigers. In 1954 he became the first athlete in LSU history, in any sport, to have his jersey number — 50 — retired, and the university later erected a bronze statue of him outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Breaking Boston's Grip on the NBA
Pettit was selected second overall in the 1954 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Hawks, with the Baltimore Bullets taking Frank Selvy first overall in that same draft. He won the 1955 NBA Rookie of the Year award in Milwaukee before the franchise relocated to St. Louis that year, and he went on to play all 11 of his NBA seasons with the Hawks franchise.
The defining moment of his career came in Game 6 of the 1958 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, when Pettit scored a record 50 points in an NBA championship game — including 19 of the Hawks' final 21 points — to secure the franchise's only NBA championship, according to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach later remarked that Boston would have won 10 straight titles had it held Pettit under 48 points in that game. Per WSB-TV, the Hawks' 1958 title over the Celtics remains the only championship in franchise history, and Atlanta later retired Pettit's No. 9 jersey in his honor.
Records That Stood for Decades
Pettit made the NBA All-Star team in every one of his 11 seasons and won four All-Star Game MVP awards, in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1962, a league record that stood alone until Kobe Bryant tied it in 2011, the Associated Press reported. He also won the league's first-ever MVP award and captured a second MVP in 1959, according to WSB-TV.
In 1964, Pettit became the first player in NBA history to surpass 20,000 career points, retiring in 1965 with 20,880 points, LSUsports.net reported. At the time of his retirement he held the league's career scoring record and ranked second in career rebounds with 12,849, according to WSB-TV. His career rebounding average of 16.2 per game over 11 seasons ranks third in NBA history behind only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, per the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, and he never averaged fewer than 12 rebounds per game in any season. He finished his career averaging 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds per game and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Life After Basketball
After retiring from professional basketball, Pettit built a successful second career in banking and financial consulting, later retiring from Equitas Capital in 2006. He had also competed as a student-athlete at LSU.
Details on any public memorial or funeral services in Louisiana have not yet been announced, and statements from current NBA and LSU leadership had not been released as of this report.
