Bob Pettit, the first Most Valuable Player in NBA history and one of the foundational stars of the Hawks franchise, has died at age 93.
LSU announced that Pettit died Wednesday. The university did not disclose a cause of death. The NBA and the Hawks were among the organizations honoring him this week.
The first MVP and the Hawks’ championship centerpiece
Pettit won the NBA’s first regular-season MVP award in 1956 and won it again in 1959. He was selected to the All-Star Game in every one of his 11 NBA seasons and was named All-Star Game MVP four times.
His defining team moment came in the 1958 NBA Finals. Pettit scored 50 points in Game 6 as the St. Louis Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics to win the franchise’s only NBA championship.
The NBA’s obituary noted that Pettit was also the league’s first player to reach 20,000 career points. He retired after the 1964–65 season and entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971.
His number still hangs in Atlanta
Pettit never played for the franchise after its move to Atlanta in 1968, but the organization carried his history with it. His No. 9 is retired by the Hawks and remains part of the franchise’s identity at State Farm Arena.
The Louisiana native was also an LSU great, leading the Tigers to their first Final Four and later becoming one of the school’s most celebrated basketball alumni.
