Robert E. Lee Pettit Jr. (/ˈpɛtɪt/PET-it; born December 12, 1932)[2] is an American former professionalbasketball player. He played 11 seasons in theNational Basketball Association (NBA), all with theMilwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954–1965). In 1956, he became the first recipient of theNBA's Most Valuable Player Award and he won the award again in 1959. He also won theNBA All-Star Game MVP award four times. As of the end of2024-2025 regular season, Pettit is still the only regular season MVP in the history of the Hawks. Pettit is the leader for most career rebounds (12,849), and most rebounds per game with 16.2 in Hawks franchise history.
The first NBA player to score more than 20,000 points, Pettit was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970. He is one of four players who was named to all fourNBA anniversary teams and one of only two living members as of 2025 withBob Cousy. He is widely regarded as one of the greatestpower forwards of all time.[3][4]
Robert E. Lee Pettit Jr. was born on December 12, 1932, inBaton Rouge, Louisiana. Pettit's basketball career had humble beginnings, as atBaton Rouge High School, he was cut from the varsity basketball team as both a freshman and sophomore. He played church league basketball as a sophomore and grew five inches in less than a year. His father,sheriff ofEast Baton Rouge Parish (1932–1936), pushed him to practice in the backyard of the Kemmerly house until he improved his skills. It worked: Pettit became a starter and made the All-City prep team as a junior. As a 6-7 senior, he led Baton Rouge High to its first state championship in over 20 years. Pettit was then selected to play in a North–South all-star game atMurray, Kentucky.[5]
After high school, Pettit had scholarship offers from 14 universities and accepted ascholarship to play at nearbyLouisiana State University (LSU). He was a three-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and a two-timeAll-American as a member of theLSU men's basketball team. (Freshmen were not allowed to play varsity basketball in those days.) During those three years, Pettit averaged 27.8 points per game. He was also a member of the Zeta Zeta chapter ofDelta Kappa Epsilon at LSU.
Pettit made his varsity debut at LSU in 1952. He led theSEC in scoring for his first of three consecutive seasons, averaging 25.5 points per game. He ranked third in the nation in scoring and also averaged 13.1 rebounds per game, helping his team to a 17–7 win–loss record for a second-place finish in the league, and was selected to the All-SEC team.
During his junior year, Pettit helped the Tigers sail through a 23-game regular-season schedule with only one loss (to Tulsa). A clean sweep of SEC Conference opponents became LSU's second SEC Title (their first came in 1935) and the school's firstNCAA Final Four. He averaged 24.9 points and 13.9 rebounds per game for the 1953 season. He was honored with selections to both the All-SEC and All-American teams.
Pettit averaged 31.4 points and 17.3 rebounds per game during his senior year and once again led LSU to an SEC Championship and garnered All-SEC and All-American honors. He set a then-SEC scoring record of 60 points against Louisiana College in his second game, and also the SEC record for scoring average, with both records being broken byPete Maravich. Pettit also was the second player in major-college basketball history to average more than 30 points a game.[5]
In 1954, his number 50 was retired at LSU. He was the first Tiger athlete in any sport to receive this distinction. In 1999, he was named Living Legend for LSU at the SEC Basketball Tournament. He is a member of theLSU Hall of Fame.Bob Pettit Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is named after him.
In 1954, theMilwaukee Hawks selected Pettit second in the first round of theNBA draft after the Baltimore Bullets' selection ofFrank Selvy. Pettit was initially reluctant to sign with the team before his third cousin, fellow NBA playerFrank Brian, convinced him to do so. With $100 in the bank, he signed a contract with Hawks owner Ben Kerner for $11,000 – an all-time high for an NBA rookie then. Pettit's awkward ballhandling and a lack of strength to battle NBA bruisers weighing 200 pounds that early in his career, had Hawks coachRed Holzman move him from center, his position at LSU, to forward in his first training camp. "In college I played the standing pivot", he said in anApril 1957 SPORT magazine interview. "My back was to the basket. In the pros, I'm always outside. Everything I do is facing the basket now. That was my chief difficulty in adjusting, the fact that I had never played forward before." Though many were skeptical about Pettit making the transition from college to the rough-and-tumble NBA, in 1955 he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after averaging 20.4 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. He became the second rookie to win all-NBA honors but the team finished last in the Western Division.[5] After the season, the Hawks moved toSt. Louis.
He helped the Hawks improve during their first year in St. Louis by winning 33 games during 1955–56. In his second season, Pettit adjusted his game so that he would get to the free-throw line for easy points for his team and foul trouble for his opponents. Being a phenomenal offensive rebounder and an instinctive scorer, he told basketball historianTerry Pluto that "Offensive rebounds were worth eight to 12 points a night to me. Then I'd get another eight to 10 at the free-throw line. All I had to do was make a few jump shots and I was on my way to a good night."[6] Pettit won his first scoring title with a 25.7 average, and led the league in rebounding (1164 for a 16.2 average). He was also named MVP of the1956 NBA All-Star Game after scoring 20 points with 24 rebounds and 7 assists; he would win subsequent MVP All-Star Game honors in1958,1959, and1962. He also won his first of twoNBA regular season MVP awards (the other was in 1959).
Retooling before the 1956–57 season, the Hawks acquiredEd Macauley and rookieCliff Hagan from theBoston Celtics for the draft rights toBill Russell. The team added guardSlater Martin in an early-season deal with the New York Knicks whileAlex Hannum arrived a few weeks later after being released by the Fort Wayne Pistons. Hannum became the team's third coach that season by taking over as player-coach with 31 games left on the schedule. Though they posted a 34–38 record in 1956–57, a series of tie-breaking playoff games against the Pistons and a three-game sweep of the Minneapolis Lakers had them in the NBA Finals. In Game 1 of the 1957NBA Finals at the Boston Garden, Pettit scored 37 points as the Hawks shocked the Bill Russell-ledBoston Celtics in double overtime. Pettit won his team the third game in the series with a late basket in St. Louis. His two free throws with six seconds left in Game 7 forced overtime, but Pettit's 39 points and 19 rebounds in 56 minutes weren't enough to win a double-overtime game. Pettit averaged 29.8 points and 16.8 rebounds per game during their 1957 playoff run.
A franchise-record 41 wins and a division crown allowed the Hawks to get back at the Celtics in the 1958 NBA Finals. Pettit led the Hawks to an NBA Championship with a then-playoff record 50 points in the Hawks' 110–109 series-clinching victory in game 6. Pettit's 50 points stood alone as the most in a Finals close-out victory until it was matched byGiannis Antetokounmpo in2021. Both teams would later meet in the 1960 and 1961 Finals, with Boston winning each time. For the season, Pettit scored 24.6 ppg and pulled down 17.4 rpg, and earned All-Star Game MVP honors with a performance that included 28 points and 26 rebounds. St. Louis finished at the top of the Western Division in each of the next three seasons. Pettit's league-leading scoring average of 29.2 points per game in the1958–59 season was an NBA record at the time, and he was named theSporting News NBA MVP.
In the1960–61 season, Pettit averaged 27.9 points per game[7] and pulled down20.3 rebounds per game, making him one of only five players to ever break the 20 rpg barrier. He, along withWilt Chamberlain andJerry Lucas, are the only three people who averaged more than twenty points and twenty rebounds in an NBA season. On February 18, 1961, Pettit scored a career-high 57 points and grabbed 28 rebounds in a 141–138 win over the Detroit Pistons.[8]
In the following season, he scored a career-best 31.1 points per game, but the Hawks slipped to fourth place. After missing 30 games because of injuries, Pettit ended his career in 1965 still near the peak of his game. He was the first NBA player to eclipse the 20,000 points mark (20,880 for a 26.4 average). Of the 20,880 points he scored in the NBA, 6,182 of them (nearly 30 percent) came from free throws. His 12,849 rebounds were second-most in league history at the time he retired, and his 16.2 rebounds per game career average remains third only toWilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
Pettit was an NBA All-Star in each of his 11 seasons, was named to the All-NBA First Team ten times, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team once. Pettit still holds the top two NBA All-Star Game rebounding performances with 26 in 1958 and 27 in 1962, and has the second-highest All-Star Game points per game average with 20.4 (behind onlyOscar Robertson). Pettit averaged at least 20 points per game and at least 12 rebounds per game in each of his 11 NBA seasons. He never finished below seventh in the NBA scoring race[7] and no other retired player in NBA history other than Pettit andAlex Groza (who played only two seasons) has averagedmore than 20 points per game in every season they've played (note:Michael Jordan averagedexactly 20 points per game in his final season).
In 1970, Petit was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He is one of four players who was named to all fourNBA anniversary teams (25th,35th,50th,75th), along withBob Cousy,George Mikan, and Bill Russell.[9]
Pettit worked in the banking industry in Baton Rouge and Metairie for 23 years before entering financial consulting in 1988. In 2006, he retired from Equitas Capital Investors, a financial consulting company that he co-founded.
He was married to his wife Carole, who died in 2010, and has three children and 10 grandchildren.[10]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| † | Won anNBA championship | * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954–55 | Milwaukee | 72 | 36.9 | .407 | .751 | 13.8 | 3.2 | 20.4 |
| 1955–56 | St. Louis | 72 | 38.8 | .429 | .736 | 16.2 | 2.6 | 25.7* |
| 1956–57 | St. Louis | 71 | 35.1 | .415 | .773 | 14.6 | 1.9 | 24.7 |
| 1957–58† | St. Louis | 70 | 36.1 | .410 | .749 | 17.4 | 2.2 | 24.6 |
| 1958–59 | St. Louis | 72* | 39.9 | .438 | .759 | 16.4 | 3.1 | 29.2* |
| 1959–60 | St. Louis | 72 | 40.2 | .438 | .753 | 17.0 | 3.6 | 26.1 |
| 1960–61 | St. Louis | 76 | 39.8 | .447 | .724 | 20.3 | 3.4 | 27.9 |
| 1961–62 | St. Louis | 78 | 42.1 | .450 | .771 | 18.7 | 3.7 | 31.1 |
| 1962–63 | St. Louis | 79 | 39.1 | .446 | .774 | 15.1 | 3.1 | 28.4 |
| 1963–64 | St. Louis | 80 | 41.2 | .463 | .789 | 15.3 | 3.2 | 27.4 |
| 1964–65 | St. Louis | 50 | 35.1 | .429 | .820 | 12.4 | 2.6 | 22.5 |
| Career[11] | 792 | 38.8 | .436 | .761 | 16.2 | 3.0 | 26.4 | |
| All-Star[11] | 11 | 32.7 | .420 | .775 | 16.1 | 2.0 | 20.3 | |
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | St. Louis | 8 | 34.3 | .367 | .843 | 10.5 | 2.3 | 19.1 |
| 1957 | St. Louis | 10 | 43.0 | .414 | .767 | 16.8 | 2.5 | 29.8 |
| 1958† | St. Louis | 11 | 39.1 | .391 | .729 | 16.5 | 1.8 | 24.2 |
| 1959 | St. Louis | 6 | 42.8 | .423 | .785 | 12.5 | 2.3 | 27.8 |
| 1960 | St. Louis | 14 | 41.1 | .442 | .754 | 15.8 | 3.7 | 26.1 |
| 1961 | St. Louis | 12 | 43.8 | .412 | .757 | 17.6 | 3.2 | 28.6 |
| 1963 | St. Louis | 11 | 42.1 | .459 | .778 | 15.1 | 3.0 | 31.8 |
| 1964 | St. Louis | 12 | 41.2 | .412 | .835 | 14.5 | 2.8 | 21.0 |
| 1965 | St. Louis | 4 | 23.8 | .366 | .800 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 11.5 |
| Career[11] | 88 | 40.3 | .418 | .774 | 14.8 | 2.7 | 25.5 | |
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