Basketball Icon Bob Pettit, NBA’s First MVP, Dies at 93 — Career Highlights, Legacy & Tributes

Basketball has lost one of its foundational giants. Robert “Bob” Pettit Jr., the first player ever crowned NBA Most Valuable Player and the face of the St. Louis (now Atlanta) Hawks’ lone championship in 1958, died Wednesday at his home in Metairie, Louisiana. He was 93. Pettit’s alma mater LSU confirmed the passing in a brief statement that hailed the Baton Rouge native as “the original Tiger legend” and noted his status as the school’s first athlete to have a jersey retired. Before turning pro, the 6-foot-9 forward averaged 27.8 points and 14.6 rebounds across three varsity seasons, leading LSU to its inaugural Final Four appearance in 1953. Selected No. 2 overall by the Milwaukee Hawks in 1954, Pettit tore up the league with an inside-out scoring package decades ahead of its time. He won Rookie of the Year in 1955, captured MVP honors in 1956 and 1959, and became the first NBA player to eclipse 20,000 career points. Across 11 seasons he averaged 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds, earned 11 straight All-Star selections, claimed four All-Star Game MVP trophies and twice led the league in scoring. His 50-point masterpiece against Boston in Game 6 of the 1958 Finals remains tied for the most points ever in a championship clincher. The Hawks retired his No. 9 jersey, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted him in 1970. Tributes poured in Thursday from every corner of the basketball world. Hall-of-Fame big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called Pettit “the template for modern power forwards,” while the Hawks organization lauded him as “the pillar on which our franchise was built.” Current Atlanta star Trae Young posted, “We wear the Hawks jersey because pioneers like Bob made it matter.” Pettit’s influence extended beyond hardwood accolades. After retiring at just 32, he spent more than two decades in banking before co-founding a successful investment firm in New Orleans. He is survived by three children and 10 grandchildren. Funeral services will be private, and the family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the LSU Basketball Legacy Fund. With Pettit’s passing, a direct link to the NBA’s formative years fades, but the records remain: first two-time MVP, first 20,000-point man, and—perhaps most enduring—proof that relentless work can turn a kid twice cut from his high-school team into an all-time great.