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Robert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit (born December 12,
1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.) is a
retired American professional basketball
player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all
with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks
(1954-1965). He was the first recipient of
the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He was
inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in
1971. He also went by the nickname "Dutch" in
college.
In 1954, the Milwaukee Hawks selected Pettit
in the first round of the NBA Draft. Many
were skeptical about Pettit making the
transition from college to the
rough-and-tumble NBA. Rookies often struggle
adjusting to the pro game, but not Pettit —
in 1955 he won the NBA Rookie of the Year
Award after averaging 20.4 points and 13.8
rebounds per game. After this season, the
Hawks moved to St. Louis.
Pettit was moved to forward as a pro. "In
college I played the standing pivot," he said
in a April 1957. "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."
In his second season, 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 the NBA
All-Star Game after scoring 20 points with 24
rebounds; he would win subsequent MVP
All-Star Game honors in 1958, 1959, and 1962.
He also won his first of two NBA regular
season MVP awards (the other was in 1959).
In 1958, Pettit, Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan
led the Hawks to an NBA Championship,
defeating the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics
in the NBA Finals (the Hawks had acquired
Macauley and Hagan from Boston for the draft
rights to Russell). Pettit put an exclamation
point on the Hawks' 110-109 game 6 victory by
scoring a then-playoff record of 50 points.
Both teams would also meet in the 1957, 1960
and 1961 Finals, with Boston winning each
time.
Pettit's league leading scoring average of
29.2 points per game in the 1958-59 season
was an NBA record at the time, that season he
was also named as the Sporting News NBA MVP.
In the 1960-61 season, Pettit pulled down
20.3 rebounds per game, making him one of
only five players to ever break the 20 rpg
barrier. In the following season, he scored a
career best 31.1 points per game.
Pettit ended his career in 1965, becoming the
first NBA player to eclipse the 20,000 points
mark (20,880 for a 26.4 average). 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 to
Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
In 1971, he was inducted into the Basketball
Hall of Fame. Pettit is often credited as
revolutionizing the power forward position in
the NBA. Because of his scoring and
rebounding ability, he is considered the
predecessor to Elgin Baylor, Jerry Lucas,
Elvin Hayes, Bob McAdoo, Kevin McHale,
Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan and
Kevin Garnett.
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