Brandon Bass

Glen Davis

• Glen "Big Baby" Davis of the Boston Celtics
• Tyrus Thomas of the Chicago Bulls
• Brandon Bass of the Dallas Mavericks.

All three NBA players went to LSU, of course. But they also have something else in common. All are "graduates" of the Baton Rouge Sports Academy, an entity of the East Baton Rouge Parish Recreation & Park Commission. Others who have played basketball for Academy teams include current Tiger Tasmin Mitchell, former Tigers Collis Temple III and his brother Garrett, and T. J. Pugh, Tiger PG from 1990-2. Another name to add to this list is Keith Smart, he of the game-winning shot in the national championship game for Indiana in the Superdome in 1987.

All these players also beat great odds to succeed on the college and pro levels. The three NBAers grew up with no father figure at home. They were precisely the children BRSA targeted for help. Davis says, "To come from the background we came from and to make it in the NBA says a lot. And a lot of credit goes to the Sports Academy."

Collis Temple Jr., the first African-American basketball player at LSU and the father of Collis III and Garrett, is the unofficial spokesman for the program to which has contributed much volunteer time as a coach and mentor. Davis stayed with the Temples for a while as a kid.

Which youngster now playing ball at the Sports Academy will be the next Glen Davis?

Reference: "Beating the Odds,"The Advocate, May 3, 2009

Tyrus Thomas

Tasmin Mitchell

Press Maravich

Young Pete Maravich

Pete Maravich in high school

Four little points. That was the difference between Pete Maravich coming to LSU and taking his immense talent to another school. And the points are not the kind you get by putting the ball through the hoop. Let me explain.

Pete's father, Press, was an assistant coach at North Carolina State for the 1963-4 season. He was the handpicked successor of the legendary Everett Case. However, Case's declining health due to cancer accelerated the timetable. Press took the reins early in the 1964-5 season when Pete was a 6'3" 150 lb senior at Broughton High School in Raleigh. With almost no help from the other players on the team, "Pistol Pete," as he had already been dubbed by a sportswriter, regularly scored over 40 points in the 32-minute prep games and wowed everyone with his ballhandling and passing. Press salivated at the thought of coaching his son at NC State.

There was one problem, however. Pete had never shown much interest in school, spending huge amounts of time on the basketball drills his father had taught him. The Atlantic Coast Conference required all players receiving an athletic scholarship to score at least 800 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). As his high school career drew to a close, Pete had yet to attain that figure.

As a result, Press decided to send Pete to Edwards Military Institute (Salemburg NC) for a year. Papa gave two reasons for the decision: Pete needed to (a) put more weight on his skinny frame and (b) improve his test score. The move would also give Press another year to recruit prep stars with the pitch that they would get to play with the most incredible player anyone had ever seen.

Edwards played many games against college freshman teams in that era when college recruits could not play varsity ball until their second year. Pete led all scorers and dominated each game against frosh teams, including two victories over NC State. He scored 50 against Charleston Southern.

Pete grew taller and stronger during his year at the Institute. However, he never attained the magic 800 on the SAT. His highest score was 796. Four points short. There was no way he could play in the ACC. Furthermore, Pete had decided he didn't want to play for his dad, particularly since life at home had fallen into turmoil with the developing emotional and drinking problems of his mother which would eventually lead to her suicide. Pistol saw himself as Jerry West's successor at West Virginia, a school with no minimum SAT requirement. The Mountaineer coach, Bucky Waters, thought that Pete's signing with him was "a lock." Then an outside force intervened.

LSU AD Jim Corbett called Press to inquire about his interest in the vacant basketball job in Baton Rouge. Tiger hoops had fallen on hard times since Bob Pettit's departure after the 1953-4 season. Not even a second-class citizen after football – more like third- or fourth-class – LSU roundball lacked funding, a quality arena, publicity, and interest. Frank Truitt had quit after only one season to go to Kent State, which he considered a promotion. That Truitt's one-year record of 6-20 was considered a "good start" on resurrecting the program shows the depths to which Tiger basketball had fallen. [Personal note: I watched LSU play several conference games that season in the Catholic High Gym. And, believe me, there were plenty of empty seats.]

Corbett asked Press two questions up front. Would you be interested in becoming the basketball coach at LSU? Would you bring your son with you? And, by the way, LSU requires no minimum SAT score for athletic scholarships. Jim offered a salary $5,000 above Press's current pay and pointed out that LSU had a "$5 million" field house on the drawing board. So, when he got Case's blessing, Maravich Pere accepted the job. He gave the increased pay as his public reason for the lateral (at best) move. However, his real motivation was the opportunity to coach his son.

Only one fly in the ointment. Pete insisted he was going to West Virginia. Press threatened to disown Pete or even do him bodily harm. Press had yelled at Pete his whole life, but the extra desperation this time caused Pete to cave in.

So file this under the heading of "What Might Have Been." If Pete had answered one more SAT question correctly, he might have made the 800 he needed instead of 796. Press would have stayed in Raleigh, and Pete would have set NCAA scoring records in the red and black of the Wolfpack.

Reference: Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, Mark Kriegel

Harry Rabenhorst was a member of the athletic staff at LSU from 1925 through 1968. He was an assistant coach in football for many years and head coach in both basketball and baseball. His chief claim to fame is that he coached the first Tiger team to make the Final Four.

A native of Baton Rouge, Rabenhorst attend Wake Forest (a Baptist school although Harry was a devout Catholic). He is famous there for his 110-yd punt, still an NCAA record. [How do you get credit for a 110-yd punt, you ask? In a 1919 game against North Carolina State, Rabenhorst punted from his own end zone. Aided by a light breeze, the kick traveled 89 yd in the air, bounced off a Wolfpack player, and was recovered in the EZ for a TD by a Demon Deacon after a 21-yd roll. Strictly speaking, of course, since a punt's distance is measured from the line of scrimmage, the longest punt possible is 99 yd.]

Coach Raby came to LSU in 1925 after coaching high school for four seasons. He was hired as an assistant football coach and served in that capacity for 18 seasons. However, his primary position was head basketball coach. He coached the Tiger roundballers from 1925-26 through 1956-7 with the exception of 1942-45 when he served in the military. He became head baseball coach for the 1927 season and remained in that capacity as well through 1956 except for those three years during World War II.

His final record in 29 seasons as head basketball coach was 340-264 for a .563 winning percentage. He coached the 1934-5 team that went 12-0 in the SEC and won the mythical national championship by defeating Pittsburgh in Atlantic City behind Sparky Wade. However, the three seasons 1951-4 were Rabenhorst's greatest.

• 1951-2: With Joe Dean a senior All-SEC guard and Bob Pettit a sophomore, the Tigers went 17-7. A 44-43 loss to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament title game prevented Raby's boys from qualifying for the NCAA tournament since only conference champions were admitted then.
• 1952-3: LSU went 13-0 in the SEC to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The team reached the Final Four before losing to Indiana 80-67 and then Washington in the third-place game 88-69 to end the season 22-3.
• 1953-4: Pettit closed his LSU career with another undefeated SEC season (14-0). The Tigers didn't play Kentucky until the playoff game to decide the league championship and NCAA tournament participant. The Wildcats won 63-56 but, when three of their starters were ruled ineligible for the post-season, Adolph Rupp withdrew his team from the tournament and LSU took their place. The Tigers lost their first game to Penn State 78-70 and then fell to Indiana in the regional consolation game, 73-62.

After Pettit's graduation, Tiger roundball fortune took a nosedive. Rabenhorst was only 19-54 in his last three seasons. He retired having never beaten Kentucky on the hardwood. He died in 1972 at age 73. He was universally revered by his former players as an outstanding gentleman and role model. When Harry retired in 1968, Sports Information Director Carl "Ace" Higgins wrote of him:

In any capacity he has served, he has shown the same gracious understanding of the individual and devotion to duty that have set him apart from the ordinary. ... Few men alive in collegiate athletics number among their close personal friends the great and near-great personalities who dominated the athletic scene for the past fifty years.

None other than "Baron" Rupp said about Harry: "I always enjoyed competing with him. He developed some of LSU's outstanding players and teams."

Harry Rabenhorst

Joe Dean

Bob Pettit

Basketball Team 1952-3

Basketball Team 1953-4

The 1990-1 Tigers entered SEC play with an 8-2 record and #14 ranking. The losses had come to Villanova 93-91 in the Tipoff Classic in Springfield MA in November and at Illinois 102-96 December 22. Sophomore sensation Shaquille O'Neal scored 53 points against Arkansas State on December 18 to break Chris Jackson's Maravich Assembly Center record of 50. He also established P-MAC marks with 17 FTs made and 21 FTA. He also rang up 19 rebounds and 4 blocks.

The first conference opponent was Vanderbilt on January 2 in Baton Rouge. Shaq sparked the 87-70 rout with his first 30-point SEC game. The 7'1" C poured in 34, and Mike Hansen added 24 with half coming from 3-point range. O'Neal raised his average for the season to 28.8 ppg.

Vandy coach Eddie Fogler had praised Shaq the year before when he was a freshman. "O'Neal's so good it's a joke. He looked bored out there. .... To say O'Neal is terrific is probably not strong enough." Now, after losing by 17 to LSU, Fogler added more praise. "He's so much better than last year. It's not even close."

The next week, Shaq led the Tigers to a 83-76 home win over Georgia with 34 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks. His only triple double of the season also came at home against Florida January 26: 31 points, 21 rebounds, 10 blocks in a 76-66 triumph.

After losing to Vandy in the rematch February 2, their third SEC loss in four games, Dale Brown's club caught fire, winning seven in a row. During that stretch Shaw delivered 33 against Kentucky, 38 against Georgia, 36 vs Alabama, an SEC-high of 38 against Ole Miss, and 33 vs Tennessee.

A leg injury forced the big guy to sit out the finale against Mississippi State. The 76-73 loss in Starkville cost LSU a chance to win the SEC regular season title outright. When Shaq also missed the opening game in the SEC Tournament, the Tigers lost to Auburn. He returned for the NCAA tournament loss to Connecticut but was clearly not 100%.

The Tigers finished 20-10 and held their breath hoping Shaq would return for his junior season. [He did.]

Shaquille O'Neal (#33)

Shaq before he was
the Big Aristotle

Pete Maravich

Parker Agricultural Center

AgCenter Used as Animal Shelter after Katrina

Pete Maravich arrived at LSU with his father as coach for the 1966-7 school year. Under NCAA regulations, first-year students were ineligible for varsity play. So Pete would play on the freshman team, which played most of its games at 5:45 before the varsity contest.

Press considered his first season in Baton Rouge "the roughest year I have ever had in basketball." In addition to inheriting a lousy team that would go 3-23, Press had to coach home games in the John M. Parker Agricultural Center, unaffectionately known as "The Cow Palace." Because it was used for 4H shows and rodeos, the place smelled as bad as the varsity played. The court was laid over the dirt floor.

But manure or not, the fans turned out in unprecedented numbers during the 1966-7 season – to watch the freshman games. Pete's reputation preceded him to Bayou Country, and fans and students who had never attended a Tiger game – at least since Bob Pettit left after the 1954 season – now stood in line to get tickets so they could watch The Pistol.

By the time the season started, Pete's new teammates had learned that "the only time you didn't have to worry about Pete throwing you the ball was when he was looking right at you." No one anywhere, much less Maravich's teammates, had ever seen anyone do what he routinely did with the basketball. Just before the first game, Press pitted the varsity against the freshmen. His son lit up the older players for 49, which was immediately reported to the news media.

In the first game, against Southeastern Louisiana, Pete scored 50 with 16 assists and a standing ovation as the team left the floor following a 119-70 blowout. (The varsity lost to SLU 89-88.) Advocate reporter Joe Planas wrote: "From this day hence ... a lot of people are going to start going to a lot of LSU basketball games – a lot earlier." Governor John McKeithen became a regular in the front row. LSU averaged 9,200 fans in a building that sat only 8,000. Several thousand more were turned away each night. The varsity would watch the freshmen game in a packed gym. By the time they took the court for the nightcap, about 1,000 remained in the stands.

Even in the supposedly low-key freshman games, opponents used a physical approach to try to stop Pete. A shot to the eye against Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg sent him to the emergency room for nine stitches. He hurried back to the gym and ran right past coach Greg Bernbrock and into the game. He finished with 42, including 12-12 from the line, to keep the Cubs' perfect season alive.

Fans at other SEC venues also arrived early to catch Pete's Traveling Circus, which was 17-0 going into the finale at Tennessee. Pete shot only 12 for 36 for 31 points. With seven seconds left, the Vols led 75-73 when Pete took the inbounds pass and cut in front of a trailing defender to draw a foul. A 83% FT shooter, Maravich made the first but missed the second. There went the perfect season.

Unfortunately, Pete had started partying and drinking with no reprimand from the head coach. Varsity and freshmen players quickly learned that Press had a different standard – actually no standard at all – for his son. If you were going to violate training rules, do so with Pete to avoid the wrath of Press.

Reference: Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, Mark Kriegel