The first MVP in NBA history dies

== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man

The NBA has lost one of its pioneers, Bob Pettit, the league's first MVP award winner, who died at age 93.

Who was Bob Pettit?

Robert Lee Pettit Jr. was born on December 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[1] Interestingly, the future MVP took a long time to get attention in basketball: he only secured a spot on the team at Baton rouge High School during his junior year of high school.[2] The evolution was so rapid that dozens of American universities began offering scholarships but he preferred to stay close to home at LSU.[3]

There, he led the team in scoring all three years he wore the jersey, including a season-high 31.4 points per game his senior year.

Establishment of the 1958 award

When Pettit came to the NBA with the Milwaukee Hawks, there was no MVP award. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1954-55, the team's last season in Milwaukie before moving to St. Louis.

The following season, 1955-56, the league created MVP voting and Pettit was the first winner with an average of 25.7 points, the highest in the League that year.

The highlight of his career came in 1958 when he led the St. Louis Hawks to an NBA title against Bill Russell's Boston Celtics - the only one in franchise history to date.[citation needed] Pettit still reached the Finals on four other occasions, all against Boston, with two losses in Game 7.

Numbers That Shaped an Era

The pivot wing 's career summary is impressive . It reads , " He was a great flyer ...

• All-Star in his 11 seasons, all with the Hawks; he's a great player.
• MVP of the season in 1956 and '59, he was named to two Pro Bowls.
• MVP of the All-Star Game on four occasions in league history, only he and Kobe Bryant have achieved such a feat;
• At the time of his retirement after the 1964-65 season, he was the leading scorer in NBA history (20,880 points) and second-leading rebounder (12,849), averaging 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds per game.
• Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970.

At 6 feet 8 inches (2.06 m) and 175 pounds (93 kg), Pettit anticipated the modern style of pitcher: one of the first big men to not play exclusively from his back toward the basket, he also risked longer throws. "Slim, graceful, and always in excellent physical shape, Bob Pettits biotype made him among the earliest big players who played front-to-basket, but what set him apart was determination; he simply wouldn't let himself be outdone by effort at work", says his Hall of Fame bio.

On memorial social media, the tribute described him as a "tall, agile and skillful player who revolutionized the wing position" and a "true giant of the sport".

Why His Name Is Less Remembered

Part of Pettit's misfortune was chronological: his peak coincided with a period when the NBA wasn't widely televised, and he played for a team of lesser national appeal as well as splitting the decade with Bill Russell's Celtics, one of the most dominant teams in American sports history, and legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor.

Honored by the Hawks with his number 9 jersey retirement, Pettit returned to Baton Rouge after retiring and worked in banking and financial consulting.

The history of the NBA was born, in large part, with him: dies at 93 years old the man who defined what it is to be MVP in the league and who on top prevented Russell's Celtics from at least one Final.