Bob Pettit, NBA’s First MVP, Dies at 93

Bob Pettit, the first winner of the NBA’s regular-season Most Valuable Player award and a two-time MVP, has died at 93, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced Thursday. LSU said he died Wednesday. The university did not provide a cause of death. Pettit spent all 11 of his NBA seasons with the Hawks, first in Milwaukee and then in St. Louis. He led the St. Louis team to the 1958 NBA championship, its only title, scoring 50 points in the series-clinching Game 6 against the Boston Celtics. The Hawks reached the Finals four times during his career. He won the league’s inaugural MVP award in 1956 and received it again in 1959. In both seasons, he also led the NBA in scoring, averaging 25.7 points per game in 1956 and 29.2 in 1959. Pettit was named Rookie of the Year in 1955 and was selected for the All-Star Game in each of his 11 seasons. He was also the game’s MVP four times. Pettit retired after the 1964-65 season with 20,880 points and a career average of 16.2 rebounds per game. At retirement, he was the NBA’s career scoring leader. His 50-point performance in the 1958 Finals was a playoff record at the time.