Caitlin Clark and Pistol Pete Maravich: Capturing Our Imagination

 

by Andy Lipton

🏀 Leading the ‘Break ®

There're a few athletes I wished I could have seen play, but were before either my birth or interest time. Babe Ruth is number one. Joe DiMaggio and Bob Cousy are two others.

Although it doesn’t really count, I was at Yankee Stadium in the 1960s to see Joe D, already retired for many years, hit a home run in an old-timers game on Old-Timers Day.

And I saw Cousy play for a number of minutes on TV against the New York Knicks when he coached the Cincinnati Royals.

In November 1969, a number of years after he retired from playing, looking down the bench, Cousy decided to put himself in near the end of a Knicks game. If I remember correctly it was after one of his players fouled out. Coincidental or not, a Knicks win would break his former Boston Celtic team’s record for most consecutive wins. On their way to an NBA Championship, the Knicks won by one point, winning their 18th consecutive game.

Luckily, I can say I saw on TV Pistol Pete Maravich play in college at LSU and in the NBA. And now I can say I have seen on TV both Caitlin Clark and Pete Maravich play basketball.

Two tremendously talented ballplayers whose ball handling, court vision and passing, and shooting of a basketball have been marveled by countless fans. They have fully entertained us with uncommon artistry.

 

 In an episode of Red on Roundball - short segments on the fundamentals of basketball - probably filmed in the mid to late 1970s when Maravich was playing for the New Orleans Jazz in the NBA, Red Auerbach, the architect and patriarch of the Boston Celtic dynasty, said “Pistol Pete Maravich, in my opinion, the greatest playmaker playing today.”1

Maravich set the NCAA DI career scoring record for men in 1970 surpassing the record of The Big O, Oscar Robertson, and ended his college career with 3,667 points.

Clark recently set the women's major college career scoring record, first passing Kelsey Plum who set the NCAA DI record in 2017, and then passing Lynette Woodard who ended her career at the University of Kansas in 1981 with the most career points scored in women’s major college basketball.

 During Woodard’s college career, the AIAW governed women's college basketball, not the NCAA.

Sports fans have always debated and will always debate which player is the best - whether all-round or in any particular skill. Part of being a sports fan.

The other day, March 3, 2024, Caitlin Clark, from the University of Iowa, broke Maravich’s record. And of course the debate has been in full bloom. Who is the best major college scorer of all time? Is it # 23 or #22?

It’s a bit reminiscent of the debate about Roger Maris when he was chasing and surpassing Babe Ruth’s single year home run record in 1961. The number of games in Maris’ season was more than the number in the season in which the Babe set the record.

1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F60p0CcEa7Q

 Yes, there are a number of stats that point to Pistol Pete. One less season played and no three-point shot in his day. But as of March 3, 2024, the day Clark surpassed Maravich, Maravich had taken approximately over 550 more career field goal attempts than Clark and approximately 250 more foul shots.2,3

But for me, it’s not the outcome of the debate that matters; it’s the debate itself. And Caitlin Clark has created that debate.

The debate increases the attention that women's basketball is getting. And it also matters that Pete Maravich is remembered and introduced to a few generations of fans who did not see him play.

Clark has been a huge catalyst for the increased attention paid to the women’s game. Fans have flocked in person to see her play this season across many different states, cities, and arenas. 

And 9.9 million people tuned into ABC and ESPN2 to watch her Iowa team play in the NCAA Championship game last April according to fast national numbers by Nielsen. Ironically, the game was against LSU, Maravich’s alma mater.4

"You've Come A Long Way, Baby!”

That was the slogan of the Virginia Slims cigarette brand back in the 1970s, the brand that became the major sponsor of the 1971 World Tennis Women's Pro Tour. It was a time when tennis fans were coming out to watch the female players. And in 1973, tennis’ U.S. Open, in a ground-breaking decision, decided that the male and female champions would get equal prize money.

 2 3 4

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/pete-maravich-1.html https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/caitlin-clark-1.html https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/36060079/lsu-iowa-ncaa-women-title-game-draws-record-tv-audience

 

 Not since the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973, can I remember when a female athlete was so actively compared to a male athlete.

One step in that direction came when the New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu had a three-point shooting contest against the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry in an event that was part of the NBA's 2024 All-Star Weekend.

And maybe this debate will get more male basketball fans interested in women's basketball across the country. The women's game of basketball is, and has been for many years, a tremendous team sport with highly skilled, athletic, competitive, and hardworking ballplayers.

Iowa is one place where that might not be necessary, as the state has a long and continuous history of supporting women’s basketball.

So it seems appropriate that Clark, an Iowan native, and the state of Iowa, are now at the forefront of popularizing women’s basketball.

When all is said in done, let’s treasure the priceless similarities between Clark and Maravich. The fluidity in their movements. The long-range shooting, the shooting motions, the driving to the hoop, the court vision and passing, and ball handling - done skillfully, artistically, and very, very entertainingly.

Pete Maravich’s son Jaeson has noticed other similarities.

“ ‘For what it’s worth, Jaeson says, “ ‘She looks like she could be my dad’s sister. She’s lanky. She’s got the dark eyes.’ ”5

And let me add to that, the dark hair.

5

 https://theathletic.com/5310593/2024/03/03/caitlin-clark-pete-maravich-ncaa-scoring-record/

 

 I’ve heard a number of things Caitlin Clark has said this year that makes you want to root for her. Here’s one, said at the post-game press conference after surpassing Maravich’s record:

“Hopefully, somebody comes after me and breaks my records and I can be there supporting them.”