BATON ROUGE, La. — Bob Pettit, the Hall of Fame forward who became LSU’s first basketball superstar and one of the NBA’s earliest icons, has died at 93, his family announced. No cause of death was immediately released.
Pettit, born Dec. 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, an 11-time All-Star and the first player in league history to score 20,000 career points. He spent his entire 11-year NBA career with the Hawks franchise, beginning with the Milwaukee Hawks and continuing with the St. Louis Hawks, where he led the team to its only NBA championship in 1958.
At LSU, Pettit was a consensus All-American and one of the most dominant players in Southeastern Conference history. He averaged 27.4 points and 14.4 rebounds over his college career, and his No. 50 was retired by the university. He was selected second overall in the 1954 NBA draft and won Rookie of the Year.
In the NBA, Pettit averaged 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds over 11 seasons. He was the first recipient of the NBA’s MVP award in 1956 and won it again in 1959. He was named All-NBA First Team 10 times and was a four-time All-Star Game MVP. His 50-point performance in Game 6 of the 1958 NBA Finals lifted St. Louis past the Boston Celtics, 110–109, and remains one of the greatest close-out games in league history.
Pettit retired in 1965 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971. He was named to the NBA’s 25th, 35th, 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams, and the Hawks retired his No. 9. He also served as president of the NBA Players Association during his playing career.
After retiring, Pettit returned to Baton Rouge, where he built a successful business career and remained a revered figure at LSU. He was a frequent presence at university events and was celebrated as a trailblazer for generations of players from Louisiana and beyond.
Tributes poured in from across the basketball world. The Hawks and LSU both honored his legacy, and former players and fans remembered him as a fierce competitor, a humble leader and a pioneer who helped shape the modern game.