Bob Pettit, the NBA’s first Most Valuable Player and the driving force behind the St Louis Hawks’ 1958 championship, has died aged 93. LSU announced his death, while the Basketball Hall of Fame, NBA and Hawks were among the organisations paying tribute to a player whose scoring, rebounding and face-up game helped define the modern power-forward role. No cause of death was provided.
Pettit won the inaugural MVP award in the 1955-56 season and claimed it again in 1958-59, leading the league in scoring in both campaigns. His 11 NBA seasons all came with the Hawks franchise, beginning when it was based in Milwaukee before its move to St Louis. He was selected as an All-Star in every one of those seasons and was named All-Star Game MVP four times.
His career is most closely associated with the Hawks’ contests against Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics. Pettit led St Louis to the franchise’s only NBA title in 1958, beating Boston in the Finals, and the NBA described that victory as the one championship-series defeat in Russell’s career. The Hawks also reached the Finals against the Celtics in 1957, 1960 and 1961.
The performance that delivered the Hawks’ title
Pettit’s defining Finals display came in Game 6 in 1958, when he scored 50 points to secure the championship. According to the NBA, that remained the highest total in a title-clinching Finals game until Giannis Antetokounmpo matched it in 2021.
The scale of that performance matters because it came against the Celtics team that would dominate much of the following decade. It gave the Hawks their lone championship and ensured Pettit’s legacy was not confined to individual honours, even as Boston won the other Finals meetings between the two sides during his career.
Across his NBA career, Pettit averaged 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds per game before retiring in 1965. He became the first player to reach 20,000 points, while ESPN reported that he finished with 20,880 points and 12,849 rebounds. The NBA said he was also a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection.
A model for the power-forward position
Pettit’s importance went beyond the numbers. The Hall of Fame described him as a skilled big man who changed the forward position, while LSU said he established standards for what a modern power forward should be. The NBA’s retrospective characterised him as a prototype for a role that had not yet been formally defined.
That assessment was grounded in the combination of his work around the basket and his ability to score away from it. NBA reporting noted that Pettit had developed into an unusual big man for his era because he could make shots from 15 feet, while his pursuit of offensive rebounds supplied another major part of his output. Russell, in a recollection carried by the NBA, credited Pettit’s repeated efforts for making second effort a familiar sporting concept.
His profile therefore anticipates the broader responsibilities later expected of power forwards: operating in the paint, competing on the boards and posing a scoring threat from more than one area of the floor. That is an interpretation supported by how LSU, the Hall of Fame and the NBA each framed his contribution, rather than a claim that a single player created the position alone.
Tributes from basketball organisations
The Hall of Fame described Pettit as a giant of the game and highlighted his influence on forwards. The NBA pointed to his status as its first MVP, first 20,000-point scorer and first four-time All-Star Game MVP. The Hawks said his retired number 9 jersey remained a lasting reminder of his contribution to the franchise and basketball history.
At LSU, where Pettit had starred before entering the NBA, the university recognised a player it said had set a demanding benchmark in professional basketball. Those tributes reflect a legacy built on sustained individual excellence, a championship that interrupted Boston’s rise, and a playing style that remains recognisable in the forward position.