By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
METAIRIE – His son, Robert Pettit III, said his father was just one of the dads – albeit a 6-foot-9 dad who happened to be one of the greatest NBA and Southeastern Conference players and first LSU athlete in any sport to have his number retired.
Robert Lee Pettit Jr, an NBA All-Star in every season he played for the Milwaukee (one season) and St. Louis Hawks (10 seasons) from 1955-66 and an NBA champion with St. Louis in 1958, was remembered Friday at his St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in the heart of Old Metairie – more as a devoted family man than the powerful, yet artful forward-center Bob Pettit who dominated the NBA for 11 seasons.
He died on Sept. 23 here at age 93.
“All he was to me was my father,” his son said in a frequently tearful eulogy. “He was described as humble, a southern gentleman and a gentle giant. And he truly was. He would suggest the right thing for me to do in situations. He wouldn’t just tell me what to do. In my mind, he was the perfect person.”
Robert Pettit III said that as a kid he was at a function with other kids, and everyone was getting up and talking about their fathers.
“I remember saying that dad never once raised his voice to me, and everything got quiet,” he said.
Bob Pettit literally spoke softly and carried a big frame throughout his life as an investment banker in New Orleans and as he became the first in NBA history to score 20,000 points. He retired as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in 1965 with 20,880 and a 26.4-point average. He also retired as the NBA’s No. 1 rebounder with 12,849 and a 16.2 average that remains more than anyone other than the NBA’s top two rebounders of all time – Wilt Chamberlain (23,924) at 22.9 a game and Bill Russell (21,620) at 22.5.
Pettit settled in New Orleans with his family and at one time lived on Cleveland Place in Metairie at Lake Ponchartrain and was neighbors with LSU greats Pistol Pete Maravich, who remains the No. 1 scorer in men’s basketball history with 3,667 points while at LSU (1967-70), and Jim Taylor, a running back at LSU (1954-56-57). Maravich played for the New Orleans Jazz in the NBA in the 1970s and Taylor finished his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints in 1967 after winning the first Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in the 1966 season.
“He was never boastful about all his athletic accomplishments,” said Reverend Dr. Fred Devall, the rector at St. Martin’s, in the sermon at the mass celebrating the life of Pettit.
“What a man. What a father. What a life.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 2, 2026
-Robert Pettit III on his dad, Bob Pettit. pic.twitter.com/xuJS0S0Y7D
And there were many as he was the first NBA MVP in 1956 and won it again in 1959. He is one of only two players named the NBA All-Star game MVP four times. He is one of only four players named to all four NBA Anniversary teams in 1971 (25th), 1980 (35th), 1996 (50th) and 2021 (75th). Pettit was also the first LSU athlete in any sport to have his number retired, which was No. 50 after his senior season of 1953-54. And he was part of LSU’s first Final Four team in 1953 and the star player on the Tigers’ only back-to-back Southeastern Conference regular season championship teams in 1953 and ’54.
“But I do remember at this 90th birthday party (Dec. 12, 2022) when he was walking with a cane, and he passed a large blow-up picture of him playing against Russell,” Devall said.
That was the 1958 NBA Finals when the St. Louis Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 110-109, on April 12, 1958, at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis for the title in Game 6.
“Bob put his cane on the picture, tapped it a few times and said, ‘Dropped 50 that night.’ And he walked off,” Devall said.
That was 50 points on Boston center Bill Russell. It was an NBA record for most points scored in a final game that lasted until 2021 when 6-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks tied it in a 105-98 win over Phoenix in Game 6 for the title.
Russell later said that Pettit was the only white man who he ever saw address Russell’s parents with sir and mam.
Pettit grew up in Baton Rouge and went to Dufrocq Elementary School before becoming a star basketball player at Baton Rouge High and then LSU.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Carole Crowell Pettit, his father, Robert Lee Pettit Sr and his mother, Margaret Brandon Pettit.
Pettit is survived by his three children with wife Carole Crowell Pettit – Peyton Pettit Coates (Jonathon) of Tibbie, Alabama, Robert Lee Pettit III (Conway) of Baton Rouge, Mary Pettit Mozingo (Michael) of Baton Rouge – and his 10 grandchildren: Bobby Pettit, Crossland Pettit, Lucy Jane Pettit, Charlie Pettit, Leven Greene, Lydia Greene, LR Greene, Deacon Mozingo, Camille Mozingo, and Mason Mozingo.
He is also survived by his second wife, Alma Slatten Pettit.
Pettit was also preceded in death by his step-son, Bill Slatten (Jane) and survived by two stepchildren, Scott Slatten (Becky) and Elizabeth Healy (Dunbar), and nine step-grandchildren.
Seven of the grandchildren – Lydia Greene, Mason Mozingo, LR Greene, Camille Mozingo, Lucy Pettit, Crossland Pettit and Charlie Pettit each read a short prayer during the funeral ceremony.
LSU basketball head coach Will Wade, former LSU head basketball coaches John Brady and Johnny Jones and LSU basketball sports information director Kent Lowe attended the ceremoney.
“Bob came with us on several road trips,” said Brady, who was coach from 1997-2008 and played golf with Pettit in New Orleans usually after each season. “Just a great person to be around.”
Pettit was often seen at LSU home basketball games and at New Orleans Pelicans home games.
“What a man,” his son Robert said. “What a father. What a life.”
Be the first to comment