Changes

Then one night he was thinking about the effect of alcohol on his family: it drove his mother to suicide, his brother Ronnie was now addicted to it, and one night he had been drunk, and he totaled his car into a parked vehical going 55 miles an hour. Ever since his first tast of beer at age 14, on the steps of a [[Methodist]] church, it had had a negitive effect on his life. When the police officer pulled Pete out of his wrecked car, he said "Pete, you're the luckiest man I've ever seen." A drunk Pete didn't have a scratch on him. "You don't understand," he replied dissmisivly, "I've got to play pro ball." He recalled a weekend a long time ago when he taught at a basketball clinic for the Campus Crusade for Christ. There he heard the Gospel of [[Jesus Christ]] but he said "I don't have time for you, Christ my goals are set." For practically the whole night he was tortured by his memories of ugly things he'd done to people  or himself. He remebered the word sin, and saw  all these painful deeds for what they were. In tears he prayed, "God, I've punch you. I've kicked you. I've cursed you. I've used your name in vain. I've mocked you. I've embarrassed you. I've done all those things. Will you really forgive the things I've done?" Then he heard a voice.  

Then one night he was thinking about the effect of alcohol on his family: it drove his mother to suicide, his brother Ronnie was now addicted to it, and one night he had been drunk, and he totaled his car into a parked vehical going 55 miles an hour. Ever since his first tast of beer at age 14, on the steps of a [[Methodist]] church, it had had a negitive effect on his life. When the police officer pulled Pete out of his wrecked car, he said "Pete, you're the luckiest man I've ever seen." A drunk Pete didn't have a scratch on him. "You don't understand," he replied dissmisivly, "I've got to play pro ball." He recalled a weekend a long time ago when he taught at a basketball clinic for the Campus Crusade for Christ. There he heard the Gospel of [[Jesus Christ]] but he said "I don't have time for you, Christ my goals are set." For practically the whole night he was tortured by his memories of ugly things he'd done to people  or himself. He remebered the word sin, and saw  all these painful deeds for what they were. In tears he prayed, "God, I've punch you. I've kicked you. I've cursed you. I've used your name in vain. I've mocked you. I've embarrassed you. I've done all those things. Will you really forgive the things I've done?" Then he heard a voice.  

"Be strong lift up thine own heart."    

 

"Jesus, Iknow you're real because I've tried everything else,I've got nowhere to go. If you don't save me I won't last two more days." "From that moment on," Maravich recalled, "my life was never to be the same again. When I took God into my heart, it was the first true happiness I ever had."

"Be strong lift up thine own heart." He woke his wife frantically, asking her if she had heard the Lord. She told him to go to sleep, thinking he was crazy. Pete, not a bit put off, went back to the foot of the bed, kneeled and prayed, "Jesus, Iknow you're real because I've tried everything else,I've got nowhere to go. If you don't save me I won't last two more days." "From that moment on," Maravich later recalled, "my life was never to be the same again. When I took God into my heart, it was the first true happiness I ever had."

 

For the first coulpe of days and his wife Jackie thought it was "just another phase", like the yoga, or UFOs, or [[Hinduisim]]. "But it wasn't. It was for real."

== The Legacy ==

== The Legacy ==

The Pistol changed the way basketball was played. Modern players are still inspired by him; he set a precedent and changed the whole style of the game.

The Pistol changed the way basketball was played. Modern players are still inspired by him; he set a precedent and changed the whole style of the game.

                  

                  

Source material: Maravich - Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill- Sport Classic books -c. 2006

Source material: Maravich - Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill- Sport Classic books -c. 2006