Recently, I was reading A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards. The book reminded me of hearing Sam Storms preach an excellent message on heaven at the 2003 Desiring God conference hosted by John Piper. I told Sam after his message that this was the finest message I have heard on the topic of heaven. His book on election--Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election--is my favorite on the topic. Sam is a good friend and a man I respect.

Obviously Sam is much smarter than I am. He has obtained a PhD (University of Texas at Dallas). I graduated from high school (I think).

But I am street-smart and I know it’s normally unwise to disagree with intellectual heavyweights.

My friend Sam Storms knows more than I on every topic, except one. And it just so happens that yesterday he wrote on that solitary topic in a blog post titled “The Greatest College Basketball Player of All Time, and the Meaning of Life.” In that post, Sam assigns “greatest college basketball player ever” status to Pete Maravich. I simply cannot remain silent.

Sam—I love you, my friend—but Pete Maravich was not the greatest college basketball player of all time.

I acknowledge Pete Maravich had offensive genius without peer. He was the greatest offensive college basketball player of all time. But to be included in the conversation about the greatest basketball player of all time, one must play both ends of the court. One must play defense as well as offense. And Pete Maravich did not play defense (I’d put up 40 if Pete were covering me).

The greatest college basketball player of all time, without argument, was Oscar Robertson. No one in college or professional ball had more triple-doubles than Robertson and only he has averaged a triple-double for an entire season of professional ball (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists in 1961–62)! Robertson’s dominance in pro ball reflects his unprecedented dominance at the collegiate level.

He was the first big point guard who dominated the game at both ends of the court, handling and distributing the ball and scoring at one end. He played suffocating defense on the other end. The man simply was the entire package and that is why Oscar Robertson—not Pete Maravich—was the greatest college basketball player who ever played.

But I get Sam’s ultimate and (most important) point. Sam points out in his blog post that the work of God in the life of Pete Maravich is incredible and wonderful.

Sam writes,

Maravich openly and proudly rejected the God of Scripture. He pursued every possible option in his relentless effort to find meaning and purpose and joy in life. He tried Hinduism, but that didn't work. He dabbled in Buddhism, but that left him as empty as before. He immersed himself in astrology, hoping to find in the configuration of the stars and planets some indication of the meaning of his existence, but again to no avail.
 
He embraced reincarnation and spent time trying to discover who he was in past lives and who he might become in future lives. He experimented with astral projection, investigated UFO's, became a vegetarian, and eventually gave himself over to drugs and alcohol.
 
Nothing satisfied him. Nothing filled the hole in his soul. Until one night in 1982, as he lay quietly in bed, for the first time he cried out to God for help. He fell out of bed and got on his knees and committed his life to Jesus Christ. From that point on Pistol Pete Maravich became an outspoken, devoted, passionate disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, proclaiming the gospel to everyone he met, declaring for all to hear that in the person of Jesus he had finally and fully found purpose, satisfaction, hope, and the forgiveness of sins.
 
Six years later, in January of 1988, at the age of 40, Maravich was playing a pick-up game of basketball in a church gymnasium in California, together with noted Christian psychologist and author James Dobson. He made a shot, turned to Dobson and said: "Boy, I feel great!" Whereupon he collapsed, dead before he hit the floor....

I would like to think that in the new earth I’ll get to shoot some hoops with Pistol Pete. But I strongly suspect that neither of us will be drawn to anything other than the joyful celebration of the greatness and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well said, my friend. I fully agree.

---------------

P.S. Anyone interested in more on these college basketball phenoms can read two books I’ve especially enjoyed: Oscar Robertson’s autobiography, The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game; and Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel.