Sports Poets Society

Bob Pettit was named Most Valuable Player  of the  N.B.A. All-Star Game in 1958.Credit...Associated Press https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/obituaries/bob-pettit-dead.html A prolific scorer and rebounder, in 1958 he delivered one of the most remarkable performances in playoff history. Bob Pettit was named Most Valuable Player of the N.B.A. All-Star Game in 1958.Credit...Associated Press By Richard Goldstein Published Sept. 24, 2026 Updated Sept. 25, 2026, 10:53 a.m. ET Bob Pettit, a prototype for the modern-day power forward who was named one of the N.B.A.’s 50 greatest players of its first half century and who led the Hawks franchise to its only league championship, died on Wednesday. He was 93. His death was announced by Louisiana State University, his alma mater. No other details were provided. Playing for the Hawks from 1954 to 1965, in Milwaukee as a rookie and then in St. Louis, the 6-foot-9-inch Pettit became the first N.B.A. player to score at least 20,000 points, and...

Bob Pettit was so ungainly that he didn't make his high school team until his junior season. But you wouldn't have known that once he turned pro. Pettit was the first rookie ever to make the NBA's All-League Team . In 1958, the " Bayou Bomber " hit for 50 points in Game 6 of the Finals and led the Hawks past the Celtics, the only interruption to Boston's run of titles from 1957 through 1966 . Over his first nine NBA seasons, he never finished below fourth in either rebounding or scoring . When Pettit retired in 1965, he was the NBA's all-time scoring leader with 20,880 points. Pettit had the dubious distinction of being cut from his high school baseball and football teams. He was 5-foot-9 as a freshman at Baton Rouge High School and his awkward play got him cut from the team. Then his father nailed up a basket in the backyard, and Pettit practiced around the clock . By his senior year he had grown to 6-foot-7; he scored 31 points per game and led his ...

NBA PHOTOS/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES Bob Pettit was the first player to score 20,000 points.  He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971. Hall of Famer, 11-time all-star led Hawks to franchise’s only championship in 1958 25 Sep 2026 - The Washington Post BY GLENN RIFKIN Bob Pettit, a Hall of Fame basketball player who led the old St. Louis Hawks to the 1958 NBA championship and helped define the position of power forward with his prolific scoring and powerful rebounding, died Sept. 23. He was 93. His death was announced by his alma mater, Louisiana State University. Before such stars as Larry Bird, Karl Malone and Kevin Garnett came to personify the modern power forward, Mr. Pettit was the player, with his rebounding prowess and deft shooting touch, who was credited with elevating the position to a game-changing level. He was an NBA all-star in each of his 11 seasons and was the league’s most valuable player in 1956, the year the award was created. He won the MVP award ag...

FOTO ANP/PRESSE SPORTS De historische foto van de Mexicaanse fotograaf Alejandro Ojeda Carbajal, die aantoonde dat de Argentijnse aanvaller Diego Maradona het openingsdoelpunt tegen Engeland met de hand maakte. Vier minuten later maakte Maradona ‘het mooiste voetbaldoelpunt ooit’. Het verhaal over de WK-kwartfinale tussen Engeland en Argentinië in 1986 is in veertig jaar vaak verteld. Zelden met zo veel liefde voor details als in de onlangs verschenen documentaire van twee Argentijnse makers. De geweldige documentaire The Match tekent de liefde voor details 25 Sep 2026 - NRC Arjen Fortuin  AMSTERDAM - Er is altijd iets wat je niet weet. Zoals de keelpastille die de Argentijnse voetballer Ricardo Giusti op 22 juni 1986 begroef in het gras van het Aztekenstadion in Mexico-Stad, voorafgaand aan de kwartfinale van zijn ploeg tegen Engeland. De spelers kregen de snoepjes van hun controlezieke trainer Carlos Bilardo, om te voorkomen dat ze een droge mond zouden oplopen in de ijle Mexica...

The St. Louis Hawks' great star Bob Pettit tries for a basket in typical Pettit style in a game against the Cincinnati Royals in New York City on December 10, 1957.  Pettit was one of the great scorers in NBA history: his career average of 26.4 points per game ranks fifth on the all-time list.  Pettit also was the first NBA player to score 20,000 points.  However, Pettit was an unorthodox scoring machine. Pettit had an accurate outside shot, but was a lousy dribbler and rarely drove to the basket.  His greatest offensive assets were his skill at drawing fouls and his uncanny ability beneath the offensive glass. Alan Minsky Kings of the Court The best way to describe Bob Pettit in terms of contemporary players would be as a Dennis Rodman who could shoot . Rodman, known as The Worm , starred for the champion Detroit Pistons in the late eighties and early nineties, and now, as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, is the NBA's leading rebounder. But though Rodman is a ter...

"He could beat you inside,  he could beat you inside."    - Red Auerbach BASKETBALL STARS Blackdog & Leventhal, 1997 Few felt that Bob Pettit could continue his high-scoring college play in the NBA. Sure, he'd grown a few inches and had a deadly one-handed jumper, but at a wiry 200 pounds he was simply too skinny to mix it up under the board and survive. Pettit confounded the skeptics with an indomitable work ethic and became the first in a series of titans to grapple with Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics for NBA supremacy. Pettit led his Hawks to the finals four times in five years beginning in 1957 . The first series took two overtimes in the seventh game to decide in the Celtics' favor. The following year, Pettit scored 50 points in the decisive sixth game, including 19 of the team's last 21 , and the clinching basket . Pettit's team would be the only club to defeat Russell's Celtics in a finals series , and the last to beat them in any pla...

Que ce soit en 2020 à Imola (ci-contre) ou en 2021 à Louvain, en Belgique (ci-dessous),  Julian Alaphilippe s'est à chaque fois imposé en solitaire pour décrocher le maillot arc-en-ciel.  En 2016, il avait remporté sa première médaille avec l'équipe de France en prenant la deuxième place du Championnat d'Europe à Plumelec, derrière Peter Sagan. Avec la fin de sa carrière s'est également éteinte l'aventure en équipe de France de Julian Alaphilippe. Une période de gloire portée par un esprit de groupe irrésistible, l'insouciance et un peu de féerie, qui sont désormais l'héritage de Paul Seixas et sa génération. 25 Sep 2026 - L'Équipe  DE NOTRE ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL ALEXANDRE ROOS MONTRÉAL (CAN) - Cela fait étrange de ne pas le voir bondir partout cette semaine, une absence qu'on n'avait pas connue au Mondial depuis Bergen en 2017, mais que Thomas Voeckler dit ne pas vraiment ressentir. « Je me suis fait à l'idée », soupire le sélectionneur. Au cœur d...

Célia Géry et Paul Seixas, en 2021. Ils ont 15 ans et sont tous les deux  champions  de France cadets 1 sur route à Lorrez-le-BocagePréaux en Seine-etMarne. Leaders de l’équipe de France à 20 ans, Paul Seixas et Célia Géry se côtoient depuis l’enfance, d’abord adversaires en cyclo-cross puis patrons des Bleus partageant la même ascension fulgurante. "Deux teignes qui ne lâchaient rien sur le vélo"    - PASCAL GÉRY, LE PÈRE DE CÉLIA "On l’avait attaquée pour qu’elle pète parce qu’on est cons,  mais elle avait tenu hyper longtemps"    - CYPRIEN MAISSON, UN DES MEILLEURS        AMIS DE PAUL SEIXAS "Ils ont franchi ensemble les étapes  et se sont quelque part tirés vers le haut"    - FRED MACAUDIÈRE, COORDINATEUR       TECHNIQUE SPORTIF D’AUVERGNE-RHÔNE-ALPES 25 Sep 2026 - L'Équipe LUC HERINCX et THOMAS PEROTTO MONTRÉAL (CAN) – Paul Seixas a retrouvé un visage particulièrement familier le jou...