Bob Pettit (100 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time)
Tall but thin, Bob Pettit wasn't expected to stand up to the rigors of pro ball in the 1950s, even though he'd been a prolific scorer and rebounder at Louisiana State . What the scouts did not take into account were his inner strength, his determination to succeed, and his willingness to put in whatever amount of hard work it took to reach his goal. " Bob made 'second effort' a part of the sports vocabulary," said Boston Celtics center Bill Russell . "He kept coming at you more than any man in the game. He was always battling for position, fighting you off the boards." "He kept coming at you," echoed Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, a rival forward. "There was no way you could stop him over the course of a game. He was just too strong." Pettit learned about perseverance and second effort early in his career. He was cut from his high school team not once but twice . So he worked endlessly to improve his game, firing countless shots at...