The Issue and Theme of Race in "Pistol," by Matt Kreigel

    This week, I continued reading "Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich" by Matt Kreigel. While reading, I had come across a issue that never was mentioned before as literally game-changing factor: race. In fact, I remember being surprised at how none of Pete's or Press' lives hadn't encountered race issues, since at this time Americans held much tension between each other whether one was black, white, Latino  etc. Needless to say, there might be a few reasons for this. One being that between Press and his son, they didn't care what kind of person played their beloved game, as long as they had someone good to play. Do I agree with this? Totally, the fact that African-Americans couldn't play in front-runner leagues such as the NBA or the ABA for such a long time was because of the tension off the court in the culture of the U.S. For the Maraviches, life beyond basketball was almost irrelevant. Its quoted several times in the book itself that Press wasn't racially biased as a coach, player, or person at all. In fact, he made a point of recruiting or trying to recruit several colored players to the college teams he coached such as Clemson and Louisiana State University.
     Pete as well felt indifferent toward race. He loved the game, as his dad did, and never refused to play because he had to play with or against someone of another race. In the book, it even says that Press encouraged Pete to take on all challenges and challenge the impossible. Also, had Pete had any racial issues with other players that affected how he played, I could most likely predict that his father would be furious to hear that Pete wouldn't play a game due to one's race. Keep in mind also that Pete was Press' ideal son. He was his crafted in his image and became actually the first basketball player to sign a million-dollar contract with the NBA, a phenomenon Press predicted when the kid was barely in high school.
    The NBA around the time of Pete Maravich had already a racially integrated number of players. If Pete had any racial issues or prejudices, would've he had played in the NBA? Not at all. This was the time where colored people and white people both came together to play basketball. In the end, that's all Pete ever wanted to do. I think the very fact that Pete's mindset and conscious was always overlooking irrelevant things such as prejudice is actually beautiful. The '60s and '70s weren't exactly a golden age in racial tandem. I'm not saying everyone was racially opinionated, but kids were being raised to think a certain way of others and themselves, and they still do. However, as the status quo matured and people became more aware, it was people who saw past race and prejudice who are responsible for the "moving on," of things. So, in the case of Pete Maravich, was race actually an issue? No, and never was. One might make a joke or two, but in good fun. Pete just wanted to play, and a racist bigot wasn't going to hold him back and people weren't going to convince him to think poorly of those unlike him racially.