Pete Maravich CGC 6.0 March 1971 Sport Magazine Newsstand Rookie Cover

March 1971 Sport magazine newsstand issue of Atlanta Hawks Pete Maravich with a great cover photo of Pistol Pete dribbling. This is Maravich's Rookie/first ever appearance on the cover of Sport Magazine. And pictured as an Atlanta Hawk, it is a full 2 1/2" years before his first appearance as a pro on Sports Illustrated, which came out on November 12, 1973. Graded CGC 6.0.

Pete Maravich was one of the greatest college basketball players ever. He is the all-time college basketball scoring leader, 54 years after his last season at Louisiana State University.

Originally from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area he played college ball at LSU, but only three years on varsity, as freshman could only play on junior varsity.  

Maravich, a shooting guard, became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division 1 history with 3667 points overall, averaging an incredible 44 points per game. And this was before the advent of the shot clock and three-pointers. Some estimate that if 3-pointers were available when Maravich played at LSU he probably would have averaged over 50 points per game during his college career.

Sport magazine can sometime be overshadowed by Sports Illustrated but should not be. Firstly, Sport pre-dates SI by eight years - the first issue published September of 1946 (Joe Dimaggio cover). Sports Illustrated's first issue was published on August 16, 1954. Sport was monthly - SI was weekly. 

It might be that over the years SI was more in the forefront of sports enthusiast's minds because they received and read the publication more often. And although publication of Sport magazine ceased after the August 2000 issue, for 54 years the magazine was a monthly staple for in depth articles of the greatest sports figures of all-time, most of whom graced the cover. 

In addition, some superstar athletes of the 1940's and 1950's were on the cover of Sport but never appeared on the cover of SI during their playing days, such as Joe Dimaggio, Jackie Robinson, and George Mikan.

CGC graded Sports magazines have become more and more desirable and valuable in the last several years. In the comic book hobby, every valuable, desirable comic book sold is graded. And certainly also the case with sports cards.

Vintage Sport magazine newsstand issues that never had a subscription label are truly scarce. And if a person occasionally bought an issue at the newsstand, they probably threw them out after reading the issue, or a few weeks later. But if a person was a subscriber, they most likely tended to save and collect their issues (that all had labels) - the subscriber was probably more of a pack rat or collector. That could be why there are so many Subscription "label" issues of vintage Sport magazines.  

A not often offered for sale CGC graded Pete Maravich Rookie Sport magazine to add to one's Pistol Pete, Hawks, basketball or CGC collection.15.00 shipping in the USA.