BATON ROUGE – Former LSU men’s basketball player Josh Maravich passed away on Friday at the family home in Covington at the age of 42.
Josh Maravich was one of two sons of the legendary LSU basketball and NBA star, Pistol Pete Maravich.
Josh was part of the LSU men’s basketball program for four seasons, 2001-05, under head coach John Brady. Maravich’s time at LSU was something he knew he always wanted to do.
“I wanted to come here for my dad to make him proud,” Josh said in a 2005 article in the LSU school paper, The Daily Reveille. “I knew I wasn’t going to be a star player, but for me being a walk-on was what I always wanted to do.”
Prior to his time at LSU, Josh Maravich played high school basketball at St. Paul’s in Covington. He scored more than 1,000 points in his three-year career there and was named MVP of the District his senior season. Josh averaged 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals per game his senior season.
Josh was born in Metairie on March 25, 1982. He is survived by his mother, Jackie Maravich McLachlan and her husband James; and older brother Jaeson.
Visitation will be Thursday from 9-11:30 a.m. with a service to follow at EJ Fielding Funeral Home in Covington (2260 W 21st Ave.). Burial will be at Resthaven Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Baton Rouge.
Josh was part of the ceremonies in July 2022 to unveil the long-awaited statue of his basketball star father, on the plaza outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
It was Josh and his brother, Jaeson, who came up with the iconic pose that is on display on the plaza where his father is enshrined with the other legends of the game – Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit and Seimone Augustus.
Sculptor Brian Hanlon, trying to decide on the design for the statue of college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, naturally thought he would sculpt the Pistol shooting a shot. But he asked Maravich’s sons for their input and when the statue was unveiled there was Pete in full fast break mode, throwing a right-handed behind-the-back pass.