#68 - Pete Maravich is Tito Reyes

‘Pistol’ Pete and Hurley’s grandfather would’ve had a lot to talk about over an ice cold lager. You can picture it, right? I can. I’m going to that place right now in my head. It’s folksy. It’s charming. Hah! Tito made a real dad joke and Pete loved it and it was so good to hear Pete laugh that it made me laugh. They’re getting along famously. What’s that? I have to go back to the waking world? I don’t belong in the Dream? It’s not my time? Oh, ok. Yeah, I’m at the computer. Okie dokie. 

We’re talking ‘workhorses’. You know what a workhorse is. Google docs knows what it is. No red squiggly line underneath. It’s a word- workhorse. Pete and Tito were workhorses. Mr. Pistol was famed for not only the speed and frenetic pace of his play through college and through his pro career, but the man made the game harder on himself for famously shooting from what would’ve been the 3 point arc BEFORE there was a 3 point arc. BREAKING NEWS: the NBA didn’t always have 3 pointers! So, Pete made a name for himself for sinking shots from about as far away as one could get for ole’ 2 bucker. 2 bucker sounds like a nickname for 2 point bucket, right? Meanwhile, Tito Reyes worked THREE jobs. Yeah. Three of them. He worked 3 jobs until he was in his 70s. That’s a WORKHORSE right there. And you know what he was doing in his off hours from the age of like 50 onward? Helping to raise his grandson aka Hugo Reyes aka Hurley. So, let’s have you start a discussion about ‘workhorses’ and not have Pete and Tito at the very top of your damn list. You heathen! How dare you not put Pete and Tito at the top of your fucking workhorse list? How dare you?!

So, yeah, Tito was born in like 1930-something. Maybe in California, maybe somewhere else. I don’t know that. His name is Tito, which to me sounds like a third or fourth child’s name. I don’t think any parent comes out the gate naming their first child Tito. Maybe it’s a nickname! Yeah, that’s true. Could easily be a nickname. Tito Ortiz? That’s not his name. It’s not on his long form birth certificate, at least. Anyway, I think I was going to say he survived a cramped house of older siblings beating up on him, which is probably true, but Tito could be a nickname and maybe he’s the oldest and he had to help raise his siblings. Maybe he’s an only child and he had to develop coping mechanisms from being alone all the time. Or really it could be just about anything. Childhood, puberty, life in general just fucks you up whether your name is Tito or not by birth. Ok, let’s just start a new paragraph. 

Tito had 3 jobs, at the same time. He did the work. He helped raise his grandson as his son-in-law ‘hit it n’ quit it’ as the kids after Tito’s time would say. And when his grandson Hugo years later would win the California lottery, Hugo’s first thought was to take care of his grandfather Tito. And, I’m going to get choked up writing this, Hugo said, ‘he’s the greatest man I know’ and that’s it right there, folks. Tito Reyes - ‘greatest man I know’. 

Of course, Tito died of a heart attack seconds after those weighty words were spoken. Right there, dead. Heart attack on live TV. You know who else died of a heart attack not long into his retirement in a public setting? Yeah, the Pistol. Tito died suddenly, but in a happy moment of his grandson praising him on live TV and knowing all his money troubles were long gone because of the windfall of lottery cash. And Pete had gone on an eat, pray, love spiritual journey (after his 10 years in the NBA filled with injuries) where he got into yoga, Eastern philosophies, and, ultimately, found Jesus and then a couple years later died of a rare heart disorder during a pick-up game at church rec center. So, happy times. 

Their fuck-styles? I got two words for you on that- 1. Workhorses. 2. Unpretentious.