In 1974, the New Orleans Jazz franchise was launched as an expansion team. Known for putting Louisiana on the map due to his immense success while in college at LSU, Pistol Pete was needed to christen the franchise. Before the start of the season, Pete Maravich was obtained in a trade from the Atlanta Hawks. His $1.9 million dollar salary was league leading at the time, and was the source of resentment which plagued him throughout his entire NBA career. Although the addition of Maravich did not translate to wins, (23 wins, 59 losses), Pistol Pete and the Jazz were the league’s most exciting team. With his behind the back passes, fancy dribbling, and ability to shoot from any position at any time, Maravich never failed to provide the fans with endless entertainment. Pete did things that had never been seen, and not been seen since.
Obtained recently from a thrift store, this game worn Pete Maravich New Orleans Jazz jacket was sold to the shop’s owner with an additional 1974 NBA warm-up jacket, circa 1974 Jazz shorts, and another pair of 1970s NBA shorts that the owner could not recall the team.
Per our research, MEARS was able to attribute this jacket to the 1974 season only, the first for the New Orleans Jazz. For a matter of full disclosure, there is no direct provenance or images of Maravich wearing this jacket.
Per our examination:
1974 Pete Maravich New Orleans Jazz Inaugural Season Game Jacket
The jersey is a 7 purple snap button down Sand Knit material jacket. The collar is in trimmed with green and white, and the sleeves are purple and yellow plaid. The waistline has a matching color scheme to the collar. This design has been compared to additional 1970s Sand Knit supplied NBA jackets.
Across the front of the jacket in 4” tackle twill lettering is “NEW ORLEANS JAZZ”. The stitching is applied with a zig zag stitch. The style of lettering font is also consistent with 1970s NBA supplied Sand Knit products.
MARAVICH is sewn on reverse in 3” tackle twill lettering and is applied with a zig zag stitch. The application and style of lettering with respects to the players name is consistent with other Sand Knit mid 1970s product supplied by the company and examined by MEARS. The 1975 Cliff Pondexter Bulls Sand Knit jacket is consistent with respects to the font used in PONDEXTER and the zig zag application of the stitching. The consistency illustrated that this jacket was manufactured with a lettering set used by Sand Knit.
Additionally, the construction of the jacket, 7 button snap, set in sleeve style; collar and waist design is consistent with the 1975 Jazz Maravich examined by MEARS. Other Sand Knit product worn during the mid 1970s examined by MEARS include:
Sand Knit
1975 Bulls Sloan
1975 Bulls Pondexter
1970s Celtics Havlicek
1975 Jazz Maravich
Size 44: MEARS has examined an additional 1975 Pete Maravich warmup jacket (worn during second half of 1974-75 season), it was also a size 44 (MEARS 305075)
Sand Knit Tag dating 1974: Per the MEARS tagging database, this style of tag, with the medalist gold medal to the right of the Sand Knit wording, was most consistently last used during the 1974 season. Starting in 1975, examples are found with the gold medal at the bottom of the tag. Thus, the design is most consistent with 1974.
Game Wear: The jersey exhibits moderate game wear. Consistent wear can be seen in the area of the collar, puckering and fraying to the “NEW ORLEANS JAZZ” and “MARAVICH” lettering.
Final Grade: MEARS Authentic. Per our examination, MEARS was able to verify.
Imagery analysis: At this time, MEARS was not able to find a photo of Maravich wearing this exact jacket. Additionally, we could find NO image of an early 1974 Jazz jacket worn by ANY player. Our references included:
1974 Jazz Media Guide
1975 Jazz Media Guide
1976 Jazz Media Guide
Maravich Memories DVD
U TUBE Maravich tributes
1974 Sport Magazine Season issues
1974 Sports Ilustrated Season issues
Getty
Corbis
Although unsuccessful in our attempts to find an exact photo match, what the above did provide us was style matches of Jackets worn by the Jazz from 1975-78. This did not match any of those styles. So with the Sand Knit tag dating ending in 1974 and no early 1974 images found of any Jazz player wearing a warm-up jacket, we are confident in our 1974 dating.
The jacket’s outlandish style coupled with the Pistol Pete’s flair, epitomized 1970s NBA basketball. Per MEARS evaluation and confirmation of the supplier (Sand Knit), Size 44, evidence of solid game wear, and the overall colorful design which was favored during the mid 1970s, MEARS is confident this jacket was consistent with what the New Orleans Jazz would have worn on the court.
For a matter of record, NBA items were often found with an "Exclusively Tailored For Tag." We have examined similar period NBA jersey from the same team that was found both with and without this tagging. We have one late 1970s example of an actual Jazz jersey found without the Exclusive tag."
Collection of MEARS staff.