The Pistol had a soft side. Charmin soft.

Okay, okay, Pistol Pete Maravich played only 26 games for the Boston Celtics. I understand that by the time he was a Celtic, he no longer had the magic that made him a household name even today. But this is noteworthy.

Both hilarious and heartwarming, his love letters to a high school girlfriend named Vada Palma — saved by her for 45 years — were released to Pete’s old high school, Broughton High School. At times, The Pistol seems like Doug Christie, more whipped than life itself. He wrote “kiss me” in every letter, and admits to missing three free throws in a game because he was thinking of Vada. (Charlotte Observer)

“I know you won’t believe this but I missed three more foul shots last night because of you.” He wrote that he was up until 3 a.m. “I swear, every time I went to the foul line who did I think of. Yes, you[’re] right, you. It was a wonder I didn’t miss all of them

Sounds like Pistol needed to get his priorities in straight. Focus, Pete!

Pete’s softness didn’t end on the free throw line, though.

“It’s 1:30 in the morning and I still love you,” he wrote. “I’m so happy about our win tonight. Nobody would have ever believed that we could beat them.”

The other big news was that he had gotten a suit [for a dance]. “I got my suit today. I think it’s really good looking. All of this is for you,” he wrote.

But Pete didn’t have as good a time as he wanted to after the dance. “My only wish was that we would have had a better time after the dance,” he wrote. “…Boy, what a drag that was driving around not saying a word to each other. You really did look beautiful…”

Fear not, though, Maravich fans. He wasn’t called Pistol Pete for nothing. Although he was “flunking the dog out of College Algebra, he was “beginning to do pretty well in Anatomy.” I think I know what that means: Vada was known as a “local beauty,” and The Pistol always was a great scorer.

(h/t TrueHoop)