Former Utah Jazz guard “Pistol” Pete Maravich played in his final NBA game in the spring of 1980, three years before current Jazz guard Ronnie Price was even born. But when he was old enough to decipher favorites, Price quickly settled on the one-of-a-kind basketball showman. Ronnie’s dad put a basketball in his hands at a very early age and it wasn’t long before he was given a nickname too. “Everyone knew that my favorite player was ‘Pistol Pete,’ so people would call me Pistol or call me Pete.”

The Friendswood, Texas native learned how to play the game from his cousin Trey, but before singling out basketball, Price gave baseball and football a try. “I played quarterback and running back for a time and then I played safety. In baseball, I played shortstop and second base. Texas is so big though, so once you get to high school you've got to pretty much pick a sport and run with it.”

Nicknamed after a Hall of Famer, Price began his prep career at Clear Brook High School as a starter on the freshman team. It wasn’t long before he was called up to varsity where he remained a starting Wolverine until graduation. Price also ran the floor on AAU teams that included current NBA players TJ Ford, Chris Bosh and Ike Diogu.

Price, whose sister now plays varsity basketball for the CBHS Wolverines, had several schools interested in him by the time his junior year rolled around. “Local junior colleges, and local Division I colleges in Texas had their eyes on me. But my senior year, I broke my shooting wrist. I think it was the third game of the season. I actually came back and tried to play with my left hand for a while, but that didn't turn out so great. It wasn't a good chance for colleges to get to see me play and plus the fact that I was only 5'7" and 150 pounds, they didn't want to take a chance on me.” His 16.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals averages as a senior and 3.4 GPA didn’t seem to matter much either.

“I wanted to go to LSU, and the University of Houston was interested in me before I got hurt, but Nicholls State came in at the last minute so that’s where I wound up going.” Nicholls State University, a four-year institution in Thibodaux, La., was the then-employer of assistant men’s basketball coach Sheldon Jones, a Ronnie Price fan since he was 13.

“When I was 13, I went to an LSU basketball camp and I met a coach named Sheldon Jones. He said if he ever got a coaching job he would call me and see how I was doing. I didn’t think much of it because coaches always say that. I didn't talk to him for like three years, and he just randomly gave me a call when I was 16 or 17 and asked me how I was doing and wanted me send me some tapes. He was at Western Nebraska Community College and had just got an assistant coaching job at Nicholls State.”

Price became an NSU Colonel in 2001, but experienced tough times in Thibodaux. “We had four or five guys that were ineligible, so we had to play with walk-ons and young guys who had never played before. I did okay as a freshman. I just played as hard as I could.”

“After that crazy year, my head coach at Nicholls State resigned and took a job at LSU. From there on, I knew that I wanted to go somewhere else. So I went to the Mullens All-Star Junior College Review. It's for juco players and players that are trying to get into four years. I went there, played well, and, after that, Utah Valley State College showed up. Sheldon Jones got a job at UVSC and introduced me to Dick Hunsaker,” a former Utah and Ball State head coach. “Dick came to my house, met my family and I knew that was who I wanted to play for.”

Before even stepping foot on the campus of Utah Valley, Price once again became a Wolverine. “The amount of basketball that I learned from Coach Hunsaker and the relationships that I made with my teammates and fans was more than I imagined. The type of player that I came in as and the type of player that I left as, was beyond my imagination as I had pictured myself as a basketball player.”

Two years in green and gold in Orem, Utah and Price was gaining the confidence needed to make it to the next level. “That's the reason why I played basketball, to be the best player that I could be. I would go play different places in the summer against guys that went to bigger schools, some NBA guys, and I could see then that I could play with them. They're not any different than me. And that's when I said, ‘Okay, I need to step it up because if I really want to play in the NBA here’s my chance.’”

Price averaged 19.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.63 steals in 89 games over three seasons at Utah Valley and his 24.3 senior scoring average would have ranked him third nationally if UVSC had not been a provisional Division I member.

Numbers and performances taken well into consideration after his collegiate career, Ronnie Price, Friendswood’s “Pistol Pete”, became the first player to enter the NBA directly from UVSC and only the second alumnus to play in the league. Signed by the Sacramento Kings to a two-year contract on August 2, 2005 and now by the Utah Jazz to a multi-year contract on July 26, 2007, Price is proving it can happen to anyone.

“My advice is anything can happen. There's a bunch of teams in the NBA, a bunch of scouts everywhere, and all it takes is for one person to like you. A hundred people can say bad things about you, but as long as one person says a good thing about you and you can get yourself in the door. Basketball doesn't change. It's the same thing. The game doesn't change, so, play hard and focus your time and your energy toward getting better. It's possible no matter what school you go to.”