George Mikan

[edit] Biography

There are some today who still consider George Mikan the greatest and most important basketball player ever. Born in Joliet, Illinois in 1924, Mikan grew to nearly seven feet and 240 pounds, making his high school team as a senior reserve. An intelligent law student, Mikan enrolled at DePaul University and came to the attention of young coach Ray Meyer. Meyer took the lumbering uncoordinated giant under his wing, and put Mikan through a remarkable regime of drills and exercises, many of which would be used later to develop Lew Alcindor and other young giants for the game. Mikan blossomed into a fairly ambidextrous passer, shooter and ballhandler. He became an athlete that was years ahead of his time. He led DePaul to two NCAA Finals and became the biggest college star in history to that point. Just weeks after his senior year, he was signed by the Chicago American Gears in 1945. Too big to be war-drafted, Mikan dominated the sport at this time. Mikan thrilled fans of the struggling National Basketball League by leading the team to the NBL title in 1947, and past the Rens and Globetrotters in Chicago's then-prestigous World Pro Tournament. He was dubbed ' The Babe Ruth Of Basketball '. Mikan had held out for owed pay from the Gears that year, commanding the biggest salary yet ever seen in the sport. Crowds for him were huge for the era. He came to transcend the sport in many ways. People came to see him play, not the league. Gears owner Maurice White was so moved by Mikan's star power, that he tried to start his own league, taking Mikan with him out of the NBL. But the league soon collapsed under a hail of debt. Mikan was put in a NBL lottery, and was selected by the then also-ran Minneapolis Lakers. Now a 250-pound powerhouse, Mikan teammed with star forward Jim Pollard and began a reign of success matched only by Red Auerbach's Boston Celtics. The Lakers won the 1948 NBL title, the 1949 BAA title and five of the first six NBA titles. Mikan was the undisputed star of all of those teams. His all-around game was incredible for the era, and included the ability to average 30 points per game in an era of 70-65 scores. Mikan was largely responsible for the NBL-BAA merger that created the NBA, as New York promoters salivated with the idea of bringing him to Madison Square Garden. No player then remotely matched his fame or pay. The $50,000 a year salary he signed for in 1950 was the league's highest for ten years. Mikan more than doubled that off the court as well. In 1955, he was on his way to becoming a millionaire, unheard of for a player then. Mikan figured again in the game's history when a slew of rule changes came thru in 1954, largely based on neutralizing his dominance. Among them was the 24-Second Clock. Mikan had begun to breakdown physically under the pace of 100-plus games per year by then, including exhibitions, and simply retired. Mikan, as the first huge center, also figured into the development of the first power forward and first great frontline. College center Vern Mikkelsen was slotted next to him on the Lakers, and John Kundla and Mikan developed his role assisting Mikan, making him arguably the game's first true power forward. Jim Pollard then became the first small or quick forward as well in a coordinated three-man attack. Since the Lakers also had good guards, the team became almost unbeatable by the early 1950s. With Mikan's retirement, the Lakers declined, were sold, and moved to Los Angeles. The Lakers nickname was kept to honor Mikan and his early NBA dynasty. Angered at the move from Minneapolis, who had so loudly supported him, Mikan spearheaded a ABA team for the city in 1967 as figurehead Commissioner for the new league. He also had been involved in the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise. There were no Most Valauble Player trophies for Mikan in his day. Had there been, it's spectulated he may have won nine such awards. He was a original Hall Of Fame selection in 1960, and has since been selected to receive every post-career honor imaginable for the NBA. Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Red Auerbach and Bill Russell were among his biggest fans even decades later. No one is more credited with making the NBA possible. Mikan passed away in 1999.

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