It’s no stretch to say George Mikan revolutionized the game of basketball as its first truly effective big man.
“He was everything,” recalled Johnny Bach, a Bulls assistant coach who played against Mikan in the early NBA of the 1950s. “He changed the power in basketball. They had to change the rules and take the lane out from 6 to 12 feet. They said that would stop him. It didn’t.”
Mikan, whom DePaul coach Ray Meyer transformed from an awkward, bespectacled, 6-foot-10-inch kid into an All-American, died late Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 80 and had been in failing health in recent years with diabetes and kidney disease.
“George Mikan truly revolutionized the game and was the NBA’s first true superstar,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said. “A fierce competitor on the court and a gentle giant off the court. We may never see one man impact the game as he did, and represent it with such warmth and grace.”
Meyer, the 91-year-old retired Hall of Fame coach, spent most of Thursday fielding media requests for his Mikan recollections.
“Our names have been linked together for more than 60 years–the M&M boys,” Meyer said. “We started out together. I thought I’d go first, but I knew George was very sick. He was a great basketball player and an even better human being. I loved the guy.”
Meyer called Mikan “the greatest player, the hardest worker and the fiercest competitor” he coached in his 42 years at DePaul.
“He was very awkward when he first came to college,” Meyer said, recalling 1942. “He never made his high school team at Joliet Catholic.”
Between Joliet Catholic and DePaul, Mikan considered the priesthood and studied at Quigley Preparatory Seminary.
Big men did not dominate basketball in the 1940s. In fact, they often were discouraged from playing the sport.
“No matter where a tall guy went in those days, there was always someone to tell him he couldn’t do something,” Mikan once recalled.
One such person was George Keogan, the coach at Notre Dame from 1923 to 1943. As a high school senior, Mikan had a tryout before Keogan, who wasn’t interested.
“He’s too awkward and he wears glasses,” Keogan said.
Keogan suggested Mikan enroll at a smaller school “where he can get more individual attention.”
“I guess they just didn’t think I had it,” Mikan recalled of the Notre Dame snub. “It just about broke my heart.”
But it worked out for the best, because it brought Mikan to DePaul for a four-year association with Meyer, who had just begun his head-coaching career after leaving Keogan’s staff.
Meyer supplied Mikan with the individual attention Keogan had recommended. Mikan provided the effort.
“He never complained,” Meyer said. “That’s when I learned how hard he worked.”
To improve the coordination, footwork and stamina of his still-growing youngster, Meyer had Mikan skip rope, jump over benches, shadow box and hit a speed bag. He had him shoot hundreds of hook shots and layups, right-handed and left-handed, daily–“Mikan drills” that are still used in coaching big men today.
“I’m ashamed of how hard I worked him,” Meyer said.
But the results spoke for themselves. He became a three-time All-American at DePaul. In 1951, a nationwide media panel voted Mikan the best basketball player of the first half of the 20th Century. In 1996 he was named among the 50 greatest players in NBA history.
Not all of Meyer’s drills were tedious. The coach hired a female DePaul student to teach Mikan to dance in hopes of improving his footwork.
“Every day he got better,” Meyer recalled. “Like a flower blooming. He was smart. I only had to tell him something once.”
Mikan was born June 18, 1924, in Joliet. He lived above his family’s restaurant and commuted between his home and the DePaul campus so he could help out in the restaurant, tending bar nights and weekends.
He graduated from DePaul in 1946 and immediately breathed life into the struggling sport of pro basketball by signing a five-year, $12,000-per-year contract with the National Basketball League’s Chicago American Gears. When the NBL folded after his first season, Mikan moved to the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers and led the team to five titles in his first six seasons.
He averaged 22.6 points per game over his pro career, and when he retired he was the top scorer in NBA history.
“He literally carried the league,” Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy said. “He gave us recognition and acceptance when we were at the bottom of the totem pole in professional sports. People came to see him as much as they came to see the game.”
Mikan was such a force that he was largely responsible for two rules changes. Goaltending–interfering with a shot on its downward flight–was outlawed during his college career.
After Mikan joined the Lakers, the NBA widened its free-throw lane from 6 feet to 12 feet. Slowdown tactics used against him–his 1950 Lakers lost 19-18 to the Ft. Wayne Pistons in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history–eventually led to the 24-second shot clock.
Meyer recalled a DePaul-Ohio State game in Chicago Stadium to illustrate Mikan’s toughness and competitive nature.
“He had a sprained ankle, but he scored 37 points, 12 of them in overtime,” Meyer said. “Ohio State had a great 6-9 center, Arnie Risen. He went by our bench muttering, `12 points in overtime–nobody ever did that to me before.'”
In the 1945 NIT semifinal, a 97-53 rout over Rhode Island, Mikan was triple-teamed but matched his opponents’ scoring total with a 53-point flurry that still stands as DePaul’s single-game scoring record.
Dick Triptow, retired basketball coach at Lake Forest College and author of two books about basketball in earlier generations, considers his DePaul and American Gears teammate the best center who ever played.
“It’s hard to compare players from different eras, but [Mikan] was the standard of his time,” Triptow said.
Mikan was far from a finesse player. While Meyer drilled him on becoming an ambidextrous shooter, he also reminded Mikan that he shot with only one arm at a time, so the other elbow could be put to use.
Opponents frequently complained about those elbows. Once, after a New York writer told Mikan the Knicks were upset over his bruising style, Mikan hiked up his jersey to expose the welts on his body.
“What do they think these are?” he asked. “Birthmarks?”
A photograph from 1949 might be the best indicator of Mikan’s impact on the NBA. Before a Lakers-Knicks game at the old Madison Square Garden, big letters on the Garden marquee carried the message: “Geo. Mikan vs. the Knicks.”
Mikan took law courses at DePaul in the off-season during his pro career. Later he practiced law in the Twin Cities area and was involved in several businesses, including the old American Basketball Association, which he served as commissioner.
In his later years he became involved in an effort to improve pension benefits for the NBA’s pioneer players. Mikan drew a pension check of only $1,700 a month.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Patricia; sons Larry, Terry, Patrick and Michael; daughters Trisha and Maureen; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“He has to be one of the best of all time,” the Bulls’ Bach said. “The record proves it. He came every night and played hard against the best of his era. That’s all you can do–play against the best of your era. He did it. Along came [Wilt] Chamberlain. Along came [Bill] Russell. He’s right there with them.”
– – –
George L. Mikan Jr.
Born: June 18, 1924 in Joliet.
College: DePaul
Championship teams: National Invitation Tournament (1945); National Basketball League (’47, ’48); Basketball Association of America (1949); NBA (1950, ’52, ’53, ’54–all with Minneapolis Lakers)
Basketball honors: Two-time college player of the year (’44, ’45); elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1959); four-time NBA All-Star (1951-54); named one of 50 greatest players in NBA history (1996).
– – –
“When I think about George Mikan, I skip all the Wilt Chamberlains and Kareem Abdul-Jabbars and I call him the ‘The Original Big Man.’ Without George Mikan, there would be no up-and-unders, no jump hooks, and there would be no label of the big man.”
–Minnesota Timberwolves star and former Farragut player Kevin Garnett
“In the sports I’ve been involved in and the people I’ve played with and against, and the people I’ve coached and coached against, he was the greatest competitor I’ve ever been involved with.
–Ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant, a teammate of Mikan’s on the 1950 Lakers team that won an NBA championship
“George was a giant among men in the early days of the NBA. He was one of the greatest players of all time. He was the first player to really be an imposing and intimidating figure on the court.”
–Boston Celtics president Arnold “Red” Auerbach
“George Mikan was the model for all big men that followed him”
–Miami Heat president Pat Riley
`You’ve got to start with Mikan first before you name any Laker. He paved the way for all of us who came after him.’
–Former Los Angeles Laker and Hall of Famer Magic Johnson
———-
wjauss@tribune.com
