George Lawrence Mikan

George Lawrence Mikan was born on June 18, 1924, in Joliet, Illinois. He was of Croatian and Lithuanian Decent. George’s height peaked at 6 feet 10 inches and he weighed 245 pounds. His family consisted of his mother Minnie, father Joseph, and two brothers Joe and Ed. All three boys worked in the family restaurant following school each day. At a young age George’s passion was the piano and he wanted to someday be a concert pianist. Throughout his life this proved to be a beloved hobby. As a boy George did not have many basketball skills and broke his leg in a game at the age of thirteen. He gave priesthood a try at the Quigley Seminary in downtown Chicago following his attendance at Joliet Catholic High School. The high school coach had discouraged George from basketball because of his eyesight. The Seminary was a thirty-five mile commute from Joliet, which left George no time for basketball. At this time his 6 foot 10 inch stature had done nothing but cause him to feel awkward and shy.

George gave basketball another try at Notre Dame University. Coach George Keogan was very skeptical of his success because of the quarter inch glasses that he wore. When Notre Dame’s assistant coach Ray Meyer took over as head coach of Chicago’s DePaul University he decided to work with George. The workouts with more agile teammates improved his timing. He followed through with four varsity seasons for DePaul. In George’s first season, DePaul won nineteen games and lost only five. George’s ability to block shots that were dropping into the basket inspired a new National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rule against goaltending. In 1944 they lost the National Invitational Tournament but came back to win it the next season. George was a three time All-American, from 1944-1946 after performances such as his 120 points in his final three games at DePaul with a high of 53. In all, George led DePaul to an 83-18 record scoring 1,870 points, a collegiate record at that time. George played baseball in the off-season and was being scouted by the major leagues as a pitcher. With his height and reputation it was inevitable that he would choose basketball.

The National Basketball League (NBL) had begun in 1937, but with a limited amount of teams it was a small time operation until World War II. George’s team was sponsored in the same way as many bowling teams. The Chicago American Gears paid him $12,000 per season. He married Patricia Lu Deveny in 1946, the year he became a professional. They went on to have four sons and two daughters together. George joined the Minneapolis Lakers following the Gears disband after only twenty-five games. He was chosen unanimously as the NBL’s most valuable player for the 1947-48 season after averaging 21.3 points per game. The Lakers won the title that year and began a dynasty.

In 1948-49, The Lakers, along with three other teams, joined a new league, the National Basketball Association (NBA). There were also eleven teams added by Commissioner Maurice Podoloff from the Basketball Association of America (BAA). George was wearing his well-known number 99 and everywhere crowds came to see him. The Lakers won the title again in the NBA’s first year with the league’s leading scorer George Mikan, averaging 28.3 points per game. The most dramatic point in the season was when George broke his wrist in the playoffs. He played the next two games with one hand dangling in a cast and averaged 30 points. The dynamic Lakers George Mikan, Vern Mikkelson, Jim Pollard, Arnie Ferrin, and Slater Martin, possibly the best team ever put together went on to win a third consecutive championship in 1949-50. Once again George led the league in scoring with 27.4 points per game.

Because of George’s broken ankle in 1950-51 the Lakers lost to the Rochester Royals in the semifinals yet George was a leader again in scoring with 28.4 points per game. On November 22, 1950 basketball fans witnessed one of the wildest games in NBA history. The Lakers were defeated 19-18 by Fort Wayne. Games like this brought the 24 second rule into the game in 1954-55. The stall could no longer be used to keep the ball from dominating players like George.

In 1951-52, the three-second lane was widened from 6 feet to 12 feet across to keep the big players like George from hanging around the basket. George felt that this change made the game better and gave a more wide-open play.