MIKAN, GEORGE

born June 18, 1924, Joliet, Ill., U.S. in full George Lawrence Mikan American professional basketball player and executive who was selected in an Associated Press poll in 1950 as the greatest basketball player of the first half of the 20th century. Standing about 6 feet, 10 inches, he was the first of the outstanding big men in the post-World War II professional game. Mikan received his undergraduate and legal education at De Paul University, Chicago. After a brief period with the Chicago American Gears of the professional National Basketball League (NBL), he joined the Minneapolis Lakers, a team that was successively in the NBL, the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and, from 1949, the National Basketball Association (NBA). In nine seasons he scored 11,764 points in 520 regular games for an average of 22.6 points a game, and 2,141 points in 91 championship games for a 23.5-point average. With Mikan at centre, the Lakers won six championships from 194748 through 195354 (195051 season excepted). Having retired as a player in 1956, he coached the Lakers for part of the 195758 season. When the professional American Basketball Association (ABA) was founded on Feb. 2, 1967, Mikan was named its commissioner (chief executive). He resigned on July 14, 1969, because the ABA office was to be moved to New York City from Minneapolis, where he was a successful lawyer and businessman.