|
George Lawrence Mikan[mik´un] Pronunciation Key, 1924–, American basketball player, b. Joliet, Ill. After leading De Paul Univ. to the 1945 National Invitational Tournament title, he played (1948–56) for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and led them to five championships from 1949 to 1954. The first dominant "big man" in the NBA and a key figure in the rise of professional basketball, Mikan subsequently became a lawyer and was later (1967–69) the first commissioner of the rival American Basketball Association.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2009, Columbia
University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
|
Topics
that might be of interest to you: |
• basketball
|
|
