George Mikan, the bespectacled giant who so dominated pro basketball in its early years that the game was forced to change its rules, died of kidney failure Wednesday at a rehabilitation hospital in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 80.

The 6-foot-10, 245-pound center was the sport's first superstar. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1959, Mikan was voted the game's greatest player in the first half of the 20th century and was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996.

"He was a guy who changed the game," said Matt Zeysing, historian and archivist at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. "He was agile getting up and down the floor. Most centers at that time were lumbering, and .. . not necessarily as aggressive as he was. He was the intimidator.''

Mikan's size, his history of personal fouls (he led the league in fouls three times), in addition to his 10 broken bones and 166 stitches during his career, caused some to call him a rough player, sort of an early-day Shaquille O'Neal. He was certainly a tough player, powering through the 1950 playoffs with a broken wrist and the 1951 playoffs with a fractured leg.

"I played all right, scored in the 20s. I couldn't run, sort of hopped down the court," he told Newsday in 1990.

Mikan's sweeping hook shots dropped in from his right or left hand. His old-fashioned two-handed set shot was also deadly.

Mikan led the Minneapolis Lakers to five championships and led the pros in scoring six times. He averaged 22.6 points per game in his NBA career, when game scores were much lower than they are today. In the 1948-49 season, he averaged 28.3 points and was the league's MVP.

Mikan played the low post, close to the basket, and was an inside shooter. The rulemaking National Basketball Committee widened the foul lane from six to 12 feet to make it more difficult for Mikan and players like him to score, but it seemed to have little effect.

Mikan was an immensely popular player when the sport attracted only a few thousand fans to each game. He was one of the first basketball players on the Wheaties "breakfast of champions" cereal box, and on a December night in 1949, the marquee at Madison Square Garden overlooked the rest of the Lakers team to tout "Geo. Mikan vs. Knicks."

"He literally carried the league," Bob Cousy, the Boston Celtics' Hall of Famer and the NBA's pre-eminent guard in its early years, told the AP on Thursday. "He gave us recognition and acceptance when we were at the bottom of the totem pole in professional sports."

Mikan started out in the pros making an unheard-of $12,000 with the Chicago American Gears. By 1950, as the highest-paid player in the game, he made $25,000. He retired after the 1953-54 season, staged a temporary comeback in 1955-56, coached the Lakers for part of the 1957-58 season, then became a lawyer in the Minneapolis area.

In 1967, he returned to the game as commissioner of the fledgling ABA. He was responsible for the league using the 3 point shot from a distance of 25 ft. and created the Red, White and Blue basketball which was the trademark of a league that rivaled the bland, slow moving style of the NBA.

Mikan is survived by his wife, Patricia, four sons and two daughters.

Truly revolutionized the game of basketball in a way no one before him ever could.  A lot of the rules today, were designed to keep George Mikan from having an advantage over the other players: goaltending, expanding the sixe of the key.

All us Laker fans are truly sad today.

Truly revolutionized the game of basketball in a way no one before him ever could.  A lot of the rules today, were designed to keep George Mikan from having an advantage over the other players: goaltending, expanding the sixe of the key.

All us Laker fans are truly sad today.
I don't think goal tending was ever legal ??? vHe also played for them when the name sure made more sense ;) I like what he did as the first commisioner of the American Basketball Association also though. That 25 ft. 3 point shot took skill and everyone knows how much I love that Red, White and Blue basketball they used :)

I don't think a lot of players were tall enough to commit goaltending before Mikan.
He was considered the Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal of his time. He revolutionized the sky hook shot before Kareem made it his trademark. He will be missed by fans, palyers and coaches alike. :\'(
I don't think goal tending was ever legal ??? vHe also played for them when the name sure made more sense ;) I like what he did as the first commisioner of the American Basketball Association also though. That 25 ft. 3 point shot took skill and everyone knows how much I love that Red, White and Blue basketball they used :)

I don't think a lot of players were tall enough to commit goaltending before Mikan.
He was considered the Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal of his time. He revolutionized the sky hook shot before Kareem made it his trademark. He will be missed by fans, palyers and coaches alike. :\'(
I'll always love him for creating this...

http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABABallGraphics/SpinningABABall.GIF