Former Minneapolis Lakers star center George mikan has passed away after years of ill health due to complications from diabetes and kidney disease. He was 80 years old.

My dad saw him play a number of times and told me how he was the most dominant player of his era. He led the Lakers to 5 NBA titles. He was also commissioner of the ABA for a year, introducing the 3 point line and the wicked-cool red, white and blue ball.

The saddest part of the story is that Mikan was forced to sell most of his awards and memorabilia to pay for medical expenses and living expenses.

Laker Legend Dies

I just saw the sad story of George Mikan on ESPN about three weeks ago. Such a shameful amount of money for any player that retired before 1965. When I think about how much NBA stars today make, it makes me so upset to think about how this man (whose statue sits outside the Target Center) had to struggle financially in his later years.

George Mikan was the one of the first modern basketball players and the first center/post/big man. He helped create the modern game of basketball. He alone was the reason for the width of the 3-second lane. He dominated the sport for many years and was the basis for how to teach and coach and use tall and strong players like Chamberland and Russell.

I always hated that the players association and the NBA did not get around to fixing the pensions of Mikan and the other older players, both organizations seem to forget that without Mikan and others that played in the 40s and 50s are the reason that today's players make millions and teams have such a popular sport to play.

RIP George Mikan, basketball has lost its first giant of the sport.

Hearing Mikan's sad tale makes you want to strangle Latrell Sprewell even more after his rap earlier this year about struggling to feed his family on $14 million a year.

[ June 02, 2005, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: George_Twinsfan ]

Go ahead, you might even get a commercial deal out of it later, just like Spree.

In Spree's defense, with inflation and everything, $14 million a year just doesn't go as far as it once did.

I think this is a problem in the other pro sports as well. Shame on today's players.

Ray Meyer is still alive????

The story gets worse... Now that George Mikan has passed away, his widow now only gets half of his pension.
Note to self: Marry an NBA star who retired after 1965 .

Shaquille O'Neal passed on his condolences after the game last night and offered to pay for Mr. Mikan's funeral.

Good for Shaq!

To update Shaq's offer: after first refusing the offer, Mikan's family has accepted his offer to pay for the funeral. Additionally, they are looking into postponing the service until after the NBA Finals so that Shaq can be in attendance.

~Adam

A third rule change indirectly attributed to Mikan is the institution of the 24 second clock. The only way to beat him after the other two rule changes was to simply hold the ball which lead to the all time lowest score in the NBA.

Since it was announced that Shaq was going to pay for Mikan's funeral, there has been a lot of trash talk on LA sports radio about it. Those who praise Shaq for his generosity are called naive idiots by those who claim Shaq did this solely to make Kobe and the Lakers look bad. They go on to call Shaq selfish and say he shouldn'y have contibuted anything "since he's not a true Laker" and let Kobe take care of George Mikan's funeral costs.

Amazing.

~Adam

Um, did Kobe offer?
I think Shaq was generous. I also think it would have been better to make the offer privately so the attention would focus on Mikan and not Shaq. Also, many people feel uncomfortable accepting "charity" so it would have been more sensitive to his widow.
But I still would rather see an NBA player using his $ to pay for a funeral than an "I'm sorry" diamond ring for his wife.

Boggles the mind. Shaq spoke about how he met and talked with George Mikan in the past, so it's not like they never had any connection.

As for making the offer to pay for the funeral in public, perhaps he wasn't sure how to get in touch with the family? I remember seeing the clip where he made the offer and he asked them to contact the Heat.

Even so, it's obvious he was sincere in his wanting to help.

did Shaq pay because the Mikan family couldn't afford it???

That would be the biggest shame of all, that a guy who was one of the pioneers of the NBA Game died being unable to leave his family enough to pay for his own funeral.

He had a lot of health problems in recent years, and not much money. From the article linked in the first post in this thread:

The folks who thought Shaq paid for Mikan's funeral have found a new issue. Shaquille O'Neal received a Masters Degree from Phoenix University over the weekend and the LA Times and LA Daily News had photos of him in cap and gown, with the Times featuring an interview where he said he wants to earn a second Masters Degree and then a Doctorate, joking about needing the degrees for when he's no longer a basketball player & is looking for a job.

Listening to LA sportstalk has been amazing. Caller after caller have said Shaq got his degree solely as a slap at high school graduate Kobe Bryant. None of the callers ("long time listener, first time caller...") think Shaq did this just for himself or to please his mom (he promised her he would get a good education); all they see is the Shaq/Kobe battle.

~Adam

But Adam, don't you know Kobe Bryant is the center of the universe?

I didn't think it was possible for there to be bigger idiots than the typical callers to the sports-talk station in Philadelphia, but apparently bigger idiots exist. Imagine that.

I know you posted this over a week ago, but I fall a little bit behind on west coast controversies. For example, I just read an article today about the ongoing hatred that is apparent between the Dodgers and Angels organizations. But, back to basketball... I have never been a Shaquille O'Neal fan, but I give him credit for being the NBA player to step up and pay for the costs of George Mikan's funeral. I cannot believe that some Laker fans could actually criticize this move even if it really was to show up Kobe Bryant (which I doubt). The point is that an NBA legend died, and Shaq is actually doing something to help the family. As a Knicks fan (where there is no Laker/Shaq/Bryant/Mikan connection), I would have loved to have seen Allan Houston or Stephon Marbury do something like this. I just cannot understand people sometimes.

It amazes me that so many people are busy bitching about Shaq & Kobe and George Mikan's funeral. Almost nobody, however, is asking the real question--where are Jerry Buss & the Lakers? If anybody owes Mikan anything, it is those who made money off his labor--namely the Lakers organization and the NBA (as a corporate entity). The virtual silence of Jerry Buss, David Stern, & the NBA owners concerning this is quite telling....

For what it's worth, the LA Daily News has reported that the one truly revered Laker, Jerry West, assisted in paying for Mikan's funeral and "represented" the team at the funeral. I was somewhat unclear how someone no longer with the Lakers organization could be their representative, but (like an upset stomach) it passed.

~Adam