MR. BASKETBALL George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Birth ofthe NBA pot

[...]... hand," Meyer explained "Then Fd stand him outside the basket, and I'd throw the ball up and make him rebound I'd hit it so it would come cióse to the basket and hit the board so it would come off the front and he'd have to use his other hand I wanted him to learn to tip with one hand For timing, I'd go to the top of the circle, shoot the ball at the basket, and make him go up and bat it away; little... quickness, coordination, and shooting skills, began with Meyer tossing Mikan rhe ball on the left side of the basket Mikan would catch the ball with his left hand, move under the basket, and put up a right-handed shot; he would then catch the ball as it carne through the net, move to the other side of the basket, and put up a left-handed shot The exercise was repeated, over and over and over and over, with Mikan... future Several of the bar's regulars, witnessing the confrontation, broke beer bottles and, brandishing their jagged remains, ordered the intruders out of the bar, lest they need protection of their own And that was the end of that Mikan never said whether the next round was on the house, but he never forgot the lesson Or any of the others that made him the man he would become G Cari Sandburg didn't give... blade too deep in the wood and the knife blade stuck Joe struggled with the knife to pry the blade loóse, and when a sliver of wood finally tore free, it flew up and caught George in the córner of his left eye, next to his nose As George would later recall, there was a lot of screaming and bleeding, and his parents rushed him to the family doctor, who stitched the cut and told them George had suffered... known in the family as Gramps or Grandpa George The eider Mikan had been born and raised in Eastern Europe, in what is now Croatia He'd met his wife, Mary, always called Blondie by friends and family, and the two had eventually made their way to the United States They settled in Pittsburgh, where George worked in a steel mili, and he and Blondie raised their son, Joseph Gramps and Blondie moved to the outskirts... children—Joe, George, Eddie, and Marie—helped around the kitchen or the bar Mikan's Tavern was, in every sense, a mom 'n' pop operation 4 MR BASKETBALL The younger George would always remember his family as being extremely tight-knit He grew up to the sounds of his grandparents' speaking Croatian, the smells of his mother's fried chicken, and the sight of his grandfather standing behind the bar, pouring drafts... three growing boys, they expected hefty appetites George' s friends and teammates would remember their visits to the Mikan house, where they would be fed until they thought they would burst "They were all Croatian, from the Oíd Country, and they were up at six o'clock in the morning, cooking chicken," Gene Stump, one of Mikan's DePaul teammates, recalled "They'd bring out a platter, and it'd be enough... teammate on the Chicago Gears, pointed out "His mother was a good cook, and she made sure there was ampie food on the table The three boys were big guys, and they were always saying, 'Eat more, eat more, eat more.'" Mikan's Tavern also featured a weekly fish fry, and Joe, George, and, later, Eddie grew to hate Fridays, when they'd spend much of the day scaling, cleaning, and salting fish until they could... including his brother Joe, in the tournament The first-place prize was a trip to Comiskey Park for a White Sox game, but it wasn't just any baseball game: the Sox were playing the New York Yankees; and before the game, Mikan and the other counties' champs were taken to the field to meet Babe Ruth Mikan shook hands with 6 MR BASKETBALL Ruth, and the two talked briefly about the tournament Ruth promised... Mikan and, to the young boy's delight, he did "For a moment," he'd joke, years later, "I thought he could perform on command." After the game, the boys were again taken to the field, this time to pose with Ruth for pictures for the paper The fan who had caught the home run ball was also there, and he asked Ruth to sign it for him Ruth signed the ball but, rather than return it to the fan, he palmed it and . h1" alt="" MR. BASKETBALL This page intentionally left blank MR. BASKETBALL George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Birth ofthe NBA MlCHAEL . Minneapolis Lakers (Basketball team)—History. I. Title. II. Title: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the birth of the NBA. GV884.M54S38