March 29, 1945: College Basketball's 1st "Game of the Century"

Cappy Lane, game timekeeper at the old Madison Square Garden,

flanked by Bob Kurland (left) and George Mikan

March 29, 1945, 80 years ago: College basketball has its 1st "Game of the Century." It's a benefit for the Red Cross at Madison Square Garden, between the 2 main claimants for the National Championship. NCAA Tournament Champion Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State), coached by Henry Iba, defeats NIT Champion DePaul, coached by Ray Meyer, 52-44. Sadly, there appears to be no surviving footage.

It's also basketball's 1st real "battle of the big men," with Oklahoma State's 7-foot-even Bob Kurland getting the better of DePaul's 6-foot-10 George Mikan. Iba and Kurland would make it back-to-back NCAA titles in 1946.

But while "Foothills" Kurland would only play semipro ball, Mikan would dominate the early NBA, winning 6 league titles in 7 years with the Minneapolis Lakers, from 1948 to 1954.

Both men were among the earliest players elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, Mikan with the 1st class of inductees in 1959, Kurland in 1961. Mikan lived until 2005, Kurland until 2013. Iba was elected to the Hall in 1969, Meyer in 1979 -- both men while still coaching at their respective schools. In fact, the year he was elected, Meyer finally got to the NCAA Final Four for the 1st time since 1941. He finally retired in 1984. Iba lived until 1993, Meyer until 2006.

March 29, 1945 was a big day in New York basketball for another reason, although it wouldn't be known for many years: New York Knicks Hall-of-Famer Walt Frazier was born.

June 18, 1924: Basketball's 1st Great Big Man

June 18, 1924, 100 years ago: George Lawrence Mikan Jr. is born in Joliet, Illinois. Basketball's 1st great "big man," the 6-foot-10 center led DePaul University to the 1945 NIT title, then considered more prestigious than the NCAA title.

He won National Basketball league titles with the 1947 Chicago American Gears and the 1948 Lakers. The Lakers then went into the nascent NBA, and he led them to the title in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954. That's 7 league titles in 8 seasons.

It's been 68 years since he last strode the hardwood in a game that counted, but he is still responsible for 5 of the 7 World Championships that Minnesota basketball teams have won.

He was NBL Most Valuable Player in 1948, a 5-time scoring champion (twice in the NBL, 3 times in the NBA), and played in the NBA's 1st 4 All-Star Games (1951-54). He was bigger than the league: A game against the Knicks had the marquee at the old Madison Square Garden not mention the Lakers, just him: "GEO MIKAN v/s KNICKS."

That's a legend, but it's no myth, and it's no joke.

He was named the greatest basketball player of the half-century by the Associated Press, was a charter inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, and was named to the NBA's 25th Anniversary Team and its 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. The Minnesota Timberwolves dedicated a statue of him outside the Target Center in Minneapolis. He lived long enough to receive all of these honors.

Shaquille O'Neal paid for his funeral, saying,

"Without Number 99, there is no me."

He died on June 1, 2005 at the age of 80, from the long-term effects of diabetes. In 2021, he was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. In 2022, the now-Los Angeles Lakers finally retired his number, even though 99 is a number rarely seen in the NBA. They also have a banner honoring their Minneapolis-era Hall-of-Famers.