George Before and After His Basketball Career
On June 18, 1924 in a small Illinois town, a legend was born, he went by George, George Lawrence Mikan. He was born into the Mikan family, and 14 months later came his brother Ed who both would help with the family owned restaurant/tavern which was very close to their house. George liked many sports as a kid, but basketball just stuck with him. George would shoot at the hoop connected to their garage until his grandma forced him inside to play piano. George grew to six feet and four inch at the age of 11, (CRAZY!) Along with being very tall at a young age of 11, comes the bitter gift of being clumsy and awkward. Because of these two things, George was not looked upon very highly by his high school coach, in fact, his coach cut him from the team when he realized George couldn't play without his glasses. Because he got turned away, instead, he would just play with his friends and their competition was usually the inmates at the prison. When George grew old, he found a lovely women by the name of Patricia, and he decided he would marry her. Later on in life, George and his wife had six kids. After George's basketball career, he became a lawyer. George was not in the best condition after his basketball career, he suffered from an amputated leg and he had diabetes, George died, due to kidney failure on June 1, 2005.