George Mikan (born 1924) has been described by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as "the first dominant big man in professional basketball and the game's first superstar." At six feet, ten inches, he towered over most other college and professional players of the 1940s and 1950s. As a player for the Minneapolis Lakers (later the Los Angeles Lakers), Mikan repeatedly helped lead the team to league championships. When he retired after nine professional seasons, Mikan held the record for the most career points scored, 11,764.

No one who knew George Lawrence Mikan as a boy would have guessed that he would grow up to become one of the first superstars of professional basketball. Born into a Croatian family in a small Illinois town, Mikan was one of three brothers, all of whom helped out at the family's restaurant. All of the brothers were tall, but George Mikan stood...