INDIANAPOLIS — George McGinnis spent his teenage years sneaking into Pacers video games on the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
He completed his Hall of Fame profession as one of the vital well-liked, revered and adorned basketball gamers in Pacers historical past.
The groundbreaking energy ahead, who captivated ABA and NBA followers along with his one-handed soar shot, uncanny athleticism and pioneering spirit, died early Thursday morning. McGinnis was 73.
The Indiana Pacers mentioned he died following problems from a cardiac arrest suffered final week at his residence. McGinnis additionally had struggled to stroll lately after present process a number of again surgical procedures due to a hereditary situation.
McGinnis was the consummate Hoosier, listening to highschool video games from the Hinkle Fieldhouse car parking zone, counting on pleasant ushers to introduce him to professional basketball and turning into a goodwill ambassador for his residence state’s prime sport.
And it began with one recreation within the late Nineteen Sixties.
“It was pro basketball and it was the first time I had seen it,” McGinnis advised The Associated Press in 2021. “They had an NBA game on TV once a week or so, but seeing the pro game up close was one of the most outstanding times in my life.”
Basketball turned McGinnis into a celeb whose profession path had him rubbing elbows with a few of Indiana’s largest basketball names – Oscar Robertson, Rick Mount, Larry Bird, Bobby “Slick” Leonard, Bob Knight and dozens of others by the years.
His deep, deliberate speech sample, heat character and keenness for the game helped him bond with the followers who watched him go from prep star to unstoppable drive in his one and solely school season at Indiana earlier than ultimately main the Pacers on two of their three ABA title runs.
“From his all-state high school days to his time as an IU All-American and, of course, to his legendary ABA championship runs with the Pacers, George McGinnis shaped so many of the fondest basketball memories for generations of Hoosiers,” the Simon Family and Pacers Sports & Entertainment mentioned in a press release. “He was the very definition of an Indiana basketball legend, a champion, and Hall of Fame athlete.”
McGinnis was altering the sport lengthy earlier than he made it to the professionals, although.
After watching Robertson lead Indianapolis Crispus Attucks to Indiana’s first undefeated Indiana state championship in 1956, McGinnis matched him by taking Indianapolis Washington on a 31-0 title run and the third good season in Indiana historical past.
Robertson and McGinnis each refined their video games at Indianapolis’ famed Lockefield Dust Bowl.
McGinnis adopted that championship by scoring 53 factors and grabbing 30 rebounds within the second recreation of the annual Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Series that summer season.
In the primary recreation, McGinnis scored 23 factors and grabbed 14 rebounds.
“I didn’t think that was too bad but one of the Kentucky players was not very impressed with the game I had or me, so I didn’t want to leave a bad impression on him,” McGinnis mentioned at his Hall of Fame induction in 2017.
He additionally wound up taking part in for a number of the state’s prime coaches, most notably Leonard, who received 573 video games in 14 seasons as a head coach, all however three of these years with the Pacers. Leonard additionally made the successful free throw in 1953 NCAA championship recreation for the Hoosiers’ second nationwide title.
“He was the best coach I ever played for in last shot, pressure situations,” McGinnis as soon as mentioned. “In the seventh game, he would change the entire offense. It was genius. I think that’s why if you look at the Pacers, they won all three championships in seventh games on the road.”
But the 6-foot-8, 235-pound McGinnis was forward of his time in additional methods than anybody might think about within the Seventies.
Following his one breakout school season, McGinnis took benefit of Spencer Haywood’s Supreme Court victory in 1971 that allowed underclassmen to show professional underneath a hardship rule simply two years after his father, Burnie, was killed from a fall off scaffolding. McGinnis signed along with his hometown group, the Pacers.
His used these lengthy strides, a strong, elegant type and unimaginable passing capability to make three ABA All-Star groups and three NBA All-Star groups, earn a number of all-ABA and all-NBA picks and win the 1973 ABA playoff MVP in simply his second professional season. And after making the ABA’s all-rookie group in 1971-72, he earned all-NBA honors in his first season (1975-76) within the extra established league by turning into a central piece of the Philadelphia 76ers rebuilding undertaking.
McGinnis’ greatest season got here in 1974-75 when he received the ABA scoring title (29.8 factors per recreation), completed second in steals (2.6), third in assists (6.3) and fifth in rebounds (14.3). He shared the league’s MVP Award with Hall of Famer Julius Erving, a future teammate in Philly.
For McGinnis, it a warmup to a historic playoff efficiency that included a 51-point, 17-rebound, 10-assist triple-double and turning into the primary participant in both league to prime 200 factors, 100 rebounds and 50 assists in a single postseason sequence. He truly did it twice, in back-to-back sequence.
And although he didn’t win that third title, McGinnis was the playoff chief in scoring (581 factors), rebounding (286) and assists (148).
Those numbers helped gasoline McGinnis’ subsequent trailblazing effort – switching leagues on his personal phrases.
With the ABA struggling financially and the 76ers nonetheless holding his contractual rights two years after drafting him in 1973, Leonard as soon as mentioned he suggested McGinnis to pursue more cash within the NBA. McGinnis wished to barter with a group of his selecting and initially signed a six-year, $2.4 million contract with the New York Knicks.
When NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien voided the deal and punished the Knicks, McGinnis accepted a six-year, $3.2 million contract with the 76ers that included no‐minimize, no‐commerce and no-option clauses.
“Let George do it,” was the group slogan in McGinnis’ first season in Philly.
He delivered by main the 76ers to their first playoff look since 1970-71 and Philadelphia noticed its common residence attendance improve by greater than 5,000 per recreation. The subsequent season, with Erving on the group, Philadelphia misplaced the NBA Finals to Portland in six video games after successful the primary two.
McGinnis spent three seasons with the 76ers earlier than being traded to Denver. The Nuggets despatched him again to the Pacers halfway by the 1979-80 season and McGinnis completed his 11-year profession with 2 1/2 seasons again residence in Indiana.
McGinnis ended his professional profession with 17,009 factors, 9,233 rebounds and three,089 assists, was a third-team All-American choice in his solely school season and was named 1969 Mr. Basketball USA.
He is also a member of the Indiana’s athletic Hall of Fame and is one in every of 4 former Pacers gamers to have his jersey quantity retired.
