George McGinnis, Indiana basketball icon and Hall of Famer, dies at 73

George McGinnis, the legendary Indiana Pacers star and Hall of Famer, has died at 73. The Pacers announced Thursday morning that McGinnis died of complications from a cardiac arrest he suffered last week.

McGinnis was an Indiana native who played high school, college, and professional basketball in his home state. He won multiple championships with the Pacers when they were part of the American Basketball Association, and continued to flourish after the ABA merged with the NBA. He went on to become a successful businessman in Indiana and continued to be involved with basketball at both the college and professional levels following his retirement as a pro player.

McGinnis was born in 1950 in Harpersville, Alabama, to mother Willie and father Burnie, a sharecropper. They soon moved to Indianapolis, somewhere they'd never been before, to give George and his sister Bonnie a better life.

McGinnis' iconic career began at Washington High School in Indianapolis, where he helped lead the team to an undefeated 31-0 season in 1969 that ended with a state championship. While he also excelled at football as a tight end and defensive end, he ultimately chose to focus on basketball despite, he said, having "hundreds" of football scholarship offers. At Indiana University, McGinnis became the first sophomore to lead the Big Ten in scoring and rebounding, and was named a third-team All-American before departing for the Pacers.

In the four years McGinnis spent with the ABA Pacers, the team won back-to-back ABA titles in 1972 and 1973. He was named playoff MVP in 1973, was an ABA All-Star three times, and a few years later was named ABA MVP along with his future teammate Julius Erving. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers after the ABA merged with the NBA and was an All-Star two more times, becoming a full-fledged Philly star.

Following the 1975-76 season, the Sixers had the opportunity to sign Erving, but wouldn't put pen to paper unless McGinnis approved. He did, and though McGinnis was traded to the Denver Nuggets in 1978, Dr. J led the Sixers to their first and only NBA title in 1983. McGinnis returned to the Pacers via trade in 1980

Post-playing career

McGinnis' career came to a sudden end after the 1981-82 season when the Pacers cut him during training camp. He then spent a few years in Denver, indulging his love of nature and getting used to post-basketball life. When he returned to Indianapolis, he jumped back into normal life with aplomb. He became a broadcaster, serving as an analyst for Pacers games. He was the chair of the NCAA's Final Four committee in Indianapolis. He founded and ran GM Supply, a wholesale industrial supply firm. He even worked for the Indiana Lottery.

The Pacers retired McGinnis' No. 30 in 1985. Thirty-two years later, when McGinnis was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, he was recognized as being ahead of his time — an evolutionary jump in physicality that was compared LeBron James' impact on the game in the 2010s.

"He was built like Superman," Erving said during McGinnis' Hall of Fame induction. "Until LeBron came along, you never saw another guy that had George's physical abilities on a basketball court."

Dr. J wasn't alone in thinking McGinnis had unique and terrifying physical gifts. Via the Indianapolis Star, retired NBA and ABA player George Gervin called him "a locomotive, big, fierce, fast, strong." Former player and coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard agreed: "I've seen everything that's come down the pike in 60-plus years. We're sitting here talking about one of the greatest power forwards that ever played the game."

McGinnis' funeral services will be private, but the Pacers said Thursday they will hold a celebration of life for him in 2024.