Indiana University Athletics
McGinnis Takes Rightful Spot in Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
9/8/2017 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - He was always a Cherry Coke man.
And a man among boys.
And as of today, quite rightly so, George McGinnis is a man among fellow Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers.
McGinnis heads into that esteemed Hall today as the seventh former Indiana University standout inducted, joining Walt Bellamy, Everett Dean, Bob Knight, Bob "Slick" Leonard, Branch McCracken and Isiah Thomas.
But McGinnis was already among a select few in his home state's rich hoops history to require first-name-only identification. Oscar. Larry. Damon. More recently, perhaps, Cody. Big George.
The modifier is apt for McGinnis because big he most certainly is and was – in his prime a 6-foot-8, 235-pound physique of honed, chiseled, finely-tuned muscle.
For those who never saw McGinnis play during his 1960s and 70s heyday, perhaps the best modern comparison is LeBron James.
"In my mind, no player like George – that strong, that physical, that muscular, that athletic – had come along till LeBron James," former Bloomington Herald-Times sports editor Bob Hammel said Thursday. "Lebron is even a little bigger and a little better, perhaps, but it took God 30 years to do that."
Bloomington native and "Hoosiers" screenwriter Angelo Pizzo remembers watching McGinnis during his lone season of Indiana University basketball, with McGinnis on his way to leading the Big Ten by averaging 29.9 points (still a Hoosier single-season record) and 14.7 rebounds per game.
"It sounds cliché, now, but I think maybe the first time I ever heard the expression 'man among boys' was watching George McGinnis play at IU," Pizzo said. "It was the only way to accurately contextualize what we were watching.
"George looked out of place, like he belonged to a different level. It was like watching a high school guy play youth basketball. He seemed to be able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, on the court.
"I know he averaged 29.9 and it's still a record, but it looked like he could average 50 and just was trying to give the other guys a chance. I can't remember anybody actually stopping him. It was astonishing."
But before Hammel and Pizzo saw McGinnis play at IU during that 1970-71 campaign, I knew Big George as a man among boys. And girls. The kids of Westfield, my hometown.
George's Indiana Pacers teammate Mel Daniels owned a horse farm near Westfield, so we'd pretty regularly see ABA and early NBA-era Pacers around town.
Freddie Lewis, Bob Netolicky, coach Leonard, Billy Keller, Darnell Hillman (adorned by the greatest Afro in the history of humanity) and others. To a man, they were approachable and friendly.
But Big George was in a category all his own in that way.
George would walk into the Westfield Pharmacy and make a point of gathering the young folks, from toddlers to high school kids, and shepherding them up to the soda fountain counter. And the drinks were on George.
It was a classic soda fountain, too, with an array of syrups available. Whatever pleased particular taste buds – regular Cokes, cherry Cokes, lime Cokes, chocolate Cokes, vanilla Cokes, caramel Cokes – came forth courtesy of Mr. McGinnis.
McGinnis was a cherry Coke man himself, but didn't discriminate.
And if somebody wanted something as elaborate as, say, a chocolate soda, that was cool, too.
Big George was such a gentle giant with those kids.
He even was kind of gentle on a football field, too, believe it not. While totally dominating, of course.
I saw him play football once. I knew some guys who attended Indianapolis Shortridge and we went to a game there, with Washington's Continentals visiting.
McGinnis was a marvel at both defensive end and tight end for Washington, earning prep All-American notice at both positions.
Shortridge had a lot of speed on offense and kept trying to sweep Washington's ends. In vain.
Because if Shortridge ran a play toward George, he would simply start grabbing guys and discarding them until he found the dude with the ball, whom he would plant. Almost politely.
If the host Blue Devils ran a play away from George's end, he would simply pursue down the line of scrimmage, catch the ball-carrier from behind, and that would be that.
When Washington wasn't handing off to its star tailback, the late Louis Day, quarterback Jim Arnold would take the snap and leap up to throw a pop-pass to tight end McGinnis. George would snag the ball, often with just one of his huge hands, and motor down the field.
I have a vivid visual memory of two, three or more Shortridge defenders jumping on George's back attempting to corral him but not even being able to make him break stride.
Day and Arnold were also basketball teammates with George, who combined with future IU frontcourt partner Steve Downing to fuel Washington's unbeaten 31-0 state championship campaign under coach Bill Green.
Those 1969 champs scored 90 or more points 19 times. McGinnis averaged 32.7 points per game. He was the first Indiana high school player to ever tally over 1,000 points in a single season.
McGinnis was named Mr. Basketball to lead the 1969 Indiana All-Stars, also featuring Downing, in their annual June series against Kentucky.
George had a modest (for him) game with 23 points and 14 boards as the Hoosiers opened the series with a win at Hinkle Fieldhouse, but Kentucky big man Joe Voskuhl of Covington Catholic felt McGinnis hadn't quite lived up to the hype.
"I think he's overrated, I really do," Voskuhl told The Louisville Courier-Journal postgame. "Oh, he's good, but he's overrated."
Ahem.
Mr. McGinnis' rebuttal came the following week at Louisville's Freedom Hall: 53 points and 31 rebounds, still All-Star records, to lead another Indiana romp.
And he then led some Indiana romps at IU. But when his father died tragically in a construction accident, George felt compelled to turn pro and signed with the Pacers in 1971. So he never got to play for new IU coach Knight – though both, now friends, have often said they'd have loved to see how that might have unfolded.
McGinnis was an All-Star in all six of his ABA seasons, averaging 25.2 points and 12.9 rebounds over that span, helping lead the Pacers to back-to-back ABA titles in 1972 and '73. He and Julius "Dr. J" Erving were co-MVPs in 1975. George's 29.8-point average that season is still a Pacers record. McGinnis was then First Team All-NBA in 1976 when the Pacers joined that league.
For his 11-year pro career, McGinnis averaged a double-double at 20.2 points and 11.2 boards.
The last time I spoke with Big George in person was at Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1995, when Washington was playing its final basketball season before closing as a public high school (though nobody knew at the time it would reopen a decade later.)
McGinnis was on hand for a regional semifinal and saw the Continentals fall to Ben Davis in a 79-77 thriller on a running and contested shot from beyond halfcourt at the buzzer.
I saw George on the court afterward and went over to say hello. He remembered me. He managed a smile as we spoke about the game, with tears rolling freely down his cheeks.
"So proud," he said. "So proud." That was his verdict on how his Continentals went out.
This week, with George having just turned 67 on Aug. 12, he said this to a Pacers video crew as he prepared to head to Springfield, Mass., basketball's Cooperstown, for his Hall of Fame induction:
"This, here, I'm not only representing George McGinnis, but I'm representing you, as Hoosiers. And I hope that you're proud, because I certainly am."
I'm proud and so pleased, Big George. And while I can't speak for all my fellow Hoosiers, I'd wager they are, too.
Here's hoisting a Cherry Coke in your honor.
**Disclaimer: Elements of this article were originally included in a column Andy Graham wrote for the Bloomington Herald-Times