George McGinnis, an influential basketball player who was a member of two ABA championship teams in the early 1970s, has passed away at the age of 73. McGinnis, who was born in Harpersville, Alabama, was a high school basketball star in Indiana, where he broke scoring records previously held by Oscar Robertson. His one season at Indiana University saw him average 30 points and 14.7 rebounds before he joined the Indiana Pacers. There, he became a key player, averaging 27.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.
Despite McGinnis’s success in the ABA and impressive playing style as one of the league’s taller and more agile players, he was not able to fulfill championship expectations when he joined the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. He teamed up with Julius Erving but faced challenges in reaching a championship title. McGinnis retired after 11 seasons, spending time with the Denver Nuggets and returning to the Pacers briefly.
McGinnis was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017. Following his basketball career, he worked as a broadcaster and founded GM Supply Company with his wife. He remained a popular figure in Indiana’s basketball community and was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame in September. McGinnis passed away due to complications from cardiac arrest, following years of struggling to walk after multiple back surgeries. He leaves behind a legacy of being a basketball pioneer with a unique combination of size, strength, and agility for a player of his era.
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