Indiana Pacers legend George McGinnis, a 2017 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, died Thursday morning from complications of cardiac arrest, the team announced. He was 73.
The Pacers said the cardiac arrest ocurred last week, and died Thursday at Community North Hospital in Indianapolis. Advertisement
“[George] was the very definition of an Indiana basketball legend, a champion and Hall of Fame athlete,” the Simon Family and Pacers Sports & Entertainment said in a news release. “But he was more than that. George was family.”
McGinnis was born Aug. 12, 1950, in Harpersville, Ala. He attended Indianapolis Washington High School before starring at Indiana University in 1970-71. McGinnis spent the first four years of his professional career with the Pacers in the ABA.
He later joined the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA. He also played with the Denver Nuggets before returning to the Pacers.
McGinnis averaged 20.2 points, 11 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game between his ABA and NBA tenures. He averaged a league and career-high 29.8 points, along with 14.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.6 steals, per game en route to ABA MVP honors during his 1974-75 campaign with the Pacers. Advertisement
The 6-foot-8 forward was a two-time ABA champion, six-time All-Star and five-time All-League selection.
McGinnis’ burial will be private. A celebration of life will be held after Jan. 1 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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Andre BraugherActor Andre Braugher holds his Emmy won for his work in “Thief” at the Primetime Emmy awards in Los Angeles on August 27, 2006. Braugher, best known for staring in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Men of a Certain Age” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” died at the age of 61 on December 11. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
