Don’t put down Big George or Big George will put you out!
Eric Mann 20 Dec 2023 - The Decatur Daily Democrat I’m not a basketball historian, but one of my favorite hoop tales is about the awesome George McGinnis: the Hoosier high school and professional all-star who died on December 14 at age 73 . This story is about his exploits in the only all-star games I care about: the high school wars between Indiana and Kentucky. In 1969, a few months after leading Washington High School of Indianapolis to a 31-0 record and the state championship (with Big George as Mr. Basketball), he did the same thing in the two state vs. state all-star tilts. In game one, McGinnis (at 6-8, 235) put up 23 points and made only eight of 26 shots from the field (but grabbed 14 rebounds) as the Hoosiers won. That led Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball (Ron King from Central HS) – who cares what his name is – to tell the news media that McGinnis was “overrated,” a word he used twice! When McGinnis read that, he told the other Indiana all-stars and the coaches that he wanted the ...