Transcripts

GARY EICHTEN: As we reported earlier in the program, good news for Minnesota basketball fans. Two more gentlemen associated with the late, great Minneapolis Lakers have now been named to the National Basketball Hall of Fame. Vern Mikkelsen, one of the NBA's first power forwards, has been named to the Hall of Fame, as has John Kundla, who coached Mikkelsen and led the Lakers to six pro championships back in the 1940s and 1950s. Vern Mikkelsen joins us now on the phone. Congratulations, sir.

VERN MIKKELSEN: Thank you, Gary. This is a big day in my life.

GARY EICHTEN: I bet it is. You waited a long time for this. Did you think you were going to get passed over again?

VERN MIKKELSEN: Well, see, the old Scandinavian ethic, that if you don't think that things are going to really-- great things are going to happen, see, then you won't be too disappointed. So I was all prepared to come up with the old cliches about, hey, we'll get them next year. So I'm not really prepared to give the good stories.

GARY EICHTEN: Were you, in fact, the NBA's first power forward?

VERN MIKKELSEN: Well, you know things go after 40 years. A lot of things can get-- built a little bigger than they actually are. The phrase was coined some years afterwards. But Red Auerbach was quoted, and that's where it got started with me, that I was the first power forward before we had a name for it.

GARY EICHTEN: For basketball, or people who don't follow basketball that closely, what does that mean? What does it mean?

VERN MIKKELSEN: Well, this is the blue collar guy. That's the guy that they rarely set up plays for. They got their superstars that they go to for everything. This guy gets the rebounds-- usually has to play the toughest guy on the other side of the team on defense, gets the rebounds, sets the big picks, screens. You need the wide body for that, which is a euphemism for a big rear end.

And it's basically a hard work end of it. But it's obviously a very essential part of the game because there's only one ball, And everybody has to work together. And that's the spot I fit. I wasn't a gazelle. I wasn't the greyhound. I wasn't that agile. I got the job done. I guess that's the key phrase.

GARY EICHTEN: What was John Kundla's greatest attribute as a coach? A big innovator was he?

VERN MIKKELSEN: Well, see, a lot of people think that to be a great coach, you have to really have a lot of good plays-- X's and O's diagram. And that's really the simplest part of the game. The big part in basketball is to get five guys to play together. And like I just mentioned, there's only one ball, and you got to have role models. You got to have role players, and you have to get the superstar that can get the ball in the basket for you.

And the rest of them have to get together and play together and be satisfied playing on the team for the ultimate goal of winning. And that's what John was so good at because we had two superstars-- George Mikan, everything of the '50s. He was Kareem, Magic, Bird all rolled into one. And then Jim Pollard on the left forward, he was our gazelle. He was just an outstanding athlete. And that really was the biggest thing that John Kundla did, was keep those guys playing together with the rest of us.

GARY EICHTEN: Congratulations once again. It's good talking with you.

VERN MIKKELSEN: I appreciate the call.

GARY EICHTEN: Have a good day.

VERN MIKKELSEN: Goodbye.