Vern Mikkelsen, a Hall of Fame forerunner of the modern-day power forward who helped lead the Minneapolis Lakers to four N.B.A. championships in the early 1950s, died on Thursday at his home in Wayzata, Minn. He was 85.
The cause was complications of prostate cancer, his son Tom said.
Playing 10 seasons for the Lakers, Mikkelsen used his 6-foot-7, 230-pound bulk to provide stout rebounding and defense, but he also set up scoring plays and hit timely baskets. He teamed with Lakers center George Mikan, the N.B.A.'s first superstar, who became known as Mr. Basketball; Jim Pollard, the prototype of the small forward, called the Kangaroo Kid for his leaping ability; and Slater Martin, the playmaker who became the model for the current-day point guard.
Usually guarding the opposition's best shooter, Mikkelsen played on Laker teams that won N.B.A. championships in 1950, '52, '53 and '54. He was a six-time All-Star and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 with John Kundla, who coached those teams. They joined Mikan, Pollard and Martin in the Hall, in Springfield, Mass.
Although his induction came 36 years after he retired, Mikkelsen did not make a fuss about it.
"We are a laid-back people in Minnesota," he told The St. Paul Pioneer Press. "My barber told me my haircuts will still be $11. My wife told me I still have to take out the garbage. Minnesota humble is a state of mind that doesn't allow for a big head, so I never let myself get worked up about not getting in. Still, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating."
Mikkelsen shouldered the gritty tasks on the court, like setting picks and battling on the boards, while Mikan received most of the acclaim.
It seemed befitting that one of his old Laker practice jerseys, which he kept at his home as a souvenir, had his name misspelled as Mikkelson.
"I wore it and I never made a big deal about it," he said.
Mikkelsen earned the admiration of his foes.
"I can remember playing against Bill Russell, and I must have knocked his arms so much, he felt like he had a couple of bloody stubs," Mikkelsen told The Star-Tribune of Minneapolis in 1995. "After the game, he came into our locker room and asked me if I would do him a favor. He said he wanted me to meet his family. I took that as a real sign of respect."
Arild Verner Agerskov Mikkelsen was born on Oct. 21, 1928, in Parlier, Calif., a suburb of Fresno. His father, Michael, an immigrant from Denmark, was a Lutheran minister. When he was a youngster, the family moved to the small town of Askov, Minn., where his father had been appointed to lead a congregation. He visited the high school basketball court there and saw a game for the first time.
"I remember going into the gym and there was a pickup game going on," he was once quoted as saying by Newsday. "I wanted to play, and they invited me and I grabbed the ball and ran with it. They hollered at me. I didn't know about traveling or anything like that."
But he went on to star for Hamline University in St. Paul, which won the small-college National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship in 1949, his senior season.
After being drafted by the Lakers, Mikkelsen had to adjust his offensive game. He had played center in college, with his back to the basket, but with Mikan taking up the space underneath, he was moved to forward as a Laker and developed a two-handed set shot.
"Mikk was a great rebounder and great with assists," Kundla, his coach, told The Pioneer Press. "Had to guard great players, guys like Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes, Paul Arizin and George Yardley."
Mikkelsen retired after the 1958-59 season, leaving with career averages of 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds a game. He holds the N.B.A. record for fouling out: 127 times in his 699 games. He was briefly a general manager and coach in the American Basketball Association but concentrated mainly on his insurance business after retiring from the Lakers.
In addition to his son Tom, Mikkelsen is survived by another son, John, and two grandchildren. His wife, Jean, died in 2002.
A year after Mikkelsen's playing career ended, the Lakers' owner, Bob Short, moved the team to Los Angeles. As Mikkelsen told The New York Times long afterward, Short asked him to be the first coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Mikkelsen wanted a $50,000 salary. Short's counteroffer, Mikkelsen said, was $25,000 and one-fourth ownership of the team. Mikkelsen turned him down.
"The team wasn't worth anything" at the time, Mikkelsen recalled. "I didn't think they'd get to Sioux Falls, much less Los Angeles."
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