Seasons
SEASON: 2 | YEAR: 1950
HEAD COACH: CLIFFORD C. SOMMER
Game 7 | January 10, 1950 | George Mikan, Jim Pollard
As their third championship season began, the Minneapolis Lakers stars visited Dunker'S. The 6-10 Mikan led the league in scoring that year with a 27.4 points per game average. Pollard was nicknamed "The Kangaroo Kid" for his leaping ability. When the Lakers were to play the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden that year; the marquee read, "WED. BASKETBALL GEO MIKAN VS KNICKS." Pollard, who averaged 15 points per game, returned 17 years later to coach the Minnesota Muskies.
(LtoR) Hap Atwood, George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Cliff Sommer
Game 8 | January 31, 1950 | Jack Lavelle, Tim Meany
For the first time, the Dunkers held two meetings in the same month. Lavelle was a professional and college football scout and authority. Meany, associate sports editor of Colliers magazine, had recently completed a biography of Babe Ruth.
Game 9 | May 24, 1950 | Tom Gibbons
On July 4, 1923, Gibbons, a St. Paul-born boxer, went 15 rounds in losing to heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey in Shelby, Montana. Gibbons' career record was 56-4-1. Following his boxing career, he was elected to six consecutive four-year terms as Ramsey County sheriff, a job he held when he appeared before the Dunkers. A member of the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame, he died in 1960 at age 69.
Game 10 | June 14, 1950 | Tug Wilson
The former athletic director at Northwestern University, Wilson became the commissioner of the Big Ten conference in 1944 and held that post until he retired in 1951.
Game 11 | June 16, 1950 | Bill Hunter, Wilfred Smith
Hunter was the athletic director of the University of Southern California, and Smith was a well-known sportswriter for The Chicago Tribune. They visited Minneapolis to gather information for the upcoming 1950 college football season.
Game 12 | August 18, 1950 | Charles Coe, Dick Tufts, Joe Dey
Dunker member Totten Heffelfinger was the president of the PGA. He brought in his friends, U.S. amateur champion Coe, USGA treasurer Tufts, and USGA executive secretary Dey. Tufts, the man credited with engineering the growth of the Pinehurst golf area, once told an audience that golf carts were the single worst invention in the history of golf. He's also the person who unified U.S. and British golf rules.
Game 13 | September 12, 1950 | Ray Dandridge, Tommy Heath
Dandridge, who never played in the majors, but was one of the great Negro Leaguers, was the Minneapolis Millers third baseman and American Association MVP in the season that was about to end when 18 Dunkers attended this meeting. Manager Heath talked about the future of black players in baseball and a young man named Willie Mays who would join the Millers and hit .477 for them in 1951.