June 2 (Bloomberg) -- George Mikan, a basketball Hall-of- Famer whose dominance during the 1940s and '50s prompted the National Basketball Association to change its rules, has died. He was 80.

NBA spokesman Mark Broussard said he didn't have details of the death. The Associated Press said Mikan had been in failing health with diabetes and kidney problems.

In his nine professional seasons, two in the National Basketball League, one in the Basketball Association of America and six in the NBA, the 6-foot-10 Mikan won seven championships.

He was the cornerstone of the NBA's first dynasty, the Minneapolis Lakers of the early 1950s. He led the league in scoring three times and in rebounding twice, and played in the NBA's first four All-Star games.

The bespectacled Mikan was so dominant that the marquee at New York's Madison Square Garden read ``Geo. Mikan vs. Knicks'' prior to a 1949 game between the Lakers and Knicks.

The NBA widened the lane area to 12 feet from 6 feet in an effort to make it more difficult for Mikan to score.

In 1950, the Fort Wayne Pistons decided that their best chance to beat the Lakers was to hold the ball and not let Mikan have it. Fort Wayne won, 19-18, in the lowest-scoring game in league history. The NBA implemented the 24-second shot clock a few seasons later.

Mikan was the first in a line of great Lakers' centers, preceding Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 2, 2005 13:54 EDT