Hartman: Local NBA draft picks were once the norm

An issue has been made over the fact that the Gophers have not had a player selected in the NBA draft since 2004 when Kris Humphries was selected 14th overall by the Utah Jazz.

But if you look back to the George Mikan days with the Lakers, from 1948 to 1957 there were at least three local college players on the Minneapolis Lakers roster alone each season. During that period, the Lakers went 380-240, a .613 winning percentage, and won five NBA championships.

Using their territorial pick in 1949, the Lakers selected Vern Mikkelsen, who had played at Hamline. Two years later they took Whitey Skoog, a Gophers guard, and in 1955 they selected Dick Garmaker, also from the Gophers.

But even outside of the territorial picks, which helped NBA teams acquire popular local college players before the regular draft began, the Lakers grabbed a number of local college stars. In 1950 they used a second-round pick on Hal Haskins of Hamline. Haskins never played for the Lakers, but two other later local picks from that year did: fifth-rounder Bud Grant from the Gophers and seventh-rounder Joe Hutton from Hamline.

In 1953 they drafted another Hamline player, Jim Fritsche. The following year, they picked Gophers center Ed Kalafat. And in '55, the same year they selected Garmaker, they drafted Chuck Mencel from the Gophers.

That's nine local draft picks from 1949 to '55.

Mikkelsen, who grew up north of the Twin Cities in little Askov, Minn., essentially invented the power forward position and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was a six-time All-Star who averaged 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Grant was selected by both the Lakers and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL draft. He averaged 2.6 points off the bench in two seasons with the Lakers, winning an NBA title as a rookie, before deciding to play football instead and eventually becoming the Hall of Fame coach of the Vikings.

Hutton, who would become the Minneapolis North boys' basketball coach later in life, played three seasons with the Lakers and averaged 2.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game, winning a title with the 1952 squad.

Skoog was a Brainerd native who played with the Lakers from 1951 to '57, winning three titles with the Lakers. He averaged 8.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 points per game.

Fritsche was selected seventh overall and played parts of two seasons with the Lakers, the Baltimore Bullets and the Fort Wayne Pistons. He averaged 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds.

Kalafat, grew up in Montana before coming to the University of Minnesota, and played for three years with the Lakers before joining the Army. He averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, and he also ended his military career with the rank of captain.

Mencel was the Big Ten MVP in his senior season with the Gophers in 1955, and the Lakers took him in the second round. He played three seasons with the team, averaging 7.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game.

The difference, though, is that all of those local college stars were mostly local high school products as well, and they stayed in town to attend college here. The Gophers had only one player on their roster who was from Minnesota last year, Joey King, an Eastview High School alum who transferred here after one season at Drake.

Incidentally, there will be a local high school and college product playing with the Lakers summer league team.

Former Gophers forward Trevor Mbakwe, who averaged 10.6 points and 10 rebounds for Virtus Rome in Italy, will be a member of the Los Angeles Lakers summer league team.

Mbakwe, who went undrafted last year, told the Minnesota Daily the year in Europe was beneficial, saying: "For the most part it helped me moving forward. The style of play is a little bit different."

• Every one of some 120 Gopher football players, including all the freshmen, have enrolled in summer school and are working out on a regular basis. … Running back David Cobb, quarterback Mitch Leidner and defensive lineman Cedrick Thompson will represent the Gophers at the annual Big Ten football media program in Chicago July 28-29.

• Former Gophers righthander Alec Crawford made his professional baseball debut last Thursday for Grand Junction, the Colorado Rockies' rookie squad. He retired all six batters faced, striking out three, and earned a save. Crawford, a 25th-round pick, also pitched one scoreless inning Sunday.

• Gophers track and field recruit Glen Harold, who attended Brookfield (Wis.) East High School, cleared 16 feet, 9 inches in a pole vault event last weekend and has qualified for the USA Junior Championships that will be held July 5-6 in Oregon.

• Eden Prairie recently had one of its best all-around athletes graduate in Charlie Venable. He played on five state championship teams, both as a running back on the football team and in lacrosse. He earned seven varsity letters and will now go on to play both lacrosse and football at St. Thomas.

• Brian Dozier entered Wednesday with 38 RBI and 15 home runs, a total before the All-Star break that far surpasses what any other Twins second baseman has matched in a long time. … Former Twins first baseman Justin Morneau had 57 RBI for Colorado, the second most in the National League, and was hitting .305. More than likely, Morneau will make it back to the Twin Cities as an All-Star this summer. … Speaking of Morneau, he got a chance to face off against former teammate Pat Neshek on Wednesday when the Rockies faced the Cardinals. Neshek retried him on a foul pop-out and Neshek also got the victory, as the Cardinals won 9-6. The Park Center High School product is 2-0 with a 0.88 ERA, 31 strikeouts and only 14 hits and three earned runs in 30 ⅔ innings pitched.