page_title: John Kundla
section_title: Minneapolis Lakers (1947-1959)
hierarchical_section_title: John Kundla / Coaching career / Minneapolis Lakers (1947-1959)
caption_attribution_description: George Mikan
context_page_description: John Albert Kundla was an American college and professional basketball coach. He was the first head coach for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association and its predecessors, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League, serving 12 seasons, from 1947 to 1959. His teams won six league championships, one in the NBL, one in the BAA, and four in the NBA. Kundla was the head basketball coach at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul for one season in 1946–47, and at the University of Minnesota for ten seasons, from 1959 to 1968. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
context_section_description: Following the Minneapolis' College of St. Thomas Tommies' 1946–47 season, the new professional franchise in town, the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball League extended an offer to Kundla to coach the team. Kundla turned the offer down, however, as he was not impressed with the professional ranks. Team representatives returned, and this time the offer had been upped to $6,000 (twice his St. Thomas salary) and Kundla took the job at age 31.
  Kundla and the Lakers were immediately successful. A month into the 1947–48 season, future Hall of Fame center George Mikan became available when the Chicago American Gears, folded. Outhustling the rest of the NBL and the teams of the rival Basketball Association of America (BAA), the predecessor of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Lakers signed Mikan. Kundla then guided the George Mikan-led Lakers, which also included star Jim Pollard, to the 1948 NBL title. The Lakers defeated the Washington Capitals and Coach Red Auerbach in the BAA Finals 4 games to 2.
  Moving to the BAA for the 1948–49 season, which became the NBA in 1949–50, Kundla's Lakers won five NBA titles in six years, with 1951 being the only gap in the team's run, a season in which Mikan broke his ankle at the end of the campaign, thus allowing the Rochester Royals to defeat the Lakers in the Western Conference championship series three games to one. The first team to repeat as league champions then became the first team to three-peat, with Mikan fully healed for the 1951–52, 1952–53, and 1953–54 seasons.
  Kulda's Lakers rosters included Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame players Mikan, Pollard, Slater Martin, Vern Mikkelsen, Clyde Lovellette, Slick Leonard, Hot Rod Hundley and Elgin Baylor,  as well as Arnie Ferrin, Walter Dukes, Dick Garmaker, Frank Selvy and future Pro Football Hall of Famer and Minnesota Vikings Coach Bud Grant.
  Kundla briefly moved to the Lakers front office ahead of the 1957–58 season. Coached by Mikan, the Lakers' record was 9-30, when Mikan stepped down and Kundla immediately returned to the bench, going 10-23 as the team finished 19-53, recording one of the worst seasons in its history missing the NBA playoffs for the only time in Kudla's tenure.
  Kundla then led the Lakers to a 33-39 record in his final season with an improved roster. Despite their losing record, Kundla led the 1958-1959 Lakers, with rookie Elgin Baylor, to series victories over the Detroit Pistons (2-1) and St. Louis Hawks (4-1) in the NBA Playoffs to reach the 1959 NBA Finals. The Lakers lost in the NBA Finals to Red Auerbach's Boston Celtics with Bill Russell and Bob Cousy in four games.
  Overall, Kundla was 423-302 (.583) in 11 seasons as Coach of the Minneapolis Lakers, winning the BAA Championship in 1949 and NBA Championships in 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954.
caption: George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers, 1948
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