INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – George McGinnis spent his teenage years sneaking into Pacers games at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

He finished his Hall of Fame career as one of the most popular, revered and decorated basketball players in Pacers history.

The groundbreaking power forward, who captivated ABA and NBA fans with his one-handed jump shot, uncanny athleticism and pioneering spirit, died early Thursday morning. McGinnis was 73.

The Indiana Pacers said he died following complications from a cardiac arrest suffered last week at his home. McGinnis also had struggled to walk in recent years after undergoing multiple back surgeries because of a hereditary condition.

McGinnis was the consummate Hoosier, listening to high school games from the Hinkle Fieldhouse parking lot, relying on friendly ushers to introduce him to pro basketball and becoming a goodwill ambassador for his home state’s top sport.

And it all started with one game in the late 1960s.

“It was pro basketball and it was the first time I had seen it,” McGinnis told The Associated Press in 2021. “They had an NBA game on TV once a week or so, but seeing the pro game up close was one of the most outstanding times in my life.”

Basketball turned McGinnis into a celebrity whose career path had him rubbing elbows with some of Indiana’s biggest basketball names — Oscar Robertson, Rick Mount, Larry Bird, Bobby “Slick” Leonard, Bob Knight and dozens of others through the years.

His deep, deliberate speech pattern, warm personality and passion for the sport helped him bond with the fans who watched him go from prep star to unstoppable force in his one and only college season at Indiana before eventually leading the Pacers on two of their three ABA title runs.

“From his all-state high school days to his time as an IU All-American and, of course, to his legendary ABA championship runs with the Pacers, George McGinnis shaped so many of the fondest basketball memories for generations of Hoosiers,” the Simon Family and Pacers Sports & Entertainment said in a statement. “He was the very definition of an Indiana basketball legend, a champion, and Hall of Fame athlete.”

McGinnis was changing the game long before he made it to the pros, though.

After watching Robertson lead Indianapolis Crispus Attucks to Indiana’s first undefeated Indiana state championship in 1956, McGinnis matched him by taking Indianapolis Washington on a 31-0 title run and the third perfect season in Indiana history. McGinnis was changing the game long before he made it to the pros, though.