A Brief History of Minnesota Politics and Basketball

Basketball players, owners, broadcasters, coaches, and referees all have made bids for state or federal office from the Gopher State

With one former NBA basketball player already campaigning for Minnesota’s open 2026 U.S. Senate seat comes news that another ex-NBA player is also considering a run: former Minnesota Gophers standout and eight-year NBA forward Willie Burton told the Minnesota Star Tribune that he is eying a run for the GOP nomination.

Burton was a small forward in the NBA during the 1990s where he played 316 games for five teams – the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs, and Charlotte Hornets.

Burton would join 2024 Republican nominee Royce White who has already launched his campaign for next year’s election. [White played three games in the NBA during the 2013-14 season with the Sacramento Kings].

But these candidacies only scratch the surface of the connections between politics and basketball in the Gopher State.

Likely the most famous Minnesotan to run for office with a basketball pedigree was Republican George Mikan (pictured).

Mikan played seven years for the Minneapolis Lakers as a center between 1948 and 1956, winning the league scoring title three times and with four all-star selections. Mikan also served as the team’s general manager for three years and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959.

Following his second retirement as a player after the 1955-1956 season, Mikan ran for the Republican nomination for the state’s 3rd Congressional District – winning a majority 56.3 percent of the vote in a crowded seven-candidate field that included former GOP U.S. Representative John Grant Alexander. In the November 1956 general election, Mikan fell 3.9 points short of unseating DFL incumbent Roy Wier.

Speaking of the Lakers, a three-time candidate for state and federal office was Minneapolis DFLer Bob Short – second owner of the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers from 1957 to 1965 (and subsequently the owner of the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers baseball franchise from 1968 to 1974).

After selling the Lakers to Jack Cooke for $5 million in 1965, Short was the 1966 DFL nominee for Lieutenant Governor, losing the general election to Winona Republican radio station owner Jim Goetz by 2.1 points.

In 1978, Short was trounced by Dave Durenberger by 26.9 points in the special U.S. Senate election caused by the death of Hubert Humphrey.

Short’s first federal campaign dates all the way back to a decade before he owned the Lakers, losing the 1946 DFL 3rd CD primary by 39.7 points to freshman incumbent William Gallagher.

Off the court and in the broadcast booth, Minneapolis’ Dick Enroth was known as the “Voice of the Minneapolis Lakers.” He also called University of Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball and football games in the 1940s and 1950s.

Enroth was the Republican nominee for the state’s 5th CD in 1970 – losing the general election by 14.8 points to incumbent Don Fraser.

Montana-born but Stillwater-raised Marty Crowe was a candidate for the St. Paul-based 4th Congressional District nomination for the Democrats in 1942 and DFL in 1946 winning 34.2 percent and 16.0 percent respectively.

Crowe became a renowned basketball coach in Wisconsin winning two state championships at St. Patrick’s High School in Eau Claire, the 1958 Minnesota Catholic championship at St. Augustine High School in Austin, and the 1964 Wisconsin Catholic high school championship at Marinette Central. Crowe was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1982 and retired three years later in 1985.

There have been several other candidates for state legislative office with a background in basketball including…

Backus college chemistry professor Alton Smith worked as a Big 10 basketball referee and in 1950 lost Cass County’s HD 52 seat by 7.2 points to George Ericson.

Minneapolis Liberal Wally Kowalski lost the 1962 HD 39 general election, placing fourth in the top-two contest. Kowalski was an all-American basketball player at Northwestern University and member of the Edison High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

Esko conservative Les Knuti lost the 1968 HD 52B general election to Liberal incumbent Bernie Carlson by 5.8 points. Knuti was a retired high school basketball and (state hall of fame) football coach who also served as athletic director at Esko High School for decades. Knuti was a broadcaster during state basketball tournaments on KDAL radio.

Roseau GOPer Ambrose Kramer was the Independent-Republican HD 01A nominee in 1982 but lost to incumbent DFLer Jim Tunheim by 8.7 points. Kramer was inducted into the Minnesota High School Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 1983.

Rochester Republican Rich Decker was the GOP nominee for HD 29B in 2006 – narrowly losing the general election by 99 votes to Kim Norton. Decker was inducted into the Minnesota High School Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2003 after decades of coaching at Kenyon, Faribault, and Rochester Lourdes.

It should be noted that the most famous athlete to be elected to state office in Minnesota, former State Supreme Court Associate Justice Alan Page (1993-2015), did play intramural basketball for four years in high school in Canton, Ohio. [Page later became a household name in football as a defensive tackle for 15 years for the Vikings and Chicago Bears in a career that included nine pro bowls and an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988].

Follow Smart Politics on X.