the Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 dispersal draft of players from the Professional Basketball League of America, which they used to select George Mikan, later to become the greatest center of his time. With Mikan, new coach John Kundla and an infusion of former University of Minnesota players, the Lakers won the NBL championship in that 1947-48 season and joined four other NBL teams in jumping to the Basketball Association of America, where they promptly won the 1948-49 BAA championship. The NBL and BAA merged to become the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949. In 1957, he and Berger sold the team to Bob Short. Three years later the team moved to Los Angeles. Personal life In 1960, Chalfen's wife Marty Collins Chalfen and three children were killed in the crash of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710. Chalfen himself died at the age of 72 in 1979. He was survived by his second wife, Beverly Nesler; and two sons, Richard and John. Services were held at Temple Israel in Minneapolis. References Los Angeles Lakers owners 20th-century American Jews American sports businesspeople National Basketball League (United States) owners 1907 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople