C “King” Boring
Year of Induction: 1997 | Categories: Individual
C. “King” Boring made his biggest impact on the sports world after he graduated from Salem High School in 1922.
After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in business and accounting, Boring nearly hit big as an owner of a professional basketball team.
Boring, who was nicknamed King because he took on and beat the school bully growing up, purchased the Detroit Gems in an era when pro basketball did not have the appeal that it does today. The Gems were a barnstorming team that played in cities across the country.
The Gems struggled to make a go of it financially. The struggling franchise was finally sold to Max Winter for $10,000 in 1948.
The next day at the BAA draft, Boring’s former team drafted Hall of Famer George Mikan. Winter also announced he was moving the team to Minneapolis and changing the nickname to Lakers. One year later the Lakers joined the NBA where they have remained ever since. Winter eventually sold those same Lakers to Jack Kent Cooke for $5.2 million. Cooke then moved the Lakers to Los Angeles.
Basketball was not the only place Boring made an impact. He also made his presence known in baseball. Boring served a scout for both the St. Louis Browns and Detroit Tigers.
Boring also coached a Class A level team in Dearborn, Michigan. On four occasions his teams reached the Class A national finals. The last came in 1978.
Fifteen future major league players played for Boring. Perhaps the most famous was former Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres first baseman Steve Garvey.
Boring was elected to the Dearborn Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. The city’s softball complex is named after him.
Boring first got into sports while growing up in rural Salem. He played basketball, baseball and track in high school.
Boring recalled when he went out for the high school team as a freshman, competition was very stiff. He noted 93 boys were out for the team, but he overcame the odds and made the varsity.
Boring died in April, 1996.
June 24th, 2009 at 1:52 am
He was a great man. I would know because he is my great grandfather.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Not super important with regard to Mr. Boring and who he was, but for the record, the paragraph about the Lakers is entirely wrong. Mr. Boring did not sell the Gems/Lakers to Max Winter, nor was Winter involved in selling the team to Jack Kent Cooke *nor* was Cooke the one who moved the team to L.A.
Boring sold the Gems to Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen. They’re the ones who moved the team Minneapolis and renamed it “Lakers”. They later sold it Bob Short, who moved it to L.A.
May 12th, 2017 at 11:45 am
Boring hired my great-uncle Chuck Hawley from Odin to play for the Gems. Chuck was listed as a forward and played in three games for the Gems, scoring 17 points.