Muggsy Bogues is going to the rafters. The Charlotte Hornets announced on October 27 that they will retire his No. 1 jersey on February 11, 2027. The news came through ESPN. Bogues becomes only the third Hornets player with a retired number, next to Bobby Phills (No. 13) and Dell Curry (No. 30).
For a guy who stood 5'3" and spent his whole career looking up at everybody, Bogues found the right words for it. When the jersey goes up, he told ESPN, "it'll be like I'm the one looking down at the entire world."
Washington, 1987: The Tallest and the Shortest
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| Source: https://astriasuparak.com/2018/07/07/power_forward/1987-88_bol-and-bogues_3-part/ |
Washington already had Manute Bol. At 7'7", Bol was the tallest player the NBA had ever seen, and suddenly the shortest player in league history shared a locker room with him. Twenty-eight inches between them. The photo of the two standing side by side in Bullets uniforms went around the world and still shows up everywhere today. Back then, newspapers compared the pairing to Atlanta's duo of Spud Webb and Tree Rollins, but nothing came close to Bol and Bogues.
On the court it was a short run. Bogues played 79 games as a rookie, started 14 of them and averaged 5.1 assists. One season later the Bullets left him unprotected in the 1988 expansion draft, and the brand-new Charlotte Hornets grabbed him. Bol moved on to Golden State the same summer. One year together, and still one of the most famous pictures in NBA history.
Charlotte: Teal, Pinstripes and the First Playoff Run
In Charlotte, Bogues found his home. He played ten seasons there, from 1988 to 1998, and he still holds the franchise records in assists, steals and minutes. The early Hornets were an expansion team doing expansion team things. That changed when two big men arrived.
Larry Johnson came in 1991 as the first overall pick out of UNLV. A year later Charlotte took Alonzo Mourning second overall out of Georgetown. Put those two in the paint with Bogues pushing the ball, add Dell Curry shooting from deep and Kendall Gill on the wing, and the Hornets turned into one of the most fun teams of the early nineties. Teal and purple jerseys, pinstripes, Starter jackets everywhere. Charlotte was hot well beyond North Carolina.
In 1992-93 it all clicked. The Hornets went 44-38 and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Johnson averaged 22.1 points and 10.5 rebounds and made his first All-Star team. Bogues ran the show with 10.0 points, 8.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game. In the first round they met the Boston Celtics, lost Game 1 on the road and then won three straight. Game 4 in Charlotte ended with Mourning hitting a jumper at the buzzer for a 104-103 win. Rookie center, first playoff series, buzzer-beater against the Celtics. The New York Knicks stopped them in the next round, 4-1, but the Hornets had arrived.
Three years later, Bogues and Johnson were part of hoops pop culture for good. In Space Jam (1996), the Monstars steal their skills, and Muggsy shows up as one of the players who suddenly cannot play anymore.
From Player to Ambassador
After Charlotte, Bogues played for the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors and retired in 2001 after 14 NBA seasons. He came back to Charlotte and stayed. When the Bobcats brought back the Hornets name in 2014, Bogues returned as team ambassador. ESPN counts more than 20 years with the franchise as player and ambassador combined. He grew up in Baltimore, but he calls Charlotte the place he has called home more than any other.
The decision came from owners Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, who want the team to stay connected to its own history. With Bogues, that connection was overdue.
My Take: Looking Up to a 5'3" Point Guard
I am 5'9", or 1.75 meters. That is short for basketball, and when Muggsy was in the league I was even smaller. So of course he was my guy. Every kid who was the shortest one on the court knew Muggsy Bogues. He was proof that you could play with the giants and win the matchup. Quick hands, a low dribble, a pass nobody saw coming. He made being small look like an advantage.
That is why his own quote hits so well. A player people looked down on for his whole life now gets a banner that hangs over everybody in the arena. I literally looked up to Muggsy Bogues as a kid, and on February 11 the whole arena in Charlotte will do the same.
Long overdue. Respect, Muggsy.
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