Muggsy Bogues

At 59 years old, Muggsy Bogues has this physical status:

Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues, born January 9, 1965, is a retired American basketball player.

During his 14-season tenure in the NBA, Bogues was the youngest player to play in the National Basketball Association.

Bogues, who is best known for his ten seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, also appeared with the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors.

He spent time in NBA as the head coach of Charlotte Sting, the now-defunct WNBA team.

Early life

Bogues was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Lafayette Court housing projects. His mother was 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) and his father was 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m). He had three older siblings.

Bogues' childhood was difficult. He was struck by stray buckshot in his neighborhood and had to be hospitalized as a child. He saw a man being beaten to death with a baseball bat as a youth, a sight that haunted him into adulthood. When Bogues was 12 years old, his father was sentenced to twenty years in jail for an armed robbery. Chuckie's brother Chuckie began using hard drugs about the same time.

Bogues, who was also a standout wrestler and baseball player growing up, was a standout wrestler and baseball player. After a diminutive character from The Bowery Boys, he was dubbed "Muggsy" as a youth playing basketball on playgrounds.

Bogues played basketball at Southern High School in Baltimore when they first met and competed. Bogues aspired to be a dentist, so he moved to Dunbar High School, which offered healthcare instruction in Baltimore. He was mentored by Bob Wade, who later became the head coach at the University of Maryland, at Dunbar. He was a teammate of upcoming NBA players David Wingate, Reggie Williams, and Reggie Lewis (the latter two of whom were in his graduating class). The Dunbar Poets finished the 1981–82 season at 29–0 during Bogues' junior year and 31–0 during his senior year in 1982–83, ranked first in the country by USA Today.

Bogues have been accepted for college basketball at a variety of colleges, including Virginia, Penn State, and Seton Hall.

Personal life

In 1984, Bogues married Kim at a Dunbar High School alumni game. They married in 1989 and had a son, Ty Tyel, in 1991. When Bogues was 17 years old, he had a daughter named Tyisha from a previous marriage. Bogues and his wife divorced in 1997 after Kim retained physical custody of their children. In 2015, the couple wed we remarried.

Dell Curry, a Bogues and Hornets teammate, appeared in a Minor League Baseball game for the Gastonia Rangers of the South Atlantic League on June 21, 1991. The publicity stunt was staged by George Shinn, the team's owner. Both Bogues and Curry had intended to attend the entire nine-inning game, but rain had cut it short. In both of his at bats, Bogues played second base and was struckless in both of his at bats.

Bogues' father died of pneumonia in Baltimore in August 1993. He had been released early from jail but he had revived using opioids, most with Bogues' brother Chuckie.

Bogues moved Chuckie's older brother, Jack, into his house to help him fight heroin use, while Bogues recovered from knee surgery. Chuckie was still living with Bogues and had not used hard drugs in 23 years as of February 2019.

He was 19 credits behind a degree when Bogues left Wake Forest in 1987. He returned to Wake Forest in 1996 to complete his degree by taking summer classes. In May 1998, he completed his classes by correspondence and received a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications.

Sherron, Bogues' sister, worked with the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks for 32 years before she died of cancer at the age of 55 in 2015. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore named "Sherron Bogues Day" in her honor on June 27.

Samartine, Bogues' grandson, gained national recognition for his sport while still in elementary school and was given his first college basketball scholarship in 2020 as a freshman at Bogues.

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Professional career

Bogues was ranked second overall in the 1987 United States Basketball League draft by Rhode Island Gulls. Bogues was a fan favorite in the USBL, and the Gulls led the team in attendance, although the Gulls led the way. He averaged 22.2 points and 8.4 assists per game in his first season in the league, leading the league in minutes per game before an ankle injury ended his season.

Bogues was the twelfth overall in the 1987 NBA draft by the Washington Bullets, and he was drafted into a talent-laden draft class that also included David Robinson, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen, and Kevin Johnson. Bogues made his NBA debut against the Atlanta Hawks in 1991 at Omni Coliseum; he started and led the team in assists. He was 16.5 inches (42 cm) shorter than the average NBA player at the time of his debut. Bogues, a rookie year, was a teammate of Manute Bol, who was 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) tall. They were the best and shortest players in NBA history at the time, with 28 inches (71 cm) difference between them. Bol and Bogues were on three magazine covers together. Since Bogues was suspended and replaced with Wes Unseld, he suffered drastically. Despite playing only fourteen games as a rookie, Bogues led the Bullets in both steals and assists.

In the 1988 NBA expansion draft, Bogues and Jay Murphy were left unprotected, and the Charlotte Hornets selected him. Bogues told the Washington Post that he had "no quarrel" with the Bullets for leaving him unprotected, and that his agents were thrilled to begin anew in Charlotte.

Bogues were held to the bench in Charlotte's first season, head coach Dick Harter feared him to bring short bursts of energy as a replacement. Harter was fired during the following season, but Bogues were able to flourish in the up-tempo offenses ruled by his successors, Gene Littles and Allan Bristow. Bogues will continue to play parts of ten seasons with the Hornets, but he will spend the bulk of his time as a starter and as one of the Hornets' faces alongside Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson.

The Hornets went from mediocrity to a strong contender in Charlotte during his tenure as coach Bob Bogues; the team went to the playoffs three times. During this period, Bogues, as well as the Hornets, were extremely popular among basketball fans. In all six seasons between 1989 and 1995, he was in the top ten in assists, with only once finishing lower than fourth. Bogues had the best assist-to-turnover ratio in 1992–93. In 1993–94, he had one of his best seasons, with a second-place finish in assists per game. He set a new career high with 10.8 points per game in the 1994–95 season. However, after six seasons of an increasing scoring average, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in August 1995. In the 1995–96 season, he was on the injured list at least three times in the recovery and repeated setbacks. With only fourteen points in six games, he finished the season. The Bogues returned to action in earnest the following season, but they missed 17 games and his numbers were marginally below average.

In 1997, Bogues' association with the team soured greatly. Bogues may need to retire due to his nagging knee injury, according to coach Dave Cowens in June. The Hornets signed point guard David Wesley, his presumptive replacement, just a week later. Owner George Shinn told Bogues in August that he will be able to complete his playing career with the team. Nevertheless, the club later requested that he have a preseason MRI on his injured knee. In exchange for B. J. Armstrong, Bogues and Tony Delk were traded to the Golden State Warriors on November 7. At the time, he was the NBA's all-time leader in assist-to-turnover ratio and the franchise's top gunman in steals and assists. Since being in a position of employment, he severed links with the company. Dell Curry, Bogues' closest friend on the team, was the only remaining original Hornets player on the team after the trade.

Despite starting in less than half of the team's games, Bogues led the Warriors in assists in the 1997–98 season. He appeared in 36 games in the lockout season, missing time due to hamstring and knee injuries, as well as chickenpox.

Bogues joined the Toronto Raptors for the veterans' minimum prior to the 1999–2000 season, reuniting him with longtime teammate Dell Curry. He appeared in 80 games in a season for the first time since 1992–93, but only five of those games were played. In a victory over the Boston Celtics on March 3, 2000, he tied a career record of 24 points.

Bogues appeared in only three games in the 2000–01 season, which will be his final, due to his persistent knee injury. His last game against the Chicago Bulls was January 27, 2001, a scoreless outing. He was traded by Mark Jackson to the New York Knicks for Chris Childs and a first-round draft pick in 2002 on February 22, 2001. He was recruited for salary cap reasons and never reported to New York during his time with them. Bogues ranked twelfth all-time in assists and thirteenth all-time in assists per game in NBA history at the end of the season in which he played.

Bogues was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in a three-team contract involving Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, and Glen Rice on August 10, 2001. The Bogues were fired on October 29, after he told the team that he wanted to step away from basketball to care for his mother, who was fighting cancer. He became a free agent on October 31, the first time.

Bogues told The Baltimore Sun in July 2002 that he had not resigned and was eager to return and was eager to return.

Career after the NBA

In the Land of Giants, his autobiography, was published in 1994 and chronicles the struggles of growing up in inner-city Baltimore and winning in the NBA.

Bogues served in real estate until August 3, 2005, when he was appointed head coach of the Charlotte Sting in the Women's National Basketball Association, despite a lack of coaching experience. Helen Darling, the shortest player on Sting, was shorter than all of his players at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m). The Sting defeated the team in January 2007 and took the team to a 14–30 record.

After serving as an assistant to former head coach Shaun Wiseman, he became the head coach of United Faith Christian Academy's boys' high school basketball team in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2011. During his three seasons as head coach, the school produced six all-state players. Despite being given a new deal, he resigned in 2014 to pursue other opportunities.

Bogues was named Charlotte Hornets' Ambassador on March 18, 2014, after being involved in the team's rebranding.

After watching an episode of Shark Tank and reaching out to Shark Tank panelist Mark Cuban, who had also invested in the business, Bogues invested in Ash & Erie, a short-men clothing business.

Bogues was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in January 2020.

"Bogues founded the Muggsy Bogues Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit group that "aims to assist vocationally bound students with scholarships and programs that meet the most basic needs" and "encourage youth and families by delivering programs that promote stability and encourage parents to achieve their full potential, as well as well-rounded students and productive adult citizens."

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