Muggsy Bogues

Muggsy Bogues

No. 1, 14
Point guard
Personal information
Date of birth	January 9, 1965 (1965-01-09) (age 46)
Place of birth	Baltimore, Maryland
Nationality	American
High school	Paul Laurence Dunbar (Maryland)
Listed height	5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Listed weight	136 lb (62 kg)
Career information
College	Wake Forest
NBA Draft	1987 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Pro career	1987–2001
Career history
1987–1988	Washington Bullets
1988–1997	Charlotte Hornets
1997–1999	Golden State Warriors
1999–2001	Toronto Raptors
Career highlights and awards
Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (1987)
Career statistics
Points	6,858
Assists	6,726
Steals	1,369
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men’s basketball Competitor for  United States FIBA World Championship Gold 1986 Spain National team

Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues (born January 9, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player and former head coach of the now-defunct Charlotte Sting of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The shortest player ever to play in the NBA, the 5 ft 3 in Bogues played point guard for four teams during his 14-season career in the National Basketball Association. Best known for his involvement with the Charlotte Hornets, he also played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors.

Biography

High school and college

Bogues was born in Baltimore, Maryland and played at Dunbar High School in his native Baltimore, where he was a teammate of future NBA players David Wingate (graduating class ahead of him), Reggie Williams and Reggie Lewis (both in his graduating class). The 1981–82 Dunbar Poets finished the season at 29–0 during Bogues' junior season and finished 31–0 during his senior season, and were ranked first in the nation by USA Today.^[1] He went on to play four years at Wake Forest University, averaging 11.3 points, 8.4 assists and 3.1 steals per game in his junior year. He followed with a senior campaign in which he averaged 14.8 points, 9.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 3.9 steals per game.

He played for the US national team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.^[2]

NBA

Bogues was drafted twelfth overall in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets, and was part of a talent-laden draft class that also included David Robinson, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen and Kevin Johnson. In his rookie year, Bogues was a teammate of Manute Bol who stood 7 feet 7 inches (231 cm) tall. Bol and Bogues appeared on three magazine covers together.

Despite his height, Bogues managed to block 39 shots throughout his NBA span including one on Patrick Ewing. This happened on April 14, 1993 in the first quarter when Ewing was pulling the ball back to go up for the shot and Bogues stripped him of the ball. He was credited with the block though; footage of his block was shown in 1996 on NBA Action.

Charlotte Hornets

The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets were set to enter the NBA for the 1988–89 NBA season. Despite their weakness at the point guard, Bogues was left unprotected by the Bullets. On June 22, 1988 the Hornets selected him in the expansion draft. As Bogues settled in Charlotte, he established himself as an exceptional passer, a great ball-stealer, and one of the fastest on court.

Bogues spent ten years in Charlotte as the Hornets, led by Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, became one of the most popular teams in the NBA and a perennial playoff contender. Bogues was one of the most popular players in Hornets history, despite the fact that he never averaged more than 11.2 points per game in a season.^[3]

He is the Hornets' career leader in minutes played (19,768), assists (5,557), steals (1,067), turnovers (1,118), and assists per 48 minutes (13.5). Bogues held the Hornets' single-game record of 19 assists, broken by Chris Paul (another player from Wake Forest) on Nov. 7, 2007. He also held the Hornets' postseason-game record of 15 assists, but that record was also broken on April 22, 2008 by Chris Paul, when he dished out 17 assists in the Hornets' win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Last years

Two games into the 1997–98 NBA season, Bogues' career in Charlotte ended when he was traded, along with Tony Delk, to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for B.J. Armstrong. Bogues played two seasons with the Warriors, and then signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors, where he would eventually finish his career. Although he was later traded to both the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, he did not play a single game for either franchise.

Life after the NBA

Since leaving the NBA, Bogues worked in the real estate business until August 3, 2005, when he was named head coach of the Charlotte Sting in the Women's National Basketball Association despite a lack of coaching experience. Notably, he was shorter than all of his players, the shortest member of the Sting being Helen Darlings who stands 5 ft 6 in (1.7 m). He lost his job as coach when the team folded in January 2007.

He currently works for the Charlotte Bobcats in their front office. His autobiography, In the Land of Giants, recounts the struggles of growing up in inner-city Baltimore and achieving success in the NBA.

Television and movie appearances

Bogues made a cameo appearance in TV series Curb Your Enthusiasm playing himself, sharing a restroom with Larry David and Richard Lewis and nearly having an altercation with David after catching them looking at his penis while urinating. In 1996, Bogues had a cameo at the end of Eddie in which Whoopi Goldberg's character flirts with him. He then walks out onto the court to support her character preventing Wild Bill from moving the Knicks. Also that year Bogues appeared in the movie Space Jam as one of five NBA players whose playing ability is stolen by the evil Monstars. Charles Barkley, Shawn Bradley, Larry Johnson and Patrick Ewing are the other four. He made a cameo appearance on an episode of Saturday Night Live while Charles Barkley was hosting. He also appeared in an episode of Hang Time where he spoke against steroids. Most recently he appeared in an episode of the television show Pros vs. Joes (Season 1, Episode 2) along with Bo Jackson, Dan O'Brien, Jennie Finch and Bill Romanowski.

See also

• List of shortest players in National Basketball Association history
• List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders

References

1. ^ "Dunbar High: Brick House". SLAM Online. 2007-09-21. http://slamonline.com/online/high-school/2007/09/dunbar-high-brick-house/. Retrieved 2008-12-09. 
2. ^ 1986 USA Basketball
3. ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boguemu01.html

External links

• Muggsy Bogues Official Website
• Muggsy Bogues at Basketball-Reference.com
• Muggsy Bogues at DatabaseBasketball.com
• WNBA Press Release of Bogues becoming Head Coach of the Charlotte Sting
• Muggsy Bogues at NBA.com
• Audio: Catching Up With Muggsy Bogues

Persondata
Name	Bogues, Muggsy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 9, 1965
Place of birth	Baltimore, Maryland
Date of death
Place of death