Muggsy Bogues

Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues (born January 9, 1965) is an American former basketball player. The shortest player ever to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) Bogues played point guard for four teams during his 14-season career in the NBA. Although best known for his ten seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, he also played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors.

Bogues finished in the top seven in assists in six consecutive seasons (1989–1995), and in the top ten in steals in three of those seasons. He had 146 career NBA double-doubles. After his NBA career, he served as head coach of the now-defunct Charlotte Sting of the WNBA. Bogues also had a surprising defensive ability. He blocked 39 shots throughout his NBA career, including one from 7-foot-tall Patrick Ewing.

Bogues was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in the 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's childhood was troubled. At five years old, he was hit by stray buckshot in his neighborhood and had to be hospitalized. As a child, he witnessed a man get beaten to death with a baseball bat, a sight that haunted him into adulthood. When Bogues was 12 years old, his father was sentenced to twenty years in prison for armed robbery. Around the same time, his brother Chuckie began using hard drugs.

In addition to basketball, Bogues was a standout wrestler and baseball player growing up. As a child playing basketball on playgrounds, he was nicknamed "Muggsy" after a diminutive character from The Bowery Boys.

Bogues initially attended and played basketball at Southern High School in Baltimore. Because Bogues aspired to be a dental technician, he transferred to Baltimore's Dunbar High School which offered healthcare classes. At Dunbar, he was coached by Bob Wade, later the head coach at the University of Maryland. He was a teammate of future 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's junior year and finished 31–0 during his senior year in 1982–83, and were ranked first in the nation by USA Today.

Bogues received scholarship offers to play college basketball for several schools including Virginia, Penn State and Seton Hall.

Bogues attended Wake Forest University and played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons for four years. He averaged 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 2.4 steals per game. In 1986–87, he led the Atlantic Coast Conference in steals and assists and received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award. As a senior, he received the Arnold Palmer Award as Wake Forest's most valuable athlete. When his collegiate career ended, he was the ACC career leader in steals and assists.