photo: hoopedia.nba.com
Tyrone Curtis Bogues, a.k.a. Muggsy, was the most unique, revolutionary hoops talent that the courts have ever seen. A one man defensive press and human fast break, he was one of the world’s premier point guards. Standing only 5′3″, he’s the shortest man to ever play in the NBA, yet routinely stood atop the league leaders in assists and steals.
To reach the mountaintop, Muggs probably climbed more obstacles than anyone before him.
“Not only did I have to avoid the harsh temptations of my early life growing up in the projects of Baltimore, I had to overcome the endless doubts that someone my height could play any form of organized ball,” said Bogues in his autobiography In the Land of the Giants. “As a little kid, I was picked on or passed over when choosing sides for a game. In recreation leagues I was looked at as the cute little one. No one ever thought I’d play high school ball. When I did play in high school I was taunted and laughed at by opposing players and fans. No one thought I had a chance at any college ball, and certainly not Division I, major college ball. And when I did make it, at Wake Forest University, I was a national curiosity for a long time before I was considered a talented player. The Pros? C’mon!”
photo: hoopedia.nba.com
Muggsy was raised in the Lafayette Courts Housing Project in notorious East Baltimore. The self-determination that allowed him to taste success later on was evident early on. As a toddler, he once walked down the stairs from his tenth floor apartment on his own, even though he was told never to do so. While his mother frantically searched for him, his brother found him chilling in front of the building.
Gunfire, stabbings, the other risiduals of the drug game were his daily reality. Navigating the crazy East Baltimore streets, Muggs was almost a grim statistic himself. He was shot at the age of five, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and played with shotgun pellet fragments embedded in his arms and legs for his entire hoops career.
Even the b-ball court, the normal oasis, had its treacherous moments.
“I can remember an argument during a game,” said Muggsy. “This one got more and more nasty, until one of the kids walked off the court, came back a few minutes later, pulled out a gun and blew the other kid away as he was going in for a layup.”
photo: hoopedia.nba.com
Bogues got his nickname on the playgrounds because he was known for strippin’ cats and then pushin’ it on the break to feed his big man. “Hey Ty,” yelled Dwayne Wood - his mentor who at 5′5″ was one of the greatest guards ever in the city. “You’re out there muggin’ everybody!” Muggin’ became Muggsy and the rest is history.
“Dwayne Wood went on to play at Virginia Tech,” said Bogues. “I bugged him to play me one-on-one all the time. We played together on the streets, and he was the guy who made me realize that I could play with anyone, no matter my size.”
“All we ever did was play ball. We’d play in the heaviest snow, clearing a spot just big enough to shoot. We’d play in pouring rain.”
At the crib, Muggsy and his older sister Sherron, who gut busy on the court in her own right, would fashion hangers into hoops and tie them to the wall with clothesline, battling with rolled up socks. He got his first ball at the age of eight, a Christmas present from grandmoms.
“I opened it up, put air in it and went down to the court and played, even though it was early and freezing,” Muggsy said.
photo: hoopedia.nba.com
He slept with the rock and took it everywhere. That tight handle that was immune to being stripped was developed by dribbling up and down ten flights of project stairs. He set up obstacle courses of discarded cardboard boxes. He fine tuned the fingertip control by tapping the rock with one hand while carrying the trash down the stairwell and out to the dumpster with the other.
Between the streets, outdoor tournaments and the crucible of rec league ball, Muggsy was ready for Freddy Kruger by the time he hit the scene at the famed Dunbar High School.
He routinely played to standing room only crowds with his Lafayette Rec team along with teammate, neighbor and childhood best friend Reggie “Russ” Williams (who went on to become one of the greatest Georgetown Hoyas ever and a ten year pro). People in B-more still talk about that Lafayette crew battling the team from the Cecil-Kirk rec center with shorties named David “Gate” Wingate and Reggie “Truck” Lewis (peep the archives for “The Playground Gave us Truck”).
photo of muggsy #14, Reggie “Russ” Williams directly behind him, and Reggie “Truck” Lewis #31: baltimoresun.com
All of those guys teamed up at Dunbar, after having played with and against each other since fresh out of diapers, to form one of the greatest high school teams ever. With Muggsy running the point, Dunbar never lost a game.
As a freshman at Wake Forest, he stripped Kenny Patterson in the NCAA tourney against DePaul. As a soph in ‘85, he shut down Duke’s Johnny Dawkins, who came in that January matchup with a string of 51 consecutive double digit games. Muggs held him to 8 points on 4-16 shooting while forcing 5 turnovers.
“When you’re playing against Tyrone you are playing against a great player and a great competitor,” Dawkins said after the game. “He comes at you offensively and defensively. He’s listed at 5′3″ but he plays like he’s 7′7″. He’s everywhere!”
Muggs got busy against not only Dawkins, but other phenomenal talents like Kenny Smith and Mark Price. He put up 20 with 10 dimes and 4 steals against Nate McMillan, Spud Webb and Chris Washburn. As a junior, he gave out more assists than welfare against Carolina, with 17!
Lefty Driesell, Maryland’s coach said “I know better than to try and bring it up against Muggs. I saw him in high school. He’d steal the ball from Houdini!”
He guarded the great Len Bias (who some believe would have made MJ, a.k.a. Air Jordan, the second best player of the ’80s and ’90s) and held him to 16, about ten below his average.
“C’mon Muggs, get away from me,” Bias told him shortly after the tip. ” I have to have a good game tonight. Go guard the guards, you’re being a pest.”
photo: baltimoresun.com
The summer before his senior year he ran the point for Team USA at the World Championships, on a team with Kenny Smith, Sean Elliot, Tommy Amaker, David Robinson, Armon Gilliam and others. Against Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals, Muggs drew the unenviable defensive assignment of the great Drazen Petrovic, who was avg’ing 27 a clip for the tourney. Muggs held him to 12.
“I was in his stuff all night and he made only 4 of 17 field goal attempts,” said Muggsy. “Their coaches couldn’t understand it, the fans couldn’t understand it. They had never seen Petrovic slowed down, let alone by a 5′3″ guy giving him all kinds of hell.”
In the finals against Arvydas Sabonis and the powerful Soviets, Muggs gave ‘em that East B’more playground flavor with 10 steals and 5 dimes. The US won the gold.
The spanish newspaper El Pais wrote, “He is a spectacle to see. On the court, he appears to be the little brother of his teammates, but it is he who orders, commands, directs.”
As a senior, he avg’d 15 ppg, silencing the critics who said he couldn’t score, in addition to being the ACC’s second leading rebounder among guards. Muggs was drafted #12 in the talent laden ‘87 class that included David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, Mark Jackson, Kevin Johnson, Horace Grant, not to mention his high school teammates and childhood friends Reggie Lewis and Reggie Williams.
photo of Muggsy and Manute Bol: hoopedia.nba.com
As a pro, all you need to know is that Muggs is the NBA’s all time leader with an insane 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Just take a minute to think of all the great point guards and what that number means. And the Charlotte Hornets in the early ’90s with Muggsy, Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning and Dell Curry? Bananas!
Muggsy was as memorable as any player ever, one of the most electrifying in history. He transcended height. And it was on the playgrounds of B-More where he developed that swagger and belief that he could do it against anybody, anywhere and at any time.
We might see another Jordan, LeBron, Kobe or D-Wade down the road. But I can bet my bottom dollar that we’ll never again, ever, ever, ever see another Muggsy.
THE PLAYGROUND IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT IS THE SOLUTION!
September 15th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
funkalot says:
I, always,ask people who the greatest athlete was in the NBA was? They, summarily, answer Mike Jordan and name others. My reply to them: Mugsy Bogues. Why, because he played from the greatest disadvantage in the “L”. Remember, he was not Charlie Criss, Greg Grant, Keith Jennings, Earl Boykins or even Spud Webb, in that for most of his career he was a “starter”. The principal playmaker on offense and defense. He had a significant impact, unlike the other diminutive players listed. So, Mugsy should be revered as one of, if not the greatest athlete(s) ever in the League.
Additionally, he went home in the summers and held it down in the DC area summer leagues. He would give it to Johnny Dawkins, Dom Pressley, Mike Jackson, Othell Wilson, Len Bias and others regularly.He was summer league MVP in the Jelleff league played at G’Town, one year.
Little is big an big is little, when talking about Mugsy.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Russ M. says:
Charlie Criss would make for a nice story.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
ali says:
funk,
couldn’t agree more. muggs was a frontline starter for most of his career. and he made everyone around him better. he was among the league leaders in assists and steals every year. most people thought he was at a perpetual disadvantage but anyone with an understanding of the game knows - you don’t start your shot over your head, you have to bring it up. when you grabbed a re and didn’t keep it over your head, it was taxed. and watching muggs on the fast break was an incredible thing to witness.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Blk Caesar says:
I was always amazed at how tough Muggsy was in the L and how he gave people fits defensively even cats he gave more than a foot too.. Incredible. I was not expecting a Muggsy piece Ali.. Nice surprise! This one showed alot of Paul Laurence Dunbar love… I assume keeping with that theme that Sam “I am” Cassell piece is in the works… One of the few remaining masters of the lost art of the mid-range game…
September 15th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
ali says:
there you go blk ceaser. i can’t be mad, though, at brothers that know their hoops. and i’m glad muggsy surprised you. i’m tryin’ to keep you educated ball fiends on your toes. and you know the sam cassell joint is coming down the road, as well as another dunbar surprise.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
funkalot says:
My favorite Mugsy moment occurred during his Wake Forest days. Spud Webb (NC State)caught the break and seemingly was going in for an uncontested lay-up (full speed) and Mugsy just walked him down ,like Carl Lewis used to do folks in his sprint races; give you a head start and catch you at the end. Mugsy did that to Spud, he peeled him before Spud could lift off for the lay-up and turned on the dime headed in the opposite direction, leaving Spud dumbfounded, as if to say what just happened.
Spud, I can tell you, you were “Mugged”.
The other amazing thing about Mugsy was watching players attempting to post him in the “L”, meeting with limited success. Mugsy had thighs like Earl Campbell, which allowed him to muscle back against bigger cats.
Of note, he played baseball in the summers, at times, with Dell Curry, on a semi-pro level, I believe.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
russ-
i heard charlie criss was a problem in the pro rucker. he played with the atl hawks in the nba.
anone peep the ill pro-keds in the dunbar hs photo? i have a picture in them in my book. the jaclars (the shoe to the right of muggsy) i knew about but never got a chance to wear, was never really sure if they were official or just skippies. no one wore them here in new york that i knew of. were they relevant in b-more/dc?
September 15th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Blk Caesar says:
Sorry Ali… When you plant that seed in my head about one cat another one always just pops into the dome…. I’ll try to stop throwing out the secret ingredients!!!! I just peeped the Reggie “Truck” Lewis one you wrote.. That’s was really good as well.. As an alumni from UCONN (via St. Patrick in Elizabeth, New Jeru), coach C always talked highly of Reggie Lewis and what he did for that Northeastern program…
September 15th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Russ M. says:
Bob,
Charlie Criss,(out of Gorton High,Yonkers) played in the league for about 7 yrs though only 5′7″. But the real beauty of his story is that he didn’t make it to the league until he was 29, just a couple months shy of his 30th birthday. Imagine that, a 30-yr-old 5′7″ rookie!
September 15th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Kenny Patt says:
Great story once again Ali . I watched a Wake game (I think vs N.C.) where Al Mcguire constantly stated that Mugsy had a bigger impact in college than Patrick Ewing. Not sure about that , but he was a pleasure to watch. BTW.. Does he still coach in the WNBA?
September 16th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Risse aka Town Biz says:
always loved Mugsy
September 16th, 2008 at 3:56 am
FM says:
further to what funkalot mentioned, about guys trying to post up Muggsy with limited success, Terrell Brandon (at 5′11″ another relatively diminutive PG and one of the classiest and most honest players ever) said that Muggsy provided him with his toughest comp in his entire career, one of the reasons being that Mugs was so physically strong. i also heard that Muggsy could grab the rim and - i don’t know if this is true - dunk a volleyball! at 5′3″ that’s bananas!
September 16th, 2008 at 8:51 am
ali says:
muggsy had a 46′ vertical and could get on the rim and slam a volleyball, but he couldn’t palm a basketball.
his true coming out party was in NY, at the Harlem Holiday Classic at City College, when he was named tournament MVP. that was the first time people outside of b-more got a glimpse of him.
They beat Hamilton in the final, the closest game they ever had. Wingate stepped to the line in the final seconds to shoot some crucial free throws and some dude in the crowd showed him his pistol, saying that if he didn’t miss, there’d be problems.
Gate told head coach Bob Wade what was up and was more nervous than a pregnant hostage. when Gate stepped to the free throw line, 50 strong from the b-more contingent, known as the Poet Followers, walked up in the crowd led by a maryland sherriff who had a piece of his own. the sherriff whispered something in dude’s ear and pointed to the poet followers who all stood on the baseline while gate shot and made the free throws.
an older cat from around my way was at that tournament and started raving about dunbar and the little point guard that he called BUGGSY. “Reggie Williams is considered the best high school player in the country but he’s not even the nicest cat on that team,” he told me and my crew as we lounged in the park. “Everybody on the bench is going D-I but their best player is Buggsy! Word!”
September 16th, 2008 at 8:52 am
ali says:
kenny,
muggs is no longer coaching in the wnba, as the charlotte franchise folded.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am
illest says:
those little guys had a great advantage as well….their height. they had the advantage offensively because most players arent used to playing guys that are that low to the ground. Boykins, mr jennings, spud could all score. We definitely wont see another Muggsy.
I think Criss used to call Hawks game with John Sterling.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
ali says:
exactly illest. and nobody wants to be pestered, taken out of their offensive comfort zone and have to chase lightning in a bottle all game long. cats were petrified to bring the ball up against muggsy.
Sherman Douglas said “He’s so annoying you want to slap him.”
Sabonis said “he’s a damn pest, a damn pest, a damn pest.”
Dean Smith said he spent as much time preparing for Muggs as he did Ralph Sampson.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
PFTB says:
No doubt we’ll NEVER see another Muggsy.I’ve always said that, as well as him being the most amazing player to play in the NBA.Just to piggyback on what funkalot & FM said.You would think a players mindset would be;”Oh Muggs is on me, I’m a post him all day”.Never seen ANYONE post up Muggsy for any length of time.They mighta tried it once,but quickly realized,”This strategy is not gonna work.”I’ve seen him block Ewing’s shot,o.k he caught him from behind,but there’s NO WAY a 7 footer should have a 5′3″ person even touch the ball when its up that high.Also that speed wasn’t just end to end,Muggsy could change directions at top speeds like no one ever has.Just imagine him returning kickoffs in the NFL? Yeah!!!!
September 16th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
ali says:
muggsy as a kick returner? crazy! making the football analogy, he was a shutdown defender in the mold of neon deion sanders a.k.a. primetime. you just tried to say away from wherever he was.
Pat came off the pick near the top of the key, pump faked and got alonzo in the air, got ready to fire and….muggsy came over and swatted it. the crowd went bonkers. Pat never saw it coming. Muggs scooped it, raced downcourt for the uncontested lay, turned and smiled at pat, who could do nothing but laugh.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
PFTB says:
My bad I watched the you tube after I posted (didn’t know the Ewing block was there).A thought just came to me though,I wonder if Muggsy has more blocks than Eddy Curry?
September 17th, 2008 at 5:57 am
dj ho says:
great article! thanks for another story about an old school player.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Jaquam says:
i was thinking that if Nate Robinson was more of a first-pass PG he could of been the next Muggsy but nah just by reading this nobody can be like him
September 17th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
ali says:
jaquam,
nate is very good, extremely strong, talented and very explosive. he’s a special dude.
but muggs was 5′3″ man! 5′3″!!!!!!
5:1 assist to turnovers? magic and stockton didn’t do that!
September 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Jaquam says:
ali i agree on you with that one the i seen a special on him on NBA TV and saw one of his old games that’s how i learned most of the stuff about him. to me he had an advantage over alot of taller guards because he was so quick and small especially with the passes and lots of players couldn’t keep up with him. plus he’s a great defender I just mention nate because he could be one of those short players in nba history who had a special talent special talents like spud and muggsy
September 18th, 2008 at 9:52 am
ali says:
yeah Jaquam,
i feel you on the comparison. i don’t think any little man, even spud, could touch nate when it comes to the in- game slam dunk repetoire.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Jeronimo says:
Great piece Ali! Keep up the good work.