Tyrone Curtis “Muggsy” Bogues, a retired American basketball player, was born on January 9, 1965.
The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) all-time shortest player, 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) Bogues played point guard for four different clubs throughout the course of his 14-season NBA career.
He played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors in addition to the Charlotte Hornets, for whom he spent his first 10 NBA seasons.
In three of those seasons (1989-1995), Bogues finished in the top ten for steals and in the top seven for assists. His NBA career had 146 double-doubles. He was the head coach of the WNBA’s now-defunct Charlotte Sting after his NBA career.
Is Tyrone short because of his Genes?
Bogues was raised in the Lafayette Court housing complexes after being born in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was 5 ft 5 (1.65 m) in and his mother was 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m).
It was said that Tyrone could not grow much in height because of his genetics and he could do nothing about it.
Did Tyrone have a Traumatizing Past?
Bogues had a difficult upbringing. He was hospitalised at the age of five after being injured by stray buckshot in his neighbourhood.
He saw a man being killed with a baseball bat when he was young, and the memory of it followed him into adulthood.
Bogues’ father received a 20-year jail term for armed robbery when he was 12 years old. Chuckie, his brother, also started doing heavy narcotics at about the same time.
How did everyone treat him when he went to play Baskeball?
Bogues, who grew up in Baltimore’s Lafayette projects, adored basketball, but he was always put to the test. He wasn’t taken seriously by the other youngsters on the court because they thought he was too short to play.
“ I constantly received this bad response from the game of basketball because I was known as “Little Ty,” “Little Tyrone,” he claims. They advised him not to waste his time since he would never play basketball. “ Why were these people saying this? I know I could play, “ he recalled thinking.
Bogues was never included in the team captains’ player selections.
He responds, “We have to sit over there and observe while the game is played. You become weary of merely watching, “
He then sliced the bottoms of empty milk crates to build baskets with his mates.
“We tied the milk crates on each end of the fence and we had our own milk crate basketball pickup game and it was a good time cause we could jump off the fence and dunk the basketball,” he says. “You had to be creative in order to play and I wanted to play.”
Even back then, Bogues was an aggressive defender.
“I had to play that way because I was small,” he says. “A little kid that just was out there trying to create havoc, just trying to disrupt a lot of things.”
That’s when the older kids started to notice him.
When did Tyrone prove to the world that even with a short height he can be successful?
The Rhode Island Gulls picked Bogues with the second overall pick in the 1987 United States Basketball League draught. In the USBL, Bogues was a fan favourite, and the Gulls had the highest attendance.
Before an ankle injury halted his season, he led the league in minutes played per game and averaged 22.2 points and 8.4 assists in his lone season in the league.
Bogues was selected by the Washington Bullets in the twelfth overall pick of the 1987 NBA Selection, joining a talented draught class that also included David Robinson, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen, and Kevin Johnson.
On November 6, 1987, Bogues made his NBA debut at Omni Coliseum against the Atlanta Hawks; he started and led the club in assists. He was 16.5 inches (42 cm) shorter than the typical NBA player at the time of his debut. Manute Bol, who was 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 metres) tall, and Bogues were teammates in Bogues’ rookie season.
At the time, they were the shortest and tallest players in NBA history, with a height disparity of 28 inches (71 cm). Bol and Bogues has three covers in magazines.
After that he also went on to play for big teams like Charlotte Hornets, Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors.He succeeded at every team he played for and silenced everyone who did not like him because of his height.
There were times when coaches used to bench Tyrone because of his height but every time Tyrone got an opportunity, he made sure he took it well enough.
Tyrone was also an important part of the squad which went on to win the Gold at the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Spain.