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Speaker 1: August eleventh, nineteen eighty eight, just after nine in the

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Speaker 1: morning a late summer Friday. There's nothing unusual to report

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Speaker 1: unless you're in North Carolina at the Charlotte Coliseum, the

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Speaker 1: brand new home of the NBA's newest franchise, the Charlotte Hornets.

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Speaker 2: I deeply appreciate the privilege of being here.

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Speaker 1: Tonight, not even twelve hours earlier, the Reverend Billy Graham

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Speaker 1: stood on stage at center court and dedicated the arena.

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Speaker 3: When I hear somebody say, Billy Frank, I know they're

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Speaker 3: from Charlotte.

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Speaker 1: For years, Charlotte didn't have any professional sports teams, but

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Speaker 1: college hoops was in full force along Tobacco Road, Duke,

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Speaker 1: NC State, Wake Carolina. So much excitement in the Queen City.

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Speaker 1: Now to have the NBA come to the region. This

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Speaker 1: new arena will host its first ever sporting event tonight,

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Speaker 1: a double header game one featuring the USA women's national

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Speaker 1: team taking on Cuba, and then a team of NBA

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Speaker 1: stars against the men's national team. Two dozen workers put

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Speaker 1: down a brand new wooden basketball court bearing the hornets

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Speaker 1: purple and teal logo. Meanwhile, technicians from the American Sign

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Speaker 1: and Indicator Company make last minute adjustments to the jumbo

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Speaker 1: tron suspended above center court. They raise and lower the

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Speaker 1: scoreboard with motorized pulleys, but something goes wrong. The scoreboard

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Speaker 1: tilts one side, smacks the ceiling of the arena. There

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Speaker 1: are screams, people run in all directions, and then the

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Speaker 1: entire JumboTron, all forty thousand pounds, plummets more than one

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Speaker 1: hundred feet onto the hardwood. What is left is a

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Speaker 1: pile of wreckage that resembles a crashed UFO. Nobody was

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Speaker 1: killed or injured, so the powers that be at the

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Speaker 1: Charlotte Coliseum adopt a show must go on. Stands, the

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Speaker 1: JumboTron and damaged floor are removed. The hardwood from the

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Speaker 1: old coliseum, along with the old scoreboard, is trucked to

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Speaker 1: the new building, and that night, miraculously, the games are

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Speaker 1: delayed by just one half hour. Here's a member of

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Speaker 1: that brand new NBA Hornets team, Del Curry.

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Speaker 4: Do you remember the huge scoreboard crashing before the first season?

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, what do you remember about that?

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Speaker 3: We were like, what what if we were in there?

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Speaker 3: All right, that's what everybody thought, Okay, what if we

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Speaker 3: were in there? Because we were practicing at Grady Cole.

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Speaker 3: What do we do now? What what are we in for?

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Speaker 3: The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off?

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Speaker 1: Here's another original hornet, Rex Chapman. Do you remember when

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Speaker 1: the scoreboard fell before the season.

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Speaker 2: I rarely think about that, but Hannah, yes, you know,

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Speaker 2: this was a time where that was like that thing

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Speaker 2: that was up there the scoreboard arenas really didn't have

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Speaker 2: those yet. There was might have been speakers up there,

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Speaker 2: so that was a big It was massive, and I

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Speaker 2: mean it just destroyed the floor. They had to reconcrete

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Speaker 2: and all of that stuff. I had always during warm

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Speaker 2: ups my whole life. I shot layups, I warmed up,

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Speaker 2: I'd gone out and then I go out and I

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Speaker 2: stretch at mid court, and from that moment on, I

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Speaker 2: stretched off to the side just in case the scoreboard

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Speaker 2: fell down. I didn't want to die that way, so

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Speaker 2: but purposely, because of the Charlotte Coliseum scoreboard falling down,

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Speaker 2: I've moved to.

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Speaker 5: The location from where I always head stretched.

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Speaker 4: That's hysterical for the rest of your career.

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Speaker 2: If the rest of my career, I would not sit

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Speaker 2: out at mid court underneath the scoreboard.

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Speaker 4: For days.

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Speaker 1: The plummeting jumbo tron and the heroic efforts of the

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Speaker 1: arena workers to keep the show moving are the top

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Speaker 1: stories on WSCNCTV Channel thirty six, the Charlotte television station

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Speaker 1: where I came from Houston to anchor weekend sports.

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Speaker 4: Sar A Chapel Hill.

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Speaker 6: There not only constructing a stadium, they're building a football program.

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Speaker 1: Well Houston, but longed for a full time TV gig

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Speaker 1: and kept sending out those tapes and resumes. I was

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Speaker 1: hired in Charlotte as well, a gimmick by a brand

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Speaker 1: news station determined to try all sorts of crazy ideas

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Speaker 1: to get viewers.

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Speaker 3: The ultimate sports machine Jim'sumania and hannahst cats standard.

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Speaker 5: Only to News thirty six.

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Speaker 1: Hiring a woman's sports anchor, now that was something different

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Speaker 1: back in the day, and they let me know they

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Speaker 1: would also prefer me to light my hair to be

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Speaker 1: more blonde than brown. They promoted us on billboards around

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Speaker 1: the area, complete with a race car alongside my weekday anchor,

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Speaker 1: Jim selanias.

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Speaker 7: Hannah storm in for Jim Selenia Tonight with all the

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Speaker 7: sports and real good news by Buddy Bakers.

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Speaker 6: That's right, this afternoon, I had a chance to visit

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Speaker 6: with Buddy.

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Speaker 4: Baker and his memorial hospital. But here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: The main sport we covered in addition to basketball was NASCAR,

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Speaker 1: something I frankly knew nothing about.

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Speaker 4: But I've always felt that sports is.

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Speaker 1: An exactly brain surgery or some secret language only known

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Speaker 1: to men. I truly believe and did then that with

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Speaker 1: hard work you can learn anything.

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Speaker 6: You saw the great driving and the strategy involved in

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Speaker 6: this race.

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Speaker 1: Charlotte is the epicenter of NASCAR. At the time, legends

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Speaker 1: like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt ruled the track. The

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Speaker 1: man in Black is still one of the most intimidating

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Speaker 1: athletes that I've ever covered.

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Speaker 5: Where are you going?

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Speaker 6: I'm going to the pits, yep, not in the sunshine,

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Speaker 6: But I got my hat ready.

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Speaker 1: I went to the track almost daily and asked question

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Speaker 1: after question, learning the differences between the brands of tires,

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Speaker 1: the track, the equipment, spending time in the pits, and

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Speaker 1: chasing down drivers who had wrecked. Nothing like sticking your

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Speaker 1: microphone in front of someone who's just lost millions in

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Speaker 1: a crack up that probably wasn't even his fault.

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Speaker 4: So amidst NASCAR and college hoops.

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Speaker 1: How will professional hoops fare in this sports landscape. Well,

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Speaker 1: for the first time since nineteen eighty, the NBA is

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Speaker 1: ready to find out, expand and opening for business in

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Speaker 1: four new cities, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, and Charlotte.

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Speaker 6: Jim, this is great. You know, when the basketball season

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Speaker 6: starts coming around, your blood just pumps a little bit faster. Obviously,

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Speaker 6: this isn't the same kind of policy.

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Speaker 1: After the JumboTron fell from the ceiling, some wondered if

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Speaker 1: maybe the team could be cursed. Obviously I didn't think so.

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Speaker 1: They were too much fun to cover. The fan base

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Speaker 1: was one of the most energetic in pro sports, and

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Speaker 1: the winds and losses aside, there was something special about

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Speaker 1: those first Charlotte Hornets. From the NBA and iHeart podcast

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Speaker 1: This is NBA DNA with me Hannah's Storm, Episode four,

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Speaker 1: The Long Shots. Was an exciting time to be in Charlotte.

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Speaker 1: I was twenty six and finally a full time sports

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Speaker 1: TV anchor.

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Speaker 8: And it's time to go live to the coliseum now

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Speaker 8: with Hannah Storms.

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Speaker 3: She's with a head coach in the NBA.

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Speaker 4: Hannah, Hi, Jim.

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Speaker 6: You know it's great. Del Harrison I a head coach

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Speaker 6: the Milwaukee Bucks. We're just talking about what a short

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Speaker 6: summer was.

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Speaker 1: That's where I first came to know the man who

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Speaker 1: is now the patriarch of the famous Curry family, but

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Speaker 1: back then he was one of the original Hornets taken

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Speaker 1: in the expansion Draft. We've known each other since the

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Speaker 1: Charlotte days. As a lot of people know you're currently

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Speaker 1: color commentator, but you're also there all time points and

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Speaker 1: a three point leader for the franchise. So we first

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Speaker 1: met in the late eighties. Do you remember I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Do you remember me?

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Speaker 4: Obviously? I remember you.

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Speaker 3: I remember you. Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah. There weren't a

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Speaker 3: lot of women in your position back then, so yeah,

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Speaker 3: oh absolutely everybody knows she.

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Speaker 1: At that time, Dell was also twenty six and a

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Speaker 1: third year shooting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Speaker 4: Cutters along the baseline left corner shot Curry.

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Speaker 8: Yes, Sir, del Curry drills it from deep in the

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Speaker 8: left corner Cleveland.

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Speaker 1: The nineteen eighty seven NBA Draft was different for starters.

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Speaker 1: There were actually two drafts. First, there was the expansion Draft,

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Speaker 1: in which the twenty three teams already in the league

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Speaker 1: got to protect eight players from their roster, the Heat

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Speaker 1: and the Hornets. The two expansion teams got to pick

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Speaker 1: from the unprotected leftovers.

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Speaker 2: With its first pick in the expansion draft, Charlotte selected

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Speaker 2: del Curry from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Speaker 3: It was my third year in the league and third team.

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Speaker 3: I was drafted by Utah Cleveland, where I played with

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Speaker 3: a lot of guys already knew Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper

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Speaker 3: didn't play much in Utah. They had a loaded better team,

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Speaker 3: laid the playoffs and played well in Cleveland. Card and

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Speaker 3: expansion draft was between me and Craig Elo who they

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Speaker 3: were going to protect. And I remember Wayne Hembury called

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Speaker 3: me in his office before I left to go back home.

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Speaker 3: He goes, it's between you and e Loos like kind

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Speaker 3: of figured that. He goes, well, we're kind of leaning

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Speaker 3: toward Eleve because you think he's got a better opportunity

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Speaker 3: of guarding Jordan. Oh my, Michael, Okay, right, yeah, fair enough, Wayne,

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Speaker 3: I'll see you around because I'm not that guy.

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Speaker 7: He looks, He gives to Jordan of the circle, puts

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Speaker 7: the shot of the aircut.

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Speaker 4: The game's over and the Bulls of won.

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Speaker 8: Now you've come off of a playoff team. Now, obviously

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Speaker 8: the people back here are excited about it, so there's got.

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Speaker 4: To be something in the draft.

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Speaker 8: But let's talk about you right now. The fact that

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Speaker 8: you're with Cleveland finally got to the playoffs and now

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Speaker 8: you're gonna be with an expansion team, well, it's a.

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Speaker 3: New start for me.

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Speaker 9: I'm gonna get from here. I want to get quality

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Speaker 9: time to game in and game out, and I think

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Speaker 9: if I get that, I'll be able to put up

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Speaker 9: some pretty good numbers.

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Speaker 1: Like everyone else, pro basketball players worry about job security.

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Speaker 1: At any moment, you could get injured, traded, benched, or cut.

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Speaker 1: So the expansion teams offered sort of a fresh start

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Speaker 1: for guys on the back end of their careers like

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Speaker 1: Kurt Rambis, Ricky Green, and Kelly Tripuca, who had played

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Speaker 1: at my on the.

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Speaker 8: Mater Andnga owns the trigger and hits on his first shot.

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Speaker 1: Dell was one of the young guys and had just

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Speaker 1: started a young family. His wife, Sonya, had given birth

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Speaker 1: to a little boy named Stephen.

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Speaker 3: Everybody's looking like, man, what are you doing. I'm like,

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm a kid myself. But being able

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Speaker 3: to play the game, have the fun, and then be

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Speaker 3: able to bring my sons around when they were old

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Speaker 3: enough too. That was the father's dream to be able

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Speaker 3: to good in the locker room and hang out.

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Speaker 1: Did they go to the games when it wasn't like

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Speaker 1: school nights. That's what I did, you know, as my dad.

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Speaker 1: My dad was like obviously on the business side, but

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Speaker 1: I remember when we didn't know school the next day.

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Speaker 4: My mom would be like, okay, let's go.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, no games on school nights because we wanted

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Speaker 3: them to, you know, look forward to it and make sure.

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Speaker 3: This is a privilege being able to go to the

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Speaker 3: NBA games and watch your dad play as well. But

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Speaker 3: they enjoyed going to practice just as much as the games.

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Speaker 3: They were very well behaved. We get to practice and

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Speaker 3: they're hanging out in the gym and the practices starting.

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Speaker 3: We give them a gatorade and put a ball under

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Speaker 3: their arm, and they would sit quietly and watch practice.

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Speaker 3: Like my teammates and coaches couldn't believe it. How do

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Speaker 3: you do that? I said, Well, on the way here

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Speaker 3: is where all the work's done. Like boys come to practice,

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Speaker 3: you can shoot they out, but when practice starts you

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Speaker 3: I mean you get one shot at it, you swept

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Speaker 3: practice or become a distraction, you're done. And they understood that,

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Speaker 3: and I always tried to display that it was Dad's job.

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Speaker 3: You know, I'm playing a game, but I'm at work

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Speaker 3: right now. You're just able to go to work with me.

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Speaker 3: So don't this for us. And they were really good.

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Speaker 1: A couple weeks after the Expansion Draft, the NBA then

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Speaker 1: held its traditional draft.

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Speaker 4: Charlotte drew the third pick. The Charlotte Hornets select Rex

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Speaker 4: Chapman of.

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Speaker 1: Kentucky, a dynamics six ' three shooting guard who had

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Speaker 1: come out after his sophomore year at the University of Kentucky.

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Speaker 8: Rex Chapman just twenty one years old in this coming October.

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Speaker 1: Rex was so good that Lexington, where he played college ball,

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Speaker 1: had earned the nickname Rexington. He was known campus wide

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Speaker 1: as King Rex.

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Speaker 2: I played at Kentucky and those crowds very similar to

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Speaker 2: the ones in Charlotte.

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Speaker 5: And you know, twenty four.

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Speaker 2: Thousand people in Lexington and there's nineteen or twenty in Charlotte.

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Speaker 5: But the way they loved us was very much the same.

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Speaker 2: I was fortunate that I was good enough to play

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Speaker 2: and be a you know, be a good player. That

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Speaker 2: that wasn't my worry. I didn't have an issue with

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Speaker 2: all of that. It was just I felt like a kid.

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Speaker 2: Thank God for Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, who you

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Speaker 2: know are still two of my best friends.

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Speaker 1: Rex was a kid at the time. He was one

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Speaker 1: of the youngest players in the NBA.

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Speaker 2: And I felt twelve inside. Everybody on the team was

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Speaker 2: much older than I was, too, And so I'm having

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Speaker 2: to go and do these meetings, you know, like you

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Speaker 2: worked for who at the time.

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Speaker 4: I worked for WPCQ Channel thirty six.

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Speaker 5: Okay, so I'm doing all these going around.

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Speaker 2: I've got this deal and that deal that I'm doing,

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Speaker 2: you know, endorsements and stuff, and like your station, I

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Speaker 2: think asked me to come over.

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Speaker 5: I go over to the station.

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Speaker 2: It's a meeting that you're in, and I'm nineteen or

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Speaker 2: twenty and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, how does

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Speaker 2: I was like, she's really cute talking and thinking about you,

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Speaker 2: and so I thought, though, how did someone my age?

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Speaker 2: She's not done with college, So how's someone my age

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Speaker 2: that have this job?

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Speaker 5: And so because I was like, you know, maybe I'll

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Speaker 5: ask her to go out after.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is before the Internet and all that stuff.

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Speaker 2: A few weeks go by, and you know, I see

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Speaker 2: you all the time. Also, you were one of the

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Speaker 2: first women covering sports and stuff that I think maybe

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Speaker 2: ever that And I met Jackie McMullin that year, so

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Speaker 2: the two of you. It was just strange that a

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Speaker 2: female was around right after a month, I guess. I

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Speaker 2: asked someone who knew how old you were, and they said,

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Speaker 2: she's twenty five. And I went, he's a woman. That's

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Speaker 2: too old. That's too old she and how you know,

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Speaker 2: you look my age. But when I found I was

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Speaker 2: so intimidated. I thought, oh no, she's not a girl,

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Speaker 2: she's a woman like I. That's off limits.

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Speaker 4: That is hilarious. I am so happy to hear that now,

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 1: And of course everybody in Charlotte did want to go

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Speaker 1: out with you. You had the nickname Sexy Rex. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: what do you remember about that?

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Speaker 2: It was just very weird, you know, And I was single,

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Speaker 2: and the Hornets were having me do auctions where I'd

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Speaker 2: be auctioned off and have to go on a date

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Speaker 2: with random people in the community. And again, these could

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Speaker 2: be you know, thirty thirty five year old women.

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Speaker 5: I'm a child. I felt like a kid.

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Speaker 1: It's a bizarre situation for anyone, especially a guy who

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Speaker 1: found himself as the Hornets franchise player.

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Speaker 4: You have a very young.

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Speaker 6: Wretch Chapman coming in, you pined some hopes on a

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Speaker 6: very young Tito.

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Speaker 2: Horror for both of them with you know, I was young.

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Speaker 2: All the friends I knew were still in college. And

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Speaker 2: when I got to Charlotte, I'd never lived a day

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Speaker 2: in my life without a roommate or at my parents' house.

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Speaker 2: So I got there and in fact, the first night,

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Speaker 2: I was actually scared to go upstairs because it was

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Speaker 2: dark upstairs. I was a lottery pick, and I'm going

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Speaker 2: to practice the next day. And I started to go upstairs,

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Speaker 2: and I went, it's dark up there. And I went

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Speaker 2: down and slept on the couch.

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Speaker 1: Being expected to be a grown up when you're not

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Speaker 1: really one yet is difficult. Rex was on a different

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Speaker 1: path from an early age. He was a phenom who

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Speaker 1: devoted his entire life to basketball.

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Speaker 4: His dad, Wayne, was a pro.

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Speaker 1: He played in the ABA, actually for two of my

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Speaker 1: dad's former teams, the Indiana Pacers and Kentucky Curls.

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Speaker 8: Back on defense.

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Speaker 7: Kentucky debsun penetrates knocked away by day if you're at

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Speaker 7: Will Jones.

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Speaker 2: I remember being at a few games and thinking to myself,

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Speaker 2: if I could have just had anything in the world,

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Speaker 2: it would be that ball rack, thinking man and I

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Speaker 2: would go over and I'd grab a ball. From time

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Speaker 2: to time without my mom knowing, I'd run out there

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Speaker 2: and I'd.

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Speaker 5: Shoot a basket and I would hear people cheer.

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Speaker 2: Really and from yeah, and from a very young age,

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Speaker 2: I probably did more damage than good. I beed off

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Speaker 2: of feedback like that. But I always wanted to be

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Speaker 2: a basketball player, didn't ever want to be anything else.

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Speaker 2: I was very one dimensional. I also felt like it took.

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Speaker 5: Everything that I had to be able to play basketball.

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Speaker 2: I think anybody who's trying to be great at something,

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Speaker 2: really great at something, has to sacrifice a little bit

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Speaker 2: of sanity because you're constantly getting beat, and it's to

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Speaker 2: go back day after day and get your ass kicked

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Speaker 2: and yelled at. There's a cognitive dissonance. I think that

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Speaker 2: has to happen. And I could solve anything on the

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Speaker 2: court that was happening. The rest of life was really

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Speaker 2: hard for me.

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Speaker 1: Rex did a great job of hiding his feelings. He

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Speaker 1: was famous for his smile, which only helped him become

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Speaker 1: a bigger fan favorite. To hear him tell it today, though,

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Speaker 1: he really needed guidance, and fortunately he found it.

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Speaker 2: When I pulled into my subdivision, I hadn't even seen

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Speaker 2: my apartment. Someone said it. There was furniture in there,

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Speaker 2: and it's very spoiled. I suppose I pulled up and

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Speaker 2: Dell had his He was standing there like two doors down.

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Speaker 2: He's Sonya and Stephan she they had just I mean,

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Speaker 2: he was month old and Dell had his arm in

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Speaker 2: a cast. He was hurt, he'd broken his wrists. They

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Speaker 2: helped me move all my shit in and from that day,

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Speaker 2: like son I didn't know how to do laundry. Sonya

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Speaker 2: did my laundry.

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Speaker 5: She would. They took care of me, you know. Dell

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Speaker 5: taught me how to tie a tie stuff like that.

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Speaker 2: Really yeah, yeah, I just I felt much like a kid.

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Speaker 2: Tom Tolbert was another rookie, but Tom was two three

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Speaker 2: years older than I was. He graduated from You of A.

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Speaker 2: That was the other thing that was hard was that

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Speaker 2: that was an era where I mean most guys were

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Speaker 2: college graduates and I think. I don't know, I felt

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Speaker 2: inferior kind of a bit, uh intellectually, maybe it's valid

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Speaker 2: or not.

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Speaker 5: That's how I felt.

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Speaker 2: And uh, you know, people didn't come out of school

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Speaker 2: when I was, you know, kind of unless you were

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Speaker 2: Magic or Isaiah or you didn't leave school early.

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Speaker 4: You know, you mentioned Dell.

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Speaker 1: He's such a such such a great person and obviously

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Speaker 1: an incredible father, and you look what his sons have

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Speaker 1: been able to accomplish. But he's been rejected by the Calves.

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Speaker 1: Essentially he lands here and you know, along you come

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Speaker 1: this young kid. Yeah, if you could to speak to

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Speaker 1: I don't know how he took you under under his

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Speaker 1: wing or how he mentored you. Yeah, because you obviously

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Speaker 1: it was essential that you have somebody like that. You

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Speaker 1: weren't going to survive otherwise.

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Speaker 5: I wasn't, and UH would have had every reason.

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Speaker 2: He had already played in Utah and Cleveland, and he was,

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Speaker 2: you know, a mid first round pick, so his confidence

378
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Speaker 2: couldn't be very good. Now now they've drafted you know,

379
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Speaker 2: a two guard in the college draft me, so we're in.

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Speaker 2: And that wasn't at a time where yes, we could

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Speaker 2: play together, and we did play together some but that

382
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Speaker 2: was kind of at a time where no, you guys

383
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Speaker 2: are both two guards, and so.

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Speaker 5: He helped me so much. He could have been standoffish,

385
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Speaker 5: they could have been.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, he's one of my best buddies, but he was

387
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Speaker 2: like a father figure to me.

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Speaker 1: So Rex fell in with the Curries and Muggsy Bogues,

389
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Speaker 1: the team's young point guard. A tiny powerhouse out of

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Speaker 1: wake forest.

391
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,399
Speaker 4: Boat pushes it across Finds.

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Speaker 1: The Hornets played and lost their first game as an

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Speaker 1: NBA franch on November fourth, nineteen eighty eight, before a

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Speaker 1: soul out crowd decked out in tuxedos and ball gowns.

395
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Speaker 3: It is the largest marina now in the FBA.

396
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Speaker 7: On to me, three thousand, five hundred fans and gazing.

397
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Speaker 3: Around this building. Every chair has a fan in it. Goodnight.

398
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Speaker 3: Well I remember all of us talking like they're asking

399
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Speaker 3: eighteen thousand people for the men to wear tuxas and

400
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,400
Speaker 3: the women to wear gowns. What were we doing here?

401
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,600
Speaker 3: But every person did it? They fell in line.

402
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 8: How was the city of Charlotte been treating the Hornets

403
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 8: who have come in here and brought this new team here.

404
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:40,640
Speaker 3: Oh, they're very excited.

405
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,400
Speaker 9: You know, it's really the most major professional team they

406
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,480
Speaker 9: have in Charlotte, so everybody's real excited about the franchise.

407
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Speaker 3: I wouldn't able to play because I broke my wrist

408
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 3: the very first practice that we had as the Hornets,

409
00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,639
Speaker 3: so I got to really look around and experience the

410
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,960
Speaker 3: crowd and soak it all in. Like these people are

411
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 3: really touch cedos and gowns watching a basketball game, and

412
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 3: they are into it.

413
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 9: Ram Us with fourteen points in the game, nice hustle

414
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 9: played by Kempy, big body.

415
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Speaker 3: Anyone, and we're losing to wi We lost by forty points,

416
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 3: and we're all, you know, kind of just scouraged as

417
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Speaker 3: a player. And then we leave and everybody's still there.

418
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 3: No fan had left early, and they give us a

419
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Speaker 3: standing ovation just for playing. I'm like, okay, this could

420
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 3: be okay.

421
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 4: Here's how Rex remembers it.

422
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 2: At the time, we were a little embarrassed by it

423
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 2: because you got to remember, we're we're going out there

424
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 2: and we're playing, and yes, I know the fans love

425
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,359
Speaker 2: it and all that. You get judged by winning and

426
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,760
Speaker 2: losing in our profession, and so it's almost like negative

427
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 2: feedback because they want us to do so well, we're

428
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,080
Speaker 2: going to play it be in every game for three

429
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 2: three and a half quarters until the other team decides

430
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,719
Speaker 2: to start playing harder and gets all the calls and

431
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 2: we lose. Happens three out of four nights. We felt

432
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 2: like the other teams were like, they're getting ready to

433
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 2: get smacked in front of all these people.

434
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 1: The fans weren't the only ones dressed to the nines.

435
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,560
Speaker 1: The Hornets had enlisted famed eighties men's wear designer Alexander

436
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,479
Speaker 1: Julian to fashion in their uniforms, and along with his

437
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: signature bright colors, he added a twist that had never

438
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: before been seen on an NBA court, a fashion faux

439
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,639
Speaker 1: pa for the guys who had to wear them.

440
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:39,639
Speaker 3: We thought, okay, we're getting a designer to you know,

441
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,639
Speaker 3: create our uniforms, and then we see Kelly Shapuka model

442
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 3: them in the off season. We're like, wait, is there

443
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 3: pleats in our shorts? What are we doing?

444
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 5: What are we doing?

445
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:54,000
Speaker 3: And then the scoreboard falls and we're like, oh my gosh,

446
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 3: what's happening here? Not I don't know, get anybody like

447
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 3: any player like those fleets And when never we played

448
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,199
Speaker 3: the team for the first time of the season. They

449
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 3: want to they walk up, Let me look at your shorts.

450
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 3: What you have shorts?

451
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:10,120
Speaker 4: That's so embarrassing.

452
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:15,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, our colors saved us till till and purple colors

453
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,400
Speaker 3: saved us. I mean that's the Hornet colors are still

454
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,280
Speaker 3: some of the hottest colors in the league. And I

455
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 3: still have those shortsna and I have a pair of

456
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:29,400
Speaker 3: those shorts. They're those little and tall and short and tight.

457
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 3: But I still have some albums somewhere.

458
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 4: Where are they? Do you know where they are?

459
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're in the closet somewhere. I did not frame them,

460
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,159
Speaker 3: put them in my man cave, but they're They're in

461
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 3: the closet and they're secure. Might be looking for somebody

462
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:45,399
Speaker 3: to gift the chap.

463
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:51,480
Speaker 5: I hated those uniforms.

464
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 2: I think we all did, and they're sort of iconic

465
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 2: uniforms now for whatever reason the jerseys are.

466
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,320
Speaker 5: Anyway, we hated them. We were embarrassed by them.

467
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 2: Also, it was a brand new team in some ways,

468
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 2: like I knew the Sixers and the Celtics and the Lakers,

469
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 2: and what's the Hornets?

470
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,159
Speaker 5: What are the heat? What is this? And so in

471
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 5: some ways it almost felt like we weren't part of

472
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:16,960
Speaker 5: the NBA.

473
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 4: I remember the Raptors.

474
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 1: They were named because it was like Jurassic Partner was

475
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,879
Speaker 1: such a hot thing. The kids were into dinosaurs, and

476
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:26,959
Speaker 1: so okay, let's name the team the Raptors and make

477
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 1: it a cute dinosaur.

478
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 5: Yeah, timber Wolves, Yeah, you know that was. What are

479
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 5: we doing? The Orlando Magic? I know what is this?

480
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 3: I know? I know.

481
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: The Hornets went twenty and sixty two in their first season.

482
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,960
Speaker 1: Rex wound up as the team's second leading scorer at

483
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: sixteen point nine points per game.

484
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 3: Happened as guided by magic. It was a round Magic

485
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 3: got her need reverse way up.

486
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 1: What Dell, recovering from that broken wrist, only appeared in

487
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 1: forty eight games and averaged seventeen minutes of playing time.

488
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 1: The next season, the record was even worse.

489
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 5: And we were terrible, Like we were terrible. We were bad.

490
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 2: We won nineteen games our first year and maybe twenty

491
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 2: the next. But we won attendance records every year. You know,

492
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,160
Speaker 2: they hung the banners for the attendance in Charlotte.

493
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 8: You know, it's interesting when you start with a team

494
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 8: like this, you know you're only going to win probably

495
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 8: twenty five games, maybe is that tough in yourself like.

496
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 3: That from that year?

497
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 9: It is, but you have to remember that the franchise

498
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:27,359
Speaker 9: isn't going to be made in one year. It's going

499
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,439
Speaker 9: to take three, four or five years.

500
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 1: How hard is that to accept losing, you know, no

501
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: matter how hard you try, especially that first season as

502
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 1: an expansion team, and who was it that kind of

503
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 1: took you under their wing and said, listen, you know

504
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 1: this isn't the end of the world.

505
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 4: Let's let's put it in perspective.

506
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think Ricky Green was the guy for me.

507
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 3: I played with him my first year in Utah and

508
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 3: then he comes to Charlotte expansion and I almost accepting

509
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 3: losing is a good term because as any player, you

510
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,199
Speaker 3: can't up losing. That's a bad habit. I think to

511
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 3: get into you have to learn to deal with it,

512
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,159
Speaker 3: and it has losing has to keep you inspired to

513
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 3: play well and try to end all the losing as

514
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,680
Speaker 3: we see teams even in today's NBA struggle to win.

515
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,439
Speaker 3: But that's the biggest thing. You can't accept losing. If

516
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 3: you accept losing, you're not going to be the professional

517
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 3: that the fans deserve, that your teammates deserve. We coached

518
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,360
Speaker 3: very hard by Dick Harder. His expectations of us as

519
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 3: the team were a little overboard at times, and he

520
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 3: let us know, but he kept us motivating, he kept

521
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 3: us thinking that we could win games. But it was

522
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 3: just a learning experience again how to not accept losing,

523
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 3: but how to learn to deal with it and still

524
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 3: trying to learn how to be a player at a

525
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 3: young age.

526
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 4: What do you learn from a situation like that?

527
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 1: I mean, Dell said, you know, he did learn about

528
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 1: losing and about surviving that and moving forward. He said,

529
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: as much as he hated it, he did learn something

530
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 1: from it.

531
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 5: What about you, No question about it. It's hard.

532
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 2: It's hard being a number one or number two option scorer.

533
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 2: I was really probably a two or a three at best.

534
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 2: And but for stretches in Charlotte, you know I'm being

535
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 2: guarded by Michael and.

536
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 5: Michael Cooper RX Chatman over Jordan.

537
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 2: You know, you find out very quickly kind of where

538
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 2: you are being able to fight through that, But missed

539
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 2: all the losing. I remember Ricky Green pulled me aside

540
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 2: one of our teammates, older teammates, and I was really

541
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 2: down about the losing, and he pulled me aside and said, hey, Rex, listen.

542
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 2: Dell might have been there too, and he pulled us

543
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 2: aside and he was like, listen, we're going to get

544
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 2: beat three out of four nights. That's just the way

545
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 2: it is. You guys are going to play a long time,

546
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: but you need to get your shots up. Fifteen shots

547
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 2: a game. You guys get them up.

548
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 5: No matter what.

549
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 2: And as a pro, you know, you're raised everything as

550
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 2: team and I'm coming from college where like you just like,

551
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,959
Speaker 2: that's not something that you think about.

552
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 5: And it was really good advice.

553
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 4: There were highs too.

554
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: On December twenty third, nineteen eighty eight, the Hornets beat

555
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bulls one o.

556
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 4: Three to one oh one at the Buzzer.

557
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: It was Michael Jordan's first time playing in Carolina as

558
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 1: a pro.

559
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 5: Game.

560
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 3: When Michael came to Charlotte, he was their guy, so

561
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 3: they were they were a little it was they were torn.

562
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 3: It was mixed when Michael, because they knew he was

563
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 3: a Carolina guy, wanted to play well, but this is

564
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 3: our team. The Hornets is our team. We Tier four.

565
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 3: But it was always fun to compete against Michael because

566
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 3: he wanted to He wanted to put on a good

567
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:54,959
Speaker 3: show for the fans of Charlotte.

568
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 1: I do remember him because they're again. I was like

569
00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: the only woman, I think in the locker room, and

570
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 1: I remember being kind of terrified going in. I didn't

571
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: really like going in the locker room. And I remember

572
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: going in to interview Michael Jordan and he called me

573
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 1: ma'am and.

574
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 4: I was so young, but you know, it was like

575
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 4: a Southern thing, you know that.

576
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: Like nice, like those nice manners and just and he

577
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know, he.

578
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 4: Was so respectful.

579
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 1: And I do think a lot of times, even you know,

580
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 1: before winning those championships and things, he kind of set

581
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: the tone. I think a lot of guys looked at

582
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:32,520
Speaker 1: him and said, you know what, this is how we

583
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: should behave.

584
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 5: Oh.

585
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 3: Absolutely. And I remember Scott Burrell. I'll played with him

586
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,800
Speaker 3: in Charlotte and he got traded to Chicago. Summers he'd

587
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,280
Speaker 3: come back to Charlotte and he talked about how different

588
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:48,000
Speaker 3: it is playing with Michael in Chicago and the way

589
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:51,760
Speaker 3: he demands every player be ready to play give their best.

590
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 3: He took his toll Scotty Barrell. I remember telling you, man,

591
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 3: it's a tough playing with that guy, and you see why.

592
00:31:57,800 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 3: I mean he was so competitive. He wants to win,

593
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 3: and he knows he needs healthy, wants these guys to

594
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 3: be account to be held accountable.

595
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:06,400
Speaker 7: Jordan works is where around the top of the key,

596
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 7: left Lain inside up and left pan or scored.

597
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: Did you have any idea in those early years sort

598
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: of what he would become and what the bulls would become?

599
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 5: Oh?

600
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 3: I knew what he would become in college. I remember

601
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 3: the eighty four Olympic trials. Bobby Knight was a coach.

602
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 3: I was by that trial and that was some of

603
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 3: the best practices I've ever been involved of my life.

604
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:31,400
Speaker 3: That team was unbelievable and Michael stood had shoulders above everybody.

605
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 3: So we all knew before he got to the league

606
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 3: that he was going to be that type of player.

607
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 3: And he's still the best player to play the game

608
00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 3: of my book. Look coventer Jordan.

609
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 10: Michael.

610
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 2: I'd played against Michael on the summer after being drafted,

611
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:58,120
Speaker 2: and until that point I had never really been on

612
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,479
Speaker 2: the court with someone that I kind of had to

613
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 2: admit was better than I was. A His hands are

614
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 2: so big, I mean so big, and when you can

615
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 2: if a ball comes off the rim, and it goes

616
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 2: it's going out of bound, and ten guys are going

617
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 2: for it. Nine guys are going for it to grab

618
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 2: it with two hands as it goes for the fore,

619
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 2: when you have hands so big that you can reach

620
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 2: out with one hand.

621
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 5: And grab that ball and grab it and be gone,

622
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 5: you're playing a different game.

623
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 2: If you got two feet in the paint, he's dunking it.

624
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:39,680
Speaker 2: He was just different, and you know, it was fun.

625
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,240
Speaker 3: Tippin gets it to Jordan Michael challenges.

626
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 4: It was fun playing him.

627
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: So it wasn't frustrating, it wasn't aiming.

628
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,680
Speaker 4: It was just you love the challenge.

629
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 5: It loved it and you don't like you could get him.

630
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 2: You know, there are times you at him, he gets you,

631
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 2: and he got me more than I got him. But

632
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 2: I was hurt a lot, and there were games when

633
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:12,320
Speaker 2: I would miss playing against him. That just drove me insane.

634
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 2: And you got to remember, at the time, he's not

635
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 2: the greatest player.

636
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 5: In the world.

637
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 2: We know he was, Honestly, he was on his way,

638
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 2: and that's the time when I came in, he couldn't

639
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:23,399
Speaker 2: really shoot yet.

640
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 5: So for two or three years I just backed off

641
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 5: of him.

642
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:29,640
Speaker 2: We all didn't really matter because he was so crazy

643
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:33,160
Speaker 2: athletic and bouncy and quick and competitive. Once he got

644
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,920
Speaker 2: where he could shoot it, it was a wrap.

645
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,600
Speaker 1: Mj would eventually own the Charlotte Hornets, but when I

646
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: was in Charlotte, they were owned by George Shinn, whose

647
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: life outside of basketball sometimes overshadowed the team. In nineteen

648
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 1: ninety nine, he moved the franchise from Charlotte to New

649
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,560
Speaker 1: Orleans after he was accused of sexual assault. His trial

650
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 1: was broadcast nationally on Court TV. Basketball returned to Charlotte

651
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four and the forum of the

652
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 1: Charlotte Bobcats, making media mogul and billionaire Robert Johnson the

653
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 1: first African American to own a major sports franchise. In

654
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: twenty ten, that team was acquired by Michael Jordan, who

655
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 1: owned the franchise for many years, changing the name back.

656
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 4: To the Hornets.

657
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 1: Obviously, you've been with a franchise for those years, you

658
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 1: know what was that like?

659
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,720
Speaker 3: I mean, it was great having him around. The players

660
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,439
Speaker 3: loved it. He's still going to court, you know, back

661
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,800
Speaker 3: when he's playing a little one on one shoot motivate.

662
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 3: It was fun having him around. But it just goes

663
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 3: to show you that as good a player as he was,

664
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:49,880
Speaker 3: it's so hard to win this league. As an owner

665
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,000
Speaker 3: or an executive. You're not on the floor. You have

666
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,239
Speaker 3: no say about how teams play or what do you

667
00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:58,799
Speaker 3: want to happen. And that was I know that was

668
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 3: frustrating for everybody, especially him, you know, as a competitive

669
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,279
Speaker 3: as he was. But it was great having him around,

670
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,399
Speaker 3: especially owning that team in the state where he was born.

671
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 1: I read this quote from you and the Charlotte Observe

672
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,640
Speaker 1: and you said I was very fortunate to join the Hornets,

673
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 1: although I.

674
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 4: Wasn't so sure at the time.

675
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 1: You know, in retrospect, why was that a good thing

676
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: that happened to you?

677
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 4: Going in that expansion draft.

678
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 3: One I got to really kind of carve out a career.

679
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 3: I knew. We were all guys that again, trying to

680
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 3: find our way in the NBA or guys, you know,

681
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,719
Speaker 3: finding their way out. So a lot of us were

682
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 3: in the same boat talking Rex, Muggsy, myself. We're all

683
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:44,799
Speaker 3: still good friends, and we were just trying to we

684
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:46,719
Speaker 3: were in it together. We're trying to figure out how

685
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 3: are we going to make a career out of this together.

686
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,920
Speaker 1: It took four years for the Hornets to emerge from

687
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 1: the basement of the Eastern Conference and make an appearance

688
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, led by the likes of Larry.

689
00:36:57,680 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 4: Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.

690
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 1: The first playoff series that you guys win against the

691
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, Alonzo morning with a buzzard beater.

692
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:22,680
Speaker 4: Showing a lot of time out.

693
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,279
Speaker 1: What do you think it was that set that team

694
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,120
Speaker 1: apart that allowed you guys to finally achieve postseason success.

695
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,319
Speaker 3: I think our chemistry. We got along so well on

696
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:41,800
Speaker 3: and off the floor that won us a lot of

697
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 3: GEDs on the floor because we knew each other. We

698
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 3: policed ourselves in the locker room with Larry, Alonzo, myself, Muggsy,

699
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 3: our coach didn't have to. I mean, he just coached

700
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 3: x's and o's. We coached ourselves in the locker room

701
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,280
Speaker 3: of guys being on time, guys being ready to play.

702
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:03,799
Speaker 3: That was the fun of it. We all respected each other.

703
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 3: We all brought different areas of expertise as as far

704
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 3: as leadership, and we all respected and we played for

705
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:11,799
Speaker 3: each other.

706
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,279
Speaker 8: Abert read slide through outside, curry, open shot right and

707
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:17,400
Speaker 8: the key is in yel curry.

708
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:18,399
Speaker 4: What three for four.

709
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:20,120
Speaker 3: We thought we were right there. We had a good

710
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:24,799
Speaker 3: group of young experience playing the Celtics getting that win,

711
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 3: and we were like, oh, we're right there. You got

712
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 3: to keep this team together. And we still talk about

713
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 3: that team could have done something, We could have made

714
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:33,160
Speaker 3: a difference.

715
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,320
Speaker 1: Rex was gone by then traded away to the Washington

716
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,759
Speaker 1: Bullets for Tim Hammond. The year before Charlotte's playoff run Oftha.

717
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:45,160
Speaker 10: Comes to Chapping almost overthrown.

718
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 4: Chapping lng shot.

719
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 1: He would have his own journey, which we will dig

720
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,799
Speaker 1: into in the next episode. Dell stayed in Charlotte for

721
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,640
Speaker 1: a long time, eventually becoming one of the best six

722
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: men in the NBA.

723
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:05,440
Speaker 5: Here's current.

724
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,240
Speaker 4: Heck of the jip shots. Delle just were getting close.

725
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,520
Speaker 1: The Hornets I covered coped incredibly well with the adversity

726
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:17,400
Speaker 1: of losing night after night. They weren't at each other's throats,

727
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,760
Speaker 1: and off the court, they developed enduring bonds.

728
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,120
Speaker 2: Muggsy Dell and I were eating breakfast in Los Angeles.

729
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 5: Dell's dad was fifty eight.

730
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 2: Years old at the time, and you know, he came

731
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 2: to a lot of our games and they talked before

732
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 2: every single game, every game. And this is like before

733
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 2: cell phones and stuff were right around that time, and

734
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,840
Speaker 2: we're with Dell in Los Angeles. We just had shoot around,

735
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 2: I think and Dell were in his room and Delle

736
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:45,879
Speaker 2: got a phone call and.

737
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 5: His dad had died and he was destroyed. We were destroyed.

738
00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:53,839
Speaker 5: This is his best friend, you know.

739
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:59,799
Speaker 2: And I think us being young and things like those

740
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,400
Speaker 2: things happening just sort of bonded us forever.

741
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 5: I could call that dude with anything right now and

742
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 5: he would pick up. He knows he could do the

743
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:08,160
Speaker 5: same with me.

744
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 2: He mugsy the same those teams and some of the

745
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,919
Speaker 2: people on those teams that I still have relationships with,

746
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 2: you know, thirty thirty years later, thirty five years later.

747
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:22,520
Speaker 5: Just I'm so grateful, so thankful.

748
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:26,920
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, back in the subdivision, Rex didn't realize it, but

749
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,160
Speaker 1: he was babysitting the future basketball.

750
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,879
Speaker 2: He's really the first little baby i'd been around. I'd

751
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 2: been around little kids. But then I remember coming back

752
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,760
Speaker 2: to the summer after the first year and he's talking.

753
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:51,680
Speaker 2: He's calling Dell daddy, and I thought, this is hilarious.

754
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 2: I've got a friend who has a kid that calls

755
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:55,799
Speaker 2: him daddy. Daddy is what I call Dell.

756
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,720
Speaker 5: In my phone. It's what I call him to this day.

757
00:40:58,680 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 3: Because of that.

758
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,440
Speaker 5: What's fun about Stephan is every time I.

759
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:04,560
Speaker 2: See him at a ball game or wherever it is,

760
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 2: it is the very first moment is a little smile

761
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:09,680
Speaker 2: kind of a and I don't even know what we're

762
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 2: smiling about.

763
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:13,360
Speaker 5: It's probably me playing little games with him when he

764
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:13,919
Speaker 5: was a kid.

765
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 2: Those are kind of hardwired memories. I remember being in

766
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 2: the car coming home like an exhibition game in Greenville

767
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,279
Speaker 2: from South Carolina, and we drove to the game to

768
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 2: meet Delle Muggsy and Stephan, and I've said before, you know,

769
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 2: I'm sure at the time we thought we were big

770
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:35,360
Speaker 2: ship basketball players and the.

771
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 5: Best player in the car was in a babysat the

772
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 5: all time.

773
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:44,359
Speaker 10: So True got a hand on it a turnover up ahead.

774
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 5: And night and Stephan was just crying, balling, crying.

775
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 2: And Dale finally like, take him out of.

776
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 5: There, see, you know, if you can get him. I

777
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:54,279
Speaker 5: put him on my chest.

778
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:57,240
Speaker 2: He went out like that, and I just remember feeling

779
00:41:57,239 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 2: his heart beating on mine, and close to that moment,

780
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,239
Speaker 2: I was like, I've got to be a dad.

781
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:04,680
Speaker 3: Winners could add to their lead.

782
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:10,960
Speaker 10: Now Curry left wide open right between the eyes and

783
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,720
Speaker 10: they have it on the bench. High scream comes Curry,

784
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,479
Speaker 10: some ball handling, fires up for three?

785
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:18,480
Speaker 5: Does it again?

786
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:23,239
Speaker 1: I want to touch on the three pointer because we've

787
00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 1: talked about that a lot in this series. How do

788
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 1: you think it evolved as a weapon in the NBA

789
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:33,760
Speaker 1: to what it is today?

790
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 3: Uh? You know, my playball play gut Eric Collins, he's

791
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,759
Speaker 3: the biggest trivia basketball guy I've ever seen. I'll get

792
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:43,920
Speaker 3: to the game tonight and he'll have some trivia about

793
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,480
Speaker 3: the back in you know, nineteen ninety three or ninety

794
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 3: four and AFL on this day the Hornets did this

795
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:52,680
Speaker 3: and Dale? How many? How many threes do you think

796
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 3: you shot? I'll say a number here. Get up. You

797
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 3: were one for two, you were one for three, you're

798
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 3: one for four? Like what he let you be shot?

799
00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:02,239
Speaker 5: Yeah?

800
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:04,480
Speaker 3: You guys shot ten as a team and you took

801
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 3: three of him and stuff like what He's like? Yeah?

802
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,399
Speaker 3: How far we come with the with the NBA three

803
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:14,880
Speaker 3: point shot? Now? And Steph, I'll tell everybody it's Steph's fault.

804
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 3: It's my fault for teaching them how to shoot. It's

805
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:19,719
Speaker 3: his fault for changing her and ruining the game with

806
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 3: the three point shot. You know, I actually love the

807
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:25,880
Speaker 3: way the game is played now with with the threes

808
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 3: and so much emphasis on scoring. You know, everything changes

809
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 3: for a reason for good, maybe one player. I know

810
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:37,279
Speaker 3: Michael changed the game ley Bird and Magic changes it

811
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 3: before that, and you know Steph has changed it to

812
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,200
Speaker 3: where the NBA is today, and I think it's good.

813
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,759
Speaker 11: Del Kurry, You're going to be calling a game where

814
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:47,000
Speaker 11: both of your sons are going to be playing against

815
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:48,879
Speaker 11: each other. This is gonna be for the first time

816
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,120
Speaker 11: in NBA history that a father will call the game

817
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:53,280
Speaker 11: for both of his sons.

818
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 3: Like that a parent's dream come true. Where else would

819
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,400
Speaker 3: you rather be than in the booths calling. It's like

820
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,280
Speaker 3: I'm in the in the kitchen there in the backyard.

821
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 3: I'm watching them play, watching them fight, watching them foul

822
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:07,319
Speaker 3: each other. I'll go out sell it, go back in

823
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 3: and let them finish the game. When I go to the

824
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 3: games in the Hornets, I still see our old doctor Perry,

825
00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 3: who is a team physician. And we still have some

826
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,680
Speaker 3: some greeters who work in the new arena that was

827
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,239
Speaker 3: at the old coliseum, and they just smile because they

828
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:25,360
Speaker 3: saw Stephan hisself when they were little boys back in

829
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,680
Speaker 3: the family room, shooting tread you know, wads up paper

830
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 3: in the trash can and getting the people's way in

831
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:35,839
Speaker 3: the locker room and the training room, and there they are.

832
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,000
Speaker 7: They flip a point on who's gonna wear the gold

833
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:38,720
Speaker 7: state jersey.

834
00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:40,280
Speaker 3: Who's gonna wear the Portland Jersey.

835
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:43,480
Speaker 7: Sons have played twenty four playoff games during this morning.

836
00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,320
Speaker 7: They then in person took twenty one or the twenty

837
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:51,440
Speaker 7: four Cheth Curry against Steph Curry, Rodney Hood drills, the

838
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:52,720
Speaker 7: three the buzzer.

839
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:55,279
Speaker 3: But they were part of the family. They knew they

840
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:57,759
Speaker 3: were Dale's kids. They loved the game. So it's good

841
00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,239
Speaker 3: to see all those people, you know, think by I

842
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,360
Speaker 3: remember when you know he was just hide and now

843
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:06,920
Speaker 3: he's able to play. But it's great. Being a father

844
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:10,560
Speaker 3: and a fan started in college for me when they

845
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 3: were at College of Davidson, a duke. The reason is

846
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,880
Speaker 3: at a hurry, I didn't have to coach anymore. I

847
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 3: could sit back and be a father and a fan

848
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:27,040
Speaker 3: and enjoy the game had another clean look, wide open.

849
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 3: I mean, you can't put into words how proud I

850
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 3: am to know how hard it is to get to

851
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:36,279
Speaker 3: the NBA and then have two sons following your footsteps

852
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:38,640
Speaker 3: and be the players be better than their their old

853
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:39,120
Speaker 3: man was.

854
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:49,400
Speaker 1: Next time on NBA DNA, Rex Chapman talks about his game,

855
00:45:49,960 --> 00:46:03,360
Speaker 1: his addiction, and his remarkable recovery. NBA DNA with Hannah

856
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:07,279
Speaker 1: Storm is a production of iHeart Podcasts, the NBA and

857
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:11,839
Speaker 1: Brainstorman Productions. The show is written and executive produced by

858
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 1: me Hannah Storm, along with Julia Weaver and Alex French.

859
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: Our lead producer and showrunner is Julia Weaver. Our senior

860
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:25,320
Speaker 1: producers are Peter Kouder, Alex French, and Brandon Reese. Editing

861
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:29,200
Speaker 1: and sound design by Kurt Garren and Julia Weaver. The

862
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:34,560
Speaker 1: show's executive producers are Carmen Belmont, Jason English, Sean ty Tone,

863
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,160
Speaker 1: Steve Weintraup, and Jason Weikelt