April 24, 2024 • 46 mins
Hannah moves to North Carolina to cover NASCAR… and the NBA’s newest franchise The Charlotte Hornets. We dig into the team’s wild first season, complete with crashing scoreboards, tuxedo-clad crowds, and a young Dell Curry and Rex Chapman. Dell and Rex reflect on those early wins (and losses), what it takes to start a new franchise, their enduring friendship, and those infamous Alexander Julian uniforms.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
August eleventh, nineteen eighty eight, just after nine in the
morning a late summer Friday. There's nothing unusual to report
unless you're in North Carolina at the Charlotte Coliseum, the
brand new home of the NBA's newest franchise, the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I deeply appreciate the privilege of being here.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Tonight, not even twelve hours earlier, the Reverend Billy Graham
stood on stage at center court and dedicated the arena.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
When I hear somebody say, Billy Frank, I know they're
from Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
For years, Charlotte didn't have any professional sports teams, but
college hoops was in full force along Tobacco Road, Duke,
NC State, Wake Carolina. So much excitement in the Queen City.
Now to have the NBA come to the region. This
new arena will host its first ever sporting event tonight,
(00:57):
a double header game one featuring the USA women's national
team taking on Cuba, and then a team of NBA
stars against the men's national team. Two dozen workers put
down a brand new wooden basketball court bearing the hornets
purple and teal logo. Meanwhile, technicians from the American Sign
(01:22):
and Indicator Company make last minute adjustments to the jumbo
tron suspended above center court. They raise and lower the
scoreboard with motorized pulleys, but something goes wrong. The scoreboard
tilts one side, smacks the ceiling of the arena. There
(01:42):
are screams, people run in all directions, and then the
entire JumboTron, all forty thousand pounds, plummets more than one
hundred feet onto the hardwood. What is left is a
(02:04):
pile of wreckage that resembles a crashed UFO. Nobody was
killed or injured, so the powers that be at the
Charlotte Coliseum adopt a show must go on. Stands, the
JumboTron and damaged floor are removed. The hardwood from the
(02:24):
old coliseum, along with the old scoreboard, is trucked to
the new building, and that night, miraculously, the games are
delayed by just one half hour. Here's a member of
that brand new NBA Hornets team, Del Curry.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Do you remember the huge scoreboard crashing before the first season?
Oh my gosh, what do you remember about that?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
We were like, what what if we were in there?
All right, that's what everybody thought, Okay, what if we
were in there? Because we were practicing at Grady Cole.
What do we do now? What what are we in for?
The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Here's another original hornet, Rex Chapman. Do you remember when
the scoreboard fell before the season.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I rarely think about that, but Hannah, yes, you know,
this was a time where that was like that thing
that was up there the scoreboard arenas really didn't have
those yet. There was might have been speakers up there,
so that was a big It was massive, and I
mean it just destroyed the floor. They had to reconcrete
and all of that stuff. I had always during warm
(03:37):
ups my whole life. I shot layups, I warmed up,
I'd gone out and then I go out and I
stretch at mid court, and from that moment on, I
stretched off to the side just in case the scoreboard
fell down. I didn't want to die that way, so
but purposely, because of the Charlotte Coliseum scoreboard falling down,
(04:01):
I've moved to.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
The location from where I always head stretched.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
That's hysterical for the rest of your career.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
If the rest of my career, I would not sit
out at mid court underneath the scoreboard.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
For days.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
The plummeting jumbo tron and the heroic efforts of the
arena workers to keep the show moving are the top
stories on WSCNCTV Channel thirty six, the Charlotte television station
where I came from Houston to anchor weekend sports.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Sar A Chapel Hill.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
There not only constructing a stadium, they're building a football program.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well Houston, but longed for a full time TV gig
and kept sending out those tapes and resumes. I was
hired in Charlotte as well, a gimmick by a brand
news station determined to try all sorts of crazy ideas
to get viewers.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The ultimate sports machine Jim'sumania and hannahst cats standard.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Only to News thirty six.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Hiring a woman's sports anchor, now that was something different
back in the day, and they let me know they
would also prefer me to light my hair to be
more blonde than brown. They promoted us on billboards around
the area, complete with a race car alongside my weekday anchor,
Jim selanias.
Speaker 7 (05:25):
Hannah storm in for Jim Selenia Tonight with all the
sports and real good news by Buddy Bakers.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
That's right, this afternoon, I had a chance to visit
with Buddy.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Baker and his memorial hospital. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
The main sport we covered in addition to basketball was NASCAR,
something I frankly knew nothing about.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
But I've always felt that sports is.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
An exactly brain surgery or some secret language only known
to men. I truly believe and did then that with
hard work you can learn anything.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
You saw the great driving and the strategy involved in
this race.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Charlotte is the epicenter of NASCAR. At the time, legends
like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt ruled the track. The
man in Black is still one of the most intimidating
athletes that I've ever covered.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Where are you going?
Speaker 6 (06:17):
I'm going to the pits, yep, not in the sunshine,
But I got my hat ready.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I went to the track almost daily and asked question
after question, learning the differences between the brands of tires,
the track, the equipment, spending time in the pits, and
chasing down drivers who had wrecked. Nothing like sticking your
microphone in front of someone who's just lost millions in
a crack up that probably wasn't even his fault.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So amidst NASCAR and college hoops.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
How will professional hoops fare in this sports landscape. Well,
for the first time since nineteen eighty, the NBA is
ready to find out, expand and opening for business in
four new cities, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, and Charlotte.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
Jim, this is great. You know, when the basketball season
starts coming around, your blood just pumps a little bit faster. Obviously,
this isn't the same kind of policy.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
After the JumboTron fell from the ceiling, some wondered if
maybe the team could be cursed. Obviously I didn't think so.
They were too much fun to cover. The fan base
was one of the most energetic in pro sports, and
the winds and losses aside, there was something special about
those first Charlotte Hornets. From the NBA and iHeart podcast
(07:44):
This is NBA DNA with me Hannah's Storm, Episode four,
The Long Shots. Was an exciting time to be in Charlotte.
I was twenty six and finally a full time sports
(08:07):
TV anchor.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
And it's time to go live to the coliseum now
with Hannah Storms.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
She's with a head coach in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Hannah, Hi, Jim.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
You know it's great. Del Harrison I a head coach
the Milwaukee Bucks. We're just talking about what a short
summer was.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That's where I first came to know the man who
is now the patriarch of the famous Curry family, but
back then he was one of the original Hornets taken
in the expansion Draft. We've known each other since the
Charlotte days. As a lot of people know you're currently
color commentator, but you're also there all time points and
(08:41):
a three point leader for the franchise. So we first
met in the late eighties. Do you remember I don't know.
Do you remember me?
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Obviously? I remember you.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I remember you. Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah. There weren't a
lot of women in your position back then, so yeah,
oh absolutely everybody knows she.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
At that time, Dell was also twenty six and a
third year shooting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Cutters along the baseline left corner shot Curry.
Speaker 8 (09:11):
Yes, Sir, del Curry drills it from deep in the
left corner Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
The nineteen eighty seven NBA Draft was different for starters.
There were actually two drafts. First, there was the expansion Draft,
in which the twenty three teams already in the league
got to protect eight players from their roster, the Heat
and the Hornets. The two expansion teams got to pick
from the unprotected leftovers.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
With its first pick in the expansion draft, Charlotte selected
del Curry from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
It was my third year in the league and third team.
I was drafted by Utah Cleveland, where I played with
a lot of guys already knew Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper
didn't play much in Utah. They had a loaded better team,
laid the playoffs and played well in Cleveland. Card and
expansion draft was between me and Craig Elo who they
(10:10):
were going to protect. And I remember Wayne Hembury called
me in his office before I left to go back home.
He goes, it's between you and e Loos like kind
of figured that. He goes, well, we're kind of leaning
toward Eleve because you think he's got a better opportunity
of guarding Jordan. Oh my, Michael, Okay, right, yeah, fair enough, Wayne,
(10:32):
I'll see you around because I'm not that guy.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
He looks, He gives to Jordan of the circle, puts
the shot of the aircut.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
The game's over and the Bulls of won.
Speaker 8 (10:43):
Now you've come off of a playoff team. Now, obviously
the people back here are excited about it, so there's got.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
To be something in the draft.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
But let's talk about you right now. The fact that
you're with Cleveland finally got to the playoffs and now
you're gonna be with an expansion team, well, it's a.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
New start for me.
Speaker 9 (10:58):
I'm gonna get from here. I want to get quality
time to game in and game out, and I think
if I get that, I'll be able to put up
some pretty good numbers.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Like everyone else, pro basketball players worry about job security.
At any moment, you could get injured, traded, benched, or cut.
So the expansion teams offered sort of a fresh start
for guys on the back end of their careers like
Kurt Rambis, Ricky Green, and Kelly Tripuca, who had played
at my on the.
Speaker 8 (11:27):
Mater Andnga owns the trigger and hits on his first shot.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Dell was one of the young guys and had just
started a young family. His wife, Sonya, had given birth
to a little boy named Stephen.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Everybody's looking like, man, what are you doing. I'm like,
I don't know. I'm a kid myself. But being able
to play the game, have the fun, and then be
able to bring my sons around when they were old
enough too. That was the father's dream to be able
to good in the locker room and hang out.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Did they go to the games when it wasn't like
school nights. That's what I did, you know, as my dad.
My dad was like obviously on the business side, but
I remember when we didn't know school the next day.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
My mom would be like, okay, let's go.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Oh yeah, no games on school nights because we wanted
them to, you know, look forward to it and make sure.
This is a privilege being able to go to the
NBA games and watch your dad play as well. But
they enjoyed going to practice just as much as the games.
They were very well behaved. We get to practice and
they're hanging out in the gym and the practices starting.
We give them a gatorade and put a ball under
(12:28):
their arm, and they would sit quietly and watch practice.
Like my teammates and coaches couldn't believe it. How do
you do that? I said, Well, on the way here
is where all the work's done. Like boys come to practice,
you can shoot they out, but when practice starts you
I mean you get one shot at it, you swept
practice or become a distraction, you're done. And they understood that,
(12:51):
and I always tried to display that it was Dad's job.
You know, I'm playing a game, but I'm at work
right now. You're just able to go to work with me.
So don't this for us. And they were really good.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
A couple weeks after the Expansion Draft, the NBA then
held its traditional draft.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Charlotte drew the third pick. The Charlotte Hornets select Rex
Chapman of.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Kentucky, a dynamics six ' three shooting guard who had
come out after his sophomore year at the University of Kentucky.
Speaker 8 (13:23):
Rex Chapman just twenty one years old in this coming October.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Rex was so good that Lexington, where he played college ball,
had earned the nickname Rexington. He was known campus wide
as King Rex.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I played at Kentucky and those crowds very similar to
the ones in Charlotte.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
And you know, twenty four.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Thousand people in Lexington and there's nineteen or twenty in Charlotte.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
But the way they loved us was very much the same.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I was fortunate that I was good enough to play
and be a you know, be a good player. That
that wasn't my worry. I didn't have an issue with
all of that. It was just I felt like a kid.
Thank God for Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, who you
know are still two of my best friends.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Rex was a kid at the time. He was one
of the youngest players in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And I felt twelve inside. Everybody on the team was
much older than I was, too, And so I'm having
to go and do these meetings, you know, like you
worked for who at the time.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I worked for WPCQ Channel thirty six.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Okay, so I'm doing all these going around.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
I've got this deal and that deal that I'm doing,
you know, endorsements and stuff, and like your station, I
think asked me to come over.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I go over to the station.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
It's a meeting that you're in, and I'm nineteen or
twenty and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, how does
I was like, she's really cute talking and thinking about you,
and so I thought, though, how did someone my age?
She's not done with college, So how's someone my age
that have this job?
Speaker 5 (15:08):
And so because I was like, you know, maybe I'll
ask her to go out after.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You know, this is before the Internet and all that stuff.
A few weeks go by, and you know, I see
you all the time. Also, you were one of the
first women covering sports and stuff that I think maybe
ever that And I met Jackie McMullin that year, so
the two of you. It was just strange that a
female was around right after a month, I guess. I
(15:35):
asked someone who knew how old you were, and they said,
she's twenty five. And I went, he's a woman. That's
too old. That's too old she and how you know,
you look my age. But when I found I was
so intimidated. I thought, oh no, she's not a girl,
(15:55):
she's a woman like I. That's off limits.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
That is hilarious. I am so happy to hear that now,
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
And of course everybody in Charlotte did want to go
out with you. You had the nickname Sexy Rex. Yeah, yeah,
what do you remember about that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
It was just very weird, you know, And I was single,
and the Hornets were having me do auctions where I'd
be auctioned off and have to go on a date
with random people in the community. And again, these could
be you know, thirty thirty five year old women.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
I'm a child. I felt like a kid.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
It's a bizarre situation for anyone, especially a guy who
found himself as the Hornets franchise player.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
You have a very young.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
Wretch Chapman coming in, you pined some hopes on a
very young Tito.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Horror for both of them with you know, I was young.
All the friends I knew were still in college. And
when I got to Charlotte, I'd never lived a day
in my life without a roommate or at my parents' house.
So I got there and in fact, the first night,
I was actually scared to go upstairs because it was
dark upstairs. I was a lottery pick, and I'm going
to practice the next day. And I started to go upstairs,
(17:10):
and I went, it's dark up there. And I went
down and slept on the couch.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Being expected to be a grown up when you're not
really one yet is difficult. Rex was on a different
path from an early age. He was a phenom who
devoted his entire life to basketball.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
His dad, Wayne, was a pro.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
He played in the ABA, actually for two of my
dad's former teams, the Indiana Pacers and Kentucky Curls.
Speaker 8 (17:39):
Back on defense.
Speaker 7 (17:40):
Kentucky debsun penetrates knocked away by day if you're at
Will Jones.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I remember being at a few games and thinking to myself,
if I could have just had anything in the world,
it would be that ball rack, thinking man and I
would go over and I'd grab a ball. From time
to time without my mom knowing, I'd run out there
and I'd.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Shoot a basket and I would hear people cheer.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Really and from yeah, and from a very young age,
I probably did more damage than good. I beed off
of feedback like that. But I always wanted to be
a basketball player, didn't ever want to be anything else.
I was very one dimensional. I also felt like it took.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Everything that I had to be able to play basketball.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I think anybody who's trying to be great at something,
really great at something, has to sacrifice a little bit
of sanity because you're constantly getting beat, and it's to
go back day after day and get your ass kicked
and yelled at. There's a cognitive dissonance. I think that
has to happen. And I could solve anything on the
(18:49):
court that was happening. The rest of life was really
hard for me.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Rex did a great job of hiding his feelings. He
was famous for his smile, which only helped him become
a bigger fan favorite. To hear him tell it today, though,
he really needed guidance, and fortunately he found it.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
When I pulled into my subdivision, I hadn't even seen
my apartment. Someone said it. There was furniture in there,
and it's very spoiled. I suppose I pulled up and
Dell had his He was standing there like two doors down.
He's Sonya and Stephan she they had just I mean,
he was month old and Dell had his arm in
(19:31):
a cast. He was hurt, he'd broken his wrists. They
helped me move all my shit in and from that day,
like son I didn't know how to do laundry. Sonya
did my laundry.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
She would. They took care of me, you know. Dell
taught me how to tie a tie stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Really yeah, yeah, I just I felt much like a kid.
Tom Tolbert was another rookie, but Tom was two three
years older than I was. He graduated from You of A.
That was the other thing that was hard was that
that was an era where I mean most guys were
college graduates and I think. I don't know, I felt
(20:09):
inferior kind of a bit, uh intellectually, maybe it's valid
or not.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
That's how I felt.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
And uh, you know, people didn't come out of school
when I was, you know, kind of unless you were
Magic or Isaiah or you didn't leave school early.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
You know, you mentioned Dell.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
He's such a such such a great person and obviously
an incredible father, and you look what his sons have
been able to accomplish. But he's been rejected by the Calves.
Essentially he lands here and you know, along you come
this young kid. Yeah, if you could to speak to
I don't know how he took you under under his
(20:49):
wing or how he mentored you. Yeah, because you obviously
it was essential that you have somebody like that. You
weren't going to survive otherwise.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
I wasn't, and UH would have had every reason.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
He had already played in Utah and Cleveland, and he was,
you know, a mid first round pick, so his confidence
couldn't be very good. Now now they've drafted you know,
a two guard in the college draft me, so we're in.
And that wasn't at a time where yes, we could
play together, and we did play together some but that
(21:22):
was kind of at a time where no, you guys
are both two guards, and so.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
He helped me so much. He could have been standoffish,
they could have been.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Honestly, he's one of my best buddies, but he was
like a father figure to me.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
So Rex fell in with the Curries and Muggsy Bogues,
the team's young point guard. A tiny powerhouse out of
wake forest.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Boat pushes it across Finds.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
The Hornets played and lost their first game as an
NBA franch on November fourth, nineteen eighty eight, before a
soul out crowd decked out in tuxedos and ball gowns.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
It is the largest marina now in the FBA.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
On to me, three thousand, five hundred fans and gazing.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Around this building. Every chair has a fan in it. Goodnight.
Well I remember all of us talking like they're asking
eighteen thousand people for the men to wear tuxas and
the women to wear gowns. What were we doing here?
But every person did it? They fell in line.
Speaker 8 (22:35):
How was the city of Charlotte been treating the Hornets
who have come in here and brought this new team here.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Oh, they're very excited.
Speaker 9 (22:40):
You know, it's really the most major professional team they
have in Charlotte, so everybody's real excited about the franchise.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
I wouldn't able to play because I broke my wrist
the very first practice that we had as the Hornets,
so I got to really look around and experience the
crowd and soak it all in. Like these people are
really touch cedos and gowns watching a basketball game, and
they are into it.
Speaker 9 (23:06):
Ram Us with fourteen points in the game, nice hustle
played by Kempy, big body.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Anyone, and we're losing to wi We lost by forty points,
and we're all, you know, kind of just scouraged as
a player. And then we leave and everybody's still there.
No fan had left early, and they give us a
standing ovation just for playing. I'm like, okay, this could
be okay.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Here's how Rex remembers it.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
At the time, we were a little embarrassed by it
because you got to remember, we're we're going out there
and we're playing, and yes, I know the fans love
it and all that. You get judged by winning and
losing in our profession, and so it's almost like negative
feedback because they want us to do so well, we're
(23:53):
going to play it be in every game for three
three and a half quarters until the other team decides
to start playing harder and gets all the calls and
we lose. Happens three out of four nights. We felt
like the other teams were like, they're getting ready to
get smacked in front of all these people.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
The fans weren't the only ones dressed to the nines.
The Hornets had enlisted famed eighties men's wear designer Alexander
Julian to fashion in their uniforms, and along with his
signature bright colors, he added a twist that had never
before been seen on an NBA court, a fashion faux
(24:31):
pa for the guys who had to wear them.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
We thought, okay, we're getting a designer to you know,
create our uniforms, and then we see Kelly Shapuka model
them in the off season. We're like, wait, is there
pleats in our shorts? What are we doing?
Speaker 5 (24:50):
What are we doing?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
And then the scoreboard falls and we're like, oh my gosh,
what's happening here? Not I don't know, get anybody like
any player like those fleets And when never we played
the team for the first time of the season. They
want to they walk up, Let me look at your shorts.
What you have shorts?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
That's so embarrassing.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, our colors saved us till till and purple colors
saved us. I mean that's the Hornet colors are still
some of the hottest colors in the league. And I
still have those shortsna and I have a pair of
those shorts. They're those little and tall and short and tight.
But I still have some albums somewhere.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Where are they? Do you know where they are?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, they're in the closet somewhere. I did not frame them,
put them in my man cave, but they're They're in
the closet and they're secure. Might be looking for somebody
to gift the chap.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
I hated those uniforms.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I think we all did, and they're sort of iconic
uniforms now for whatever reason the jerseys are.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Anyway, we hated them. We were embarrassed by them.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Also, it was a brand new team in some ways,
like I knew the Sixers and the Celtics and the Lakers,
and what's the Hornets?
Speaker 5 (26:11):
What are the heat? What is this? And so in
some ways it almost felt like we weren't part of
the NBA.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I remember the Raptors.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
They were named because it was like Jurassic Partner was
such a hot thing. The kids were into dinosaurs, and
so okay, let's name the team the Raptors and make
it a cute dinosaur.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah, timber Wolves, Yeah, you know that was. What are
we doing? The Orlando Magic? I know what is this?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I know? I know.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
The Hornets went twenty and sixty two in their first season.
Rex wound up as the team's second leading scorer at
sixteen point nine points per game.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Happened as guided by magic. It was a round Magic
got her need reverse way up.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
What Dell, recovering from that broken wrist, only appeared in
forty eight games and averaged seventeen minutes of playing time.
The next season, the record was even worse.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
And we were terrible, Like we were terrible. We were bad.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
We won nineteen games our first year and maybe twenty
the next. But we won attendance records every year. You know,
they hung the banners for the attendance in Charlotte.
Speaker 8 (27:16):
You know, it's interesting when you start with a team
like this, you know you're only going to win probably
twenty five games, maybe is that tough in yourself like.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
That from that year?
Speaker 9 (27:22):
It is, but you have to remember that the franchise
isn't going to be made in one year. It's going
to take three, four or five years.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
How hard is that to accept losing, you know, no
matter how hard you try, especially that first season as
an expansion team, and who was it that kind of
took you under their wing and said, listen, you know
this isn't the end of the world.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Let's let's put it in perspective.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah. I think Ricky Green was the guy for me.
I played with him my first year in Utah and
then he comes to Charlotte expansion and I almost accepting
losing is a good term because as any player, you
can't up losing. That's a bad habit. I think to
get into you have to learn to deal with it,
and it has losing has to keep you inspired to
(28:08):
play well and try to end all the losing as
we see teams even in today's NBA struggle to win.
But that's the biggest thing. You can't accept losing. If
you accept losing, you're not going to be the professional
that the fans deserve, that your teammates deserve. We coached
very hard by Dick Harder. His expectations of us as
(28:28):
the team were a little overboard at times, and he
let us know, but he kept us motivating, he kept
us thinking that we could win games. But it was
just a learning experience again how to not accept losing,
but how to learn to deal with it and still
trying to learn how to be a player at a
young age.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
What do you learn from a situation like that?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I mean, Dell said, you know, he did learn about
losing and about surviving that and moving forward. He said,
as much as he hated it, he did learn something
from it.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
What about you, No question about it. It's hard.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
It's hard being a number one or number two option scorer.
I was really probably a two or a three at best.
And but for stretches in Charlotte, you know I'm being
guarded by Michael and.
Speaker 5 (29:20):
Michael Cooper RX Chatman over Jordan.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You know, you find out very quickly kind of where
you are being able to fight through that, But missed
all the losing. I remember Ricky Green pulled me aside
one of our teammates, older teammates, and I was really
down about the losing, and he pulled me aside and said, hey, Rex, listen.
Dell might have been there too, and he pulled us
aside and he was like, listen, we're going to get
(29:46):
beat three out of four nights. That's just the way
it is. You guys are going to play a long time,
but you need to get your shots up. Fifteen shots
a game. You guys get them up.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
No matter what.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And as a pro, you know, you're raised everything as
team and I'm coming from college where like you just like,
that's not something that you think about.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
And it was really good advice.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
There were highs too.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
On December twenty third, nineteen eighty eight, the Hornets beat
the Chicago Bulls one o.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Three to one oh one at the Buzzer.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It was Michael Jordan's first time playing in Carolina as
a pro.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Game.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
When Michael came to Charlotte, he was their guy, so
they were they were a little it was they were torn.
It was mixed when Michael, because they knew he was
a Carolina guy, wanted to play well, but this is
our team. The Hornets is our team. We Tier four.
But it was always fun to compete against Michael because
he wanted to He wanted to put on a good
show for the fans of Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
I do remember him because they're again. I was like
the only woman, I think in the locker room, and
I remember being kind of terrified going in. I didn't
really like going in the locker room. And I remember
going in to interview Michael Jordan and he called me
ma'am and.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I was so young, but you know, it was like
a Southern thing, you know that.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Like nice, like those nice manners and just and he
was like, I don't know, he.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Was so respectful.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
And I do think a lot of times, even you know,
before winning those championships and things, he kind of set
the tone. I think a lot of guys looked at
him and said, you know what, this is how we
should behave.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Absolutely. And I remember Scott Burrell. I'll played with him
in Charlotte and he got traded to Chicago. Summers he'd
come back to Charlotte and he talked about how different
it is playing with Michael in Chicago and the way
he demands every player be ready to play give their best.
He took his toll Scotty Barrell. I remember telling you, man,
(31:55):
it's a tough playing with that guy, and you see why.
I mean he was so competitive. He wants to win,
and he knows he needs healthy, wants these guys to
be account to be held accountable.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Jordan works is where around the top of the key,
left Lain inside up and left pan or scored.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Did you have any idea in those early years sort
of what he would become and what the bulls would become?
Speaker 5 (32:14):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I knew what he would become in college. I remember
the eighty four Olympic trials. Bobby Knight was a coach.
I was by that trial and that was some of
the best practices I've ever been involved of my life.
That team was unbelievable and Michael stood had shoulders above everybody.
So we all knew before he got to the league
that he was going to be that type of player.
(32:37):
And he's still the best player to play the game
of my book. Look coventer Jordan.
Speaker 10 (32:48):
Michael.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I'd played against Michael on the summer after being drafted,
and until that point I had never really been on
the court with someone that I kind of had to
admit was better than I was. A His hands are
so big, I mean so big, and when you can
if a ball comes off the rim, and it goes
it's going out of bound, and ten guys are going
(33:13):
for it. Nine guys are going for it to grab
it with two hands as it goes for the fore,
when you have hands so big that you can reach
out with one hand.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
And grab that ball and grab it and be gone,
you're playing a different game.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
If you got two feet in the paint, he's dunking it.
He was just different, and you know, it was fun.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Tippin gets it to Jordan Michael challenges.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
It was fun playing him.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
So it wasn't frustrating, it wasn't aiming.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
It was just you love the challenge.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
It loved it and you don't like you could get him.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You know, there are times you at him, he gets you,
and he got me more than I got him. But
I was hurt a lot, and there were games when
I would miss playing against him. That just drove me insane.
And you got to remember, at the time, he's not
the greatest player.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We know he was, Honestly, he was on his way,
and that's the time when I came in, he couldn't
really shoot yet.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
So for two or three years I just backed off
of him.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
We all didn't really matter because he was so crazy
athletic and bouncy and quick and competitive. Once he got
where he could shoot it, it was a wrap.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Mj would eventually own the Charlotte Hornets, but when I
was in Charlotte, they were owned by George Shinn, whose
life outside of basketball sometimes overshadowed the team. In nineteen
ninety nine, he moved the franchise from Charlotte to New
Orleans after he was accused of sexual assault. His trial
was broadcast nationally on Court TV. Basketball returned to Charlotte
(35:08):
in two thousand and four and the forum of the
Charlotte Bobcats, making media mogul and billionaire Robert Johnson the
first African American to own a major sports franchise. In
twenty ten, that team was acquired by Michael Jordan, who
owned the franchise for many years, changing the name back.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
To the Hornets.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Obviously, you've been with a franchise for those years, you
know what was that like?
Speaker 3 (35:33):
I mean, it was great having him around. The players
loved it. He's still going to court, you know, back
when he's playing a little one on one shoot motivate.
It was fun having him around. But it just goes
to show you that as good a player as he was,
it's so hard to win this league. As an owner
or an executive. You're not on the floor. You have
(35:54):
no say about how teams play or what do you
want to happen. And that was I know that was
frustrating for everybody, especially him, you know, as a competitive
as he was. But it was great having him around,
especially owning that team in the state where he was born.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I read this quote from you and the Charlotte Observe
and you said I was very fortunate to join the Hornets,
although I.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Wasn't so sure at the time.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
You know, in retrospect, why was that a good thing
that happened to you?
Speaker 4 (36:22):
Going in that expansion draft.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
One I got to really kind of carve out a career.
I knew. We were all guys that again, trying to
find our way in the NBA or guys, you know,
finding their way out. So a lot of us were
in the same boat talking Rex, Muggsy, myself. We're all
still good friends, and we were just trying to we
were in it together. We're trying to figure out how
(36:46):
are we going to make a career out of this together.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
It took four years for the Hornets to emerge from
the basement of the Eastern Conference and make an appearance
in the playoffs, led by the likes of Larry.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
The first playoff series that you guys win against the
Boston Celtics, Alonzo morning with a buzzard beater.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Showing a lot of time out.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
What do you think it was that set that team
apart that allowed you guys to finally achieve postseason success.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
I think our chemistry. We got along so well on
and off the floor that won us a lot of
GEDs on the floor because we knew each other. We
policed ourselves in the locker room with Larry, Alonzo, myself, Muggsy,
our coach didn't have to. I mean, he just coached
x's and o's. We coached ourselves in the locker room
(37:58):
of guys being on time, guys being ready to play.
That was the fun of it. We all respected each other.
We all brought different areas of expertise as as far
as leadership, and we all respected and we played for
each other.
Speaker 8 (38:11):
Abert read slide through outside, curry, open shot right and
the key is in yel curry.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
What three for four.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
We thought we were right there. We had a good
group of young experience playing the Celtics getting that win,
and we were like, oh, we're right there. You got
to keep this team together. And we still talk about
that team could have done something, We could have made
a difference.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Rex was gone by then traded away to the Washington
Bullets for Tim Hammond. The year before Charlotte's playoff run Oftha.
Speaker 10 (38:43):
Comes to Chapping almost overthrown.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Chapping lng shot.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
He would have his own journey, which we will dig
into in the next episode. Dell stayed in Charlotte for
a long time, eventually becoming one of the best six
men in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (39:04):
Here's current.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Heck of the jip shots. Delle just were getting close.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
The Hornets I covered coped incredibly well with the adversity
of losing night after night. They weren't at each other's throats,
and off the court, they developed enduring bonds.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Muggsy Dell and I were eating breakfast in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
Dell's dad was fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Years old at the time, and you know, he came
to a lot of our games and they talked before
every single game, every game. And this is like before
cell phones and stuff were right around that time, and
we're with Dell in Los Angeles. We just had shoot around,
I think and Dell were in his room and Delle
got a phone call and.
Speaker 5 (39:45):
His dad had died and he was destroyed. We were destroyed.
This is his best friend, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
And I think us being young and things like those
things happening just sort of bonded us forever.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
I could call that dude with anything right now and
he would pick up. He knows he could do the
same with me.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
He mugsy the same those teams and some of the
people on those teams that I still have relationships with,
you know, thirty thirty years later, thirty five years later.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
Just I'm so grateful, so thankful.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Meanwhile, back in the subdivision, Rex didn't realize it, but
he was babysitting the future basketball.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
He's really the first little baby i'd been around. I'd
been around little kids. But then I remember coming back
to the summer after the first year and he's talking.
He's calling Dell daddy, and I thought, this is hilarious.
I've got a friend who has a kid that calls
him daddy. Daddy is what I call Dell.
Speaker 5 (40:55):
In my phone. It's what I call him to this day.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Because of that.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
What's fun about Stephan is every time I.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
See him at a ball game or wherever it is,
it is the very first moment is a little smile
kind of a and I don't even know what we're
smiling about.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
It's probably me playing little games with him when he
was a kid.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Those are kind of hardwired memories. I remember being in
the car coming home like an exhibition game in Greenville
from South Carolina, and we drove to the game to
meet Delle Muggsy and Stephan, and I've said before, you know,
I'm sure at the time we thought we were big
ship basketball players and the.
Speaker 5 (41:35):
Best player in the car was in a babysat the
all time.
Speaker 10 (41:39):
So True got a hand on it a turnover up ahead.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
And night and Stephan was just crying, balling, crying.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
And Dale finally like, take him out of.
Speaker 5 (41:51):
There, see, you know, if you can get him. I
put him on my chest.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
He went out like that, and I just remember feeling
his heart beating on mine, and close to that moment,
I was like, I've got to be a dad.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Winners could add to their lead.
Speaker 10 (42:04):
Now Curry left wide open right between the eyes and
they have it on the bench. High scream comes Curry,
some ball handling, fires up for three?
Speaker 5 (42:17):
Does it again?
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I want to touch on the three pointer because we've
talked about that a lot in this series. How do
you think it evolved as a weapon in the NBA
to what it is today?
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Uh? You know, my playball play gut Eric Collins, he's
the biggest trivia basketball guy I've ever seen. I'll get
to the game tonight and he'll have some trivia about
the back in you know, nineteen ninety three or ninety
four and AFL on this day the Hornets did this
and Dale? How many? How many threes do you think
you shot? I'll say a number here. Get up. You
(42:55):
were one for two, you were one for three, you're
one for four? Like what he let you be shot?
Speaker 5 (43:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (43:02):
You guys shot ten as a team and you took
three of him and stuff like what He's like? Yeah?
How far we come with the with the NBA three
point shot? Now? And Steph, I'll tell everybody it's Steph's fault.
It's my fault for teaching them how to shoot. It's
his fault for changing her and ruining the game with
the three point shot. You know, I actually love the
(43:23):
way the game is played now with with the threes
and so much emphasis on scoring. You know, everything changes
for a reason for good, maybe one player. I know
Michael changed the game ley Bird and Magic changes it
before that, and you know Steph has changed it to
where the NBA is today, and I think it's good.
Speaker 11 (43:42):
Del Kurry, You're going to be calling a game where
both of your sons are going to be playing against
each other. This is gonna be for the first time
in NBA history that a father will call the game
for both of his sons.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Like that a parent's dream come true. Where else would
you rather be than in the booths calling. It's like
I'm in the in the kitchen there in the backyard.
I'm watching them play, watching them fight, watching them foul
each other. I'll go out sell it, go back in
and let them finish the game. When I go to the
games in the Hornets, I still see our old doctor Perry,
who is a team physician. And we still have some
(44:16):
some greeters who work in the new arena that was
at the old coliseum, and they just smile because they
saw Stephan hisself when they were little boys back in
the family room, shooting tread you know, wads up paper
in the trash can and getting the people's way in
the locker room and the training room, and there they are.
Speaker 7 (44:36):
They flip a point on who's gonna wear the gold
state jersey.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Who's gonna wear the Portland Jersey.
Speaker 7 (44:40):
Sons have played twenty four playoff games during this morning.
They then in person took twenty one or the twenty
four Cheth Curry against Steph Curry, Rodney Hood drills, the
three the buzzer.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
But they were part of the family. They knew they
were Dale's kids. They loved the game. So it's good
to see all those people, you know, think by I
remember when you know he was just hide and now
he's able to play. But it's great. Being a father
and a fan started in college for me when they
were at College of Davidson, a duke. The reason is
(45:16):
at a hurry, I didn't have to coach anymore. I
could sit back and be a father and a fan
and enjoy the game had another clean look, wide open.
I mean, you can't put into words how proud I
am to know how hard it is to get to
the NBA and then have two sons following your footsteps
(45:36):
and be the players be better than their their old
man was.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Next time on NBA DNA, Rex Chapman talks about his game,
his addiction, and his remarkable recovery. NBA DNA with Hannah
Storm is a production of iHeart Podcasts, the NBA and
(46:07):
Brainstorman Productions. The show is written and executive produced by
me Hannah Storm, along with Julia Weaver and Alex French.
Our lead producer and showrunner is Julia Weaver. Our senior
producers are Peter Kouder, Alex French, and Brandon Reese. Editing
and sound design by Kurt Garren and Julia Weaver. The
(46:29):
show's executive producers are Carmen Belmont, Jason English, Sean ty Tone,
Steve Weintraup, and Jason Weikelt
August eleventh, nineteen eighty eight, just after nine in the
morning a late summer Friday. There's nothing unusual to report
unless you're in North Carolina at the Charlotte Coliseum, the
brand new home of the NBA's newest franchise, the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I deeply appreciate the privilege of being here.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Tonight, not even twelve hours earlier, the Reverend Billy Graham
stood on stage at center court and dedicated the arena.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
When I hear somebody say, Billy Frank, I know they're
from Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
For years, Charlotte didn't have any professional sports teams, but
college hoops was in full force along Tobacco Road, Duke,
NC State, Wake Carolina. So much excitement in the Queen City.
Now to have the NBA come to the region. This
new arena will host its first ever sporting event tonight,
(00:57):
a double header game one featuring the USA women's national
team taking on Cuba, and then a team of NBA
stars against the men's national team. Two dozen workers put
down a brand new wooden basketball court bearing the hornets
purple and teal logo. Meanwhile, technicians from the American Sign
(01:22):
and Indicator Company make last minute adjustments to the jumbo
tron suspended above center court. They raise and lower the
scoreboard with motorized pulleys, but something goes wrong. The scoreboard
tilts one side, smacks the ceiling of the arena. There
(01:42):
are screams, people run in all directions, and then the
entire JumboTron, all forty thousand pounds, plummets more than one
hundred feet onto the hardwood. What is left is a
(02:04):
pile of wreckage that resembles a crashed UFO. Nobody was
killed or injured, so the powers that be at the
Charlotte Coliseum adopt a show must go on. Stands, the
JumboTron and damaged floor are removed. The hardwood from the
(02:24):
old coliseum, along with the old scoreboard, is trucked to
the new building, and that night, miraculously, the games are
delayed by just one half hour. Here's a member of
that brand new NBA Hornets team, Del Curry.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Do you remember the huge scoreboard crashing before the first season?
Oh my gosh, what do you remember about that?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
We were like, what what if we were in there?
All right, that's what everybody thought, Okay, what if we
were in there? Because we were practicing at Grady Cole.
What do we do now? What what are we in for?
The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Here's another original hornet, Rex Chapman. Do you remember when
the scoreboard fell before the season.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I rarely think about that, but Hannah, yes, you know,
this was a time where that was like that thing
that was up there the scoreboard arenas really didn't have
those yet. There was might have been speakers up there,
so that was a big It was massive, and I
mean it just destroyed the floor. They had to reconcrete
and all of that stuff. I had always during warm
(03:37):
ups my whole life. I shot layups, I warmed up,
I'd gone out and then I go out and I
stretch at mid court, and from that moment on, I
stretched off to the side just in case the scoreboard
fell down. I didn't want to die that way, so
but purposely, because of the Charlotte Coliseum scoreboard falling down,
(04:01):
I've moved to.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
The location from where I always head stretched.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
That's hysterical for the rest of your career.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
If the rest of my career, I would not sit
out at mid court underneath the scoreboard.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
For days.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
The plummeting jumbo tron and the heroic efforts of the
arena workers to keep the show moving are the top
stories on WSCNCTV Channel thirty six, the Charlotte television station
where I came from Houston to anchor weekend sports.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Sar A Chapel Hill.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
There not only constructing a stadium, they're building a football program.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well Houston, but longed for a full time TV gig
and kept sending out those tapes and resumes. I was
hired in Charlotte as well, a gimmick by a brand
news station determined to try all sorts of crazy ideas
to get viewers.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The ultimate sports machine Jim'sumania and hannahst cats standard.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Only to News thirty six.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Hiring a woman's sports anchor, now that was something different
back in the day, and they let me know they
would also prefer me to light my hair to be
more blonde than brown. They promoted us on billboards around
the area, complete with a race car alongside my weekday anchor,
Jim selanias.
Speaker 7 (05:25):
Hannah storm in for Jim Selenia Tonight with all the
sports and real good news by Buddy Bakers.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
That's right, this afternoon, I had a chance to visit
with Buddy.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Baker and his memorial hospital. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
The main sport we covered in addition to basketball was NASCAR,
something I frankly knew nothing about.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
But I've always felt that sports is.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
An exactly brain surgery or some secret language only known
to men. I truly believe and did then that with
hard work you can learn anything.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
You saw the great driving and the strategy involved in
this race.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Charlotte is the epicenter of NASCAR. At the time, legends
like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt ruled the track. The
man in Black is still one of the most intimidating
athletes that I've ever covered.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Where are you going?
Speaker 6 (06:17):
I'm going to the pits, yep, not in the sunshine,
But I got my hat ready.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I went to the track almost daily and asked question
after question, learning the differences between the brands of tires,
the track, the equipment, spending time in the pits, and
chasing down drivers who had wrecked. Nothing like sticking your
microphone in front of someone who's just lost millions in
a crack up that probably wasn't even his fault.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So amidst NASCAR and college hoops.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
How will professional hoops fare in this sports landscape. Well,
for the first time since nineteen eighty, the NBA is
ready to find out, expand and opening for business in
four new cities, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, and Charlotte.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
Jim, this is great. You know, when the basketball season
starts coming around, your blood just pumps a little bit faster. Obviously,
this isn't the same kind of policy.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
After the JumboTron fell from the ceiling, some wondered if
maybe the team could be cursed. Obviously I didn't think so.
They were too much fun to cover. The fan base
was one of the most energetic in pro sports, and
the winds and losses aside, there was something special about
those first Charlotte Hornets. From the NBA and iHeart podcast
(07:44):
This is NBA DNA with me Hannah's Storm, Episode four,
The Long Shots. Was an exciting time to be in Charlotte.
I was twenty six and finally a full time sports
(08:07):
TV anchor.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
And it's time to go live to the coliseum now
with Hannah Storms.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
She's with a head coach in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Hannah, Hi, Jim.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
You know it's great. Del Harrison I a head coach
the Milwaukee Bucks. We're just talking about what a short
summer was.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That's where I first came to know the man who
is now the patriarch of the famous Curry family, but
back then he was one of the original Hornets taken
in the expansion Draft. We've known each other since the
Charlotte days. As a lot of people know you're currently
color commentator, but you're also there all time points and
(08:41):
a three point leader for the franchise. So we first
met in the late eighties. Do you remember I don't know.
Do you remember me?
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Obviously? I remember you.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I remember you. Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah. There weren't a
lot of women in your position back then, so yeah,
oh absolutely everybody knows she.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
At that time, Dell was also twenty six and a
third year shooting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Cutters along the baseline left corner shot Curry.
Speaker 8 (09:11):
Yes, Sir, del Curry drills it from deep in the
left corner Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
The nineteen eighty seven NBA Draft was different for starters.
There were actually two drafts. First, there was the expansion Draft,
in which the twenty three teams already in the league
got to protect eight players from their roster, the Heat
and the Hornets. The two expansion teams got to pick
from the unprotected leftovers.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
With its first pick in the expansion draft, Charlotte selected
del Curry from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
It was my third year in the league and third team.
I was drafted by Utah Cleveland, where I played with
a lot of guys already knew Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper
didn't play much in Utah. They had a loaded better team,
laid the playoffs and played well in Cleveland. Card and
expansion draft was between me and Craig Elo who they
(10:10):
were going to protect. And I remember Wayne Hembury called
me in his office before I left to go back home.
He goes, it's between you and e Loos like kind
of figured that. He goes, well, we're kind of leaning
toward Eleve because you think he's got a better opportunity
of guarding Jordan. Oh my, Michael, Okay, right, yeah, fair enough, Wayne,
(10:32):
I'll see you around because I'm not that guy.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
He looks, He gives to Jordan of the circle, puts
the shot of the aircut.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
The game's over and the Bulls of won.
Speaker 8 (10:43):
Now you've come off of a playoff team. Now, obviously
the people back here are excited about it, so there's got.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
To be something in the draft.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
But let's talk about you right now. The fact that
you're with Cleveland finally got to the playoffs and now
you're gonna be with an expansion team, well, it's a.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
New start for me.
Speaker 9 (10:58):
I'm gonna get from here. I want to get quality
time to game in and game out, and I think
if I get that, I'll be able to put up
some pretty good numbers.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Like everyone else, pro basketball players worry about job security.
At any moment, you could get injured, traded, benched, or cut.
So the expansion teams offered sort of a fresh start
for guys on the back end of their careers like
Kurt Rambis, Ricky Green, and Kelly Tripuca, who had played
at my on the.
Speaker 8 (11:27):
Mater Andnga owns the trigger and hits on his first shot.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Dell was one of the young guys and had just
started a young family. His wife, Sonya, had given birth
to a little boy named Stephen.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Everybody's looking like, man, what are you doing. I'm like,
I don't know. I'm a kid myself. But being able
to play the game, have the fun, and then be
able to bring my sons around when they were old
enough too. That was the father's dream to be able
to good in the locker room and hang out.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Did they go to the games when it wasn't like
school nights. That's what I did, you know, as my dad.
My dad was like obviously on the business side, but
I remember when we didn't know school the next day.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
My mom would be like, okay, let's go.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Oh yeah, no games on school nights because we wanted
them to, you know, look forward to it and make sure.
This is a privilege being able to go to the
NBA games and watch your dad play as well. But
they enjoyed going to practice just as much as the games.
They were very well behaved. We get to practice and
they're hanging out in the gym and the practices starting.
We give them a gatorade and put a ball under
(12:28):
their arm, and they would sit quietly and watch practice.
Like my teammates and coaches couldn't believe it. How do
you do that? I said, Well, on the way here
is where all the work's done. Like boys come to practice,
you can shoot they out, but when practice starts you
I mean you get one shot at it, you swept
practice or become a distraction, you're done. And they understood that,
(12:51):
and I always tried to display that it was Dad's job.
You know, I'm playing a game, but I'm at work
right now. You're just able to go to work with me.
So don't this for us. And they were really good.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
A couple weeks after the Expansion Draft, the NBA then
held its traditional draft.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Charlotte drew the third pick. The Charlotte Hornets select Rex
Chapman of.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Kentucky, a dynamics six ' three shooting guard who had
come out after his sophomore year at the University of Kentucky.
Speaker 8 (13:23):
Rex Chapman just twenty one years old in this coming October.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Rex was so good that Lexington, where he played college ball,
had earned the nickname Rexington. He was known campus wide
as King Rex.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I played at Kentucky and those crowds very similar to
the ones in Charlotte.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
And you know, twenty four.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Thousand people in Lexington and there's nineteen or twenty in Charlotte.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
But the way they loved us was very much the same.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I was fortunate that I was good enough to play
and be a you know, be a good player. That
that wasn't my worry. I didn't have an issue with
all of that. It was just I felt like a kid.
Thank God for Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, who you
know are still two of my best friends.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Rex was a kid at the time. He was one
of the youngest players in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And I felt twelve inside. Everybody on the team was
much older than I was, too, And so I'm having
to go and do these meetings, you know, like you
worked for who at the time.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I worked for WPCQ Channel thirty six.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Okay, so I'm doing all these going around.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
I've got this deal and that deal that I'm doing,
you know, endorsements and stuff, and like your station, I
think asked me to come over.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I go over to the station.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
It's a meeting that you're in, and I'm nineteen or
twenty and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, how does
I was like, she's really cute talking and thinking about you,
and so I thought, though, how did someone my age?
She's not done with college, So how's someone my age
that have this job?
Speaker 5 (15:08):
And so because I was like, you know, maybe I'll
ask her to go out after.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You know, this is before the Internet and all that stuff.
A few weeks go by, and you know, I see
you all the time. Also, you were one of the
first women covering sports and stuff that I think maybe
ever that And I met Jackie McMullin that year, so
the two of you. It was just strange that a
female was around right after a month, I guess. I
(15:35):
asked someone who knew how old you were, and they said,
she's twenty five. And I went, he's a woman. That's
too old. That's too old she and how you know,
you look my age. But when I found I was
so intimidated. I thought, oh no, she's not a girl,
(15:55):
she's a woman like I. That's off limits.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
That is hilarious. I am so happy to hear that now,
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
And of course everybody in Charlotte did want to go
out with you. You had the nickname Sexy Rex. Yeah, yeah,
what do you remember about that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
It was just very weird, you know, And I was single,
and the Hornets were having me do auctions where I'd
be auctioned off and have to go on a date
with random people in the community. And again, these could
be you know, thirty thirty five year old women.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
I'm a child. I felt like a kid.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
It's a bizarre situation for anyone, especially a guy who
found himself as the Hornets franchise player.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
You have a very young.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
Wretch Chapman coming in, you pined some hopes on a
very young Tito.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Horror for both of them with you know, I was young.
All the friends I knew were still in college. And
when I got to Charlotte, I'd never lived a day
in my life without a roommate or at my parents' house.
So I got there and in fact, the first night,
I was actually scared to go upstairs because it was
dark upstairs. I was a lottery pick, and I'm going
to practice the next day. And I started to go upstairs,
(17:10):
and I went, it's dark up there. And I went
down and slept on the couch.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Being expected to be a grown up when you're not
really one yet is difficult. Rex was on a different
path from an early age. He was a phenom who
devoted his entire life to basketball.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
His dad, Wayne, was a pro.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
He played in the ABA, actually for two of my
dad's former teams, the Indiana Pacers and Kentucky Curls.
Speaker 8 (17:39):
Back on defense.
Speaker 7 (17:40):
Kentucky debsun penetrates knocked away by day if you're at
Will Jones.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I remember being at a few games and thinking to myself,
if I could have just had anything in the world,
it would be that ball rack, thinking man and I
would go over and I'd grab a ball. From time
to time without my mom knowing, I'd run out there
and I'd.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Shoot a basket and I would hear people cheer.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Really and from yeah, and from a very young age,
I probably did more damage than good. I beed off
of feedback like that. But I always wanted to be
a basketball player, didn't ever want to be anything else.
I was very one dimensional. I also felt like it took.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Everything that I had to be able to play basketball.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I think anybody who's trying to be great at something,
really great at something, has to sacrifice a little bit
of sanity because you're constantly getting beat, and it's to
go back day after day and get your ass kicked
and yelled at. There's a cognitive dissonance. I think that
has to happen. And I could solve anything on the
(18:49):
court that was happening. The rest of life was really
hard for me.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Rex did a great job of hiding his feelings. He
was famous for his smile, which only helped him become
a bigger fan favorite. To hear him tell it today, though,
he really needed guidance, and fortunately he found it.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
When I pulled into my subdivision, I hadn't even seen
my apartment. Someone said it. There was furniture in there,
and it's very spoiled. I suppose I pulled up and
Dell had his He was standing there like two doors down.
He's Sonya and Stephan she they had just I mean,
he was month old and Dell had his arm in
(19:31):
a cast. He was hurt, he'd broken his wrists. They
helped me move all my shit in and from that day,
like son I didn't know how to do laundry. Sonya
did my laundry.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
She would. They took care of me, you know. Dell
taught me how to tie a tie stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Really yeah, yeah, I just I felt much like a kid.
Tom Tolbert was another rookie, but Tom was two three
years older than I was. He graduated from You of A.
That was the other thing that was hard was that
that was an era where I mean most guys were
college graduates and I think. I don't know, I felt
(20:09):
inferior kind of a bit, uh intellectually, maybe it's valid
or not.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
That's how I felt.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
And uh, you know, people didn't come out of school
when I was, you know, kind of unless you were
Magic or Isaiah or you didn't leave school early.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
You know, you mentioned Dell.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
He's such a such such a great person and obviously
an incredible father, and you look what his sons have
been able to accomplish. But he's been rejected by the Calves.
Essentially he lands here and you know, along you come
this young kid. Yeah, if you could to speak to
I don't know how he took you under under his
(20:49):
wing or how he mentored you. Yeah, because you obviously
it was essential that you have somebody like that. You
weren't going to survive otherwise.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
I wasn't, and UH would have had every reason.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
He had already played in Utah and Cleveland, and he was,
you know, a mid first round pick, so his confidence
couldn't be very good. Now now they've drafted you know,
a two guard in the college draft me, so we're in.
And that wasn't at a time where yes, we could
play together, and we did play together some but that
(21:22):
was kind of at a time where no, you guys
are both two guards, and so.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
He helped me so much. He could have been standoffish,
they could have been.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Honestly, he's one of my best buddies, but he was
like a father figure to me.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
So Rex fell in with the Curries and Muggsy Bogues,
the team's young point guard. A tiny powerhouse out of
wake forest.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Boat pushes it across Finds.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
The Hornets played and lost their first game as an
NBA franch on November fourth, nineteen eighty eight, before a
soul out crowd decked out in tuxedos and ball gowns.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
It is the largest marina now in the FBA.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
On to me, three thousand, five hundred fans and gazing.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Around this building. Every chair has a fan in it. Goodnight.
Well I remember all of us talking like they're asking
eighteen thousand people for the men to wear tuxas and
the women to wear gowns. What were we doing here?
But every person did it? They fell in line.
Speaker 8 (22:35):
How was the city of Charlotte been treating the Hornets
who have come in here and brought this new team here.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Oh, they're very excited.
Speaker 9 (22:40):
You know, it's really the most major professional team they
have in Charlotte, so everybody's real excited about the franchise.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
I wouldn't able to play because I broke my wrist
the very first practice that we had as the Hornets,
so I got to really look around and experience the
crowd and soak it all in. Like these people are
really touch cedos and gowns watching a basketball game, and
they are into it.
Speaker 9 (23:06):
Ram Us with fourteen points in the game, nice hustle
played by Kempy, big body.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Anyone, and we're losing to wi We lost by forty points,
and we're all, you know, kind of just scouraged as
a player. And then we leave and everybody's still there.
No fan had left early, and they give us a
standing ovation just for playing. I'm like, okay, this could
be okay.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Here's how Rex remembers it.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
At the time, we were a little embarrassed by it
because you got to remember, we're we're going out there
and we're playing, and yes, I know the fans love
it and all that. You get judged by winning and
losing in our profession, and so it's almost like negative
feedback because they want us to do so well, we're
(23:53):
going to play it be in every game for three
three and a half quarters until the other team decides
to start playing harder and gets all the calls and
we lose. Happens three out of four nights. We felt
like the other teams were like, they're getting ready to
get smacked in front of all these people.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
The fans weren't the only ones dressed to the nines.
The Hornets had enlisted famed eighties men's wear designer Alexander
Julian to fashion in their uniforms, and along with his
signature bright colors, he added a twist that had never
before been seen on an NBA court, a fashion faux
(24:31):
pa for the guys who had to wear them.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
We thought, okay, we're getting a designer to you know,
create our uniforms, and then we see Kelly Shapuka model
them in the off season. We're like, wait, is there
pleats in our shorts? What are we doing?
Speaker 5 (24:50):
What are we doing?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
And then the scoreboard falls and we're like, oh my gosh,
what's happening here? Not I don't know, get anybody like
any player like those fleets And when never we played
the team for the first time of the season. They
want to they walk up, Let me look at your shorts.
What you have shorts?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
That's so embarrassing.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, our colors saved us till till and purple colors
saved us. I mean that's the Hornet colors are still
some of the hottest colors in the league. And I
still have those shortsna and I have a pair of
those shorts. They're those little and tall and short and tight.
But I still have some albums somewhere.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Where are they? Do you know where they are?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, they're in the closet somewhere. I did not frame them,
put them in my man cave, but they're They're in
the closet and they're secure. Might be looking for somebody
to gift the chap.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
I hated those uniforms.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I think we all did, and they're sort of iconic
uniforms now for whatever reason the jerseys are.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Anyway, we hated them. We were embarrassed by them.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Also, it was a brand new team in some ways,
like I knew the Sixers and the Celtics and the Lakers,
and what's the Hornets?
Speaker 5 (26:11):
What are the heat? What is this? And so in
some ways it almost felt like we weren't part of
the NBA.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I remember the Raptors.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
They were named because it was like Jurassic Partner was
such a hot thing. The kids were into dinosaurs, and
so okay, let's name the team the Raptors and make
it a cute dinosaur.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah, timber Wolves, Yeah, you know that was. What are
we doing? The Orlando Magic? I know what is this?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I know? I know.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
The Hornets went twenty and sixty two in their first season.
Rex wound up as the team's second leading scorer at
sixteen point nine points per game.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Happened as guided by magic. It was a round Magic
got her need reverse way up.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
What Dell, recovering from that broken wrist, only appeared in
forty eight games and averaged seventeen minutes of playing time.
The next season, the record was even worse.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
And we were terrible, Like we were terrible. We were bad.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
We won nineteen games our first year and maybe twenty
the next. But we won attendance records every year. You know,
they hung the banners for the attendance in Charlotte.
Speaker 8 (27:16):
You know, it's interesting when you start with a team
like this, you know you're only going to win probably
twenty five games, maybe is that tough in yourself like.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
That from that year?
Speaker 9 (27:22):
It is, but you have to remember that the franchise
isn't going to be made in one year. It's going
to take three, four or five years.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
How hard is that to accept losing, you know, no
matter how hard you try, especially that first season as
an expansion team, and who was it that kind of
took you under their wing and said, listen, you know
this isn't the end of the world.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Let's let's put it in perspective.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah. I think Ricky Green was the guy for me.
I played with him my first year in Utah and
then he comes to Charlotte expansion and I almost accepting
losing is a good term because as any player, you
can't up losing. That's a bad habit. I think to
get into you have to learn to deal with it,
and it has losing has to keep you inspired to
(28:08):
play well and try to end all the losing as
we see teams even in today's NBA struggle to win.
But that's the biggest thing. You can't accept losing. If
you accept losing, you're not going to be the professional
that the fans deserve, that your teammates deserve. We coached
very hard by Dick Harder. His expectations of us as
(28:28):
the team were a little overboard at times, and he
let us know, but he kept us motivating, he kept
us thinking that we could win games. But it was
just a learning experience again how to not accept losing,
but how to learn to deal with it and still
trying to learn how to be a player at a
young age.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
What do you learn from a situation like that?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I mean, Dell said, you know, he did learn about
losing and about surviving that and moving forward. He said,
as much as he hated it, he did learn something
from it.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
What about you, No question about it. It's hard.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
It's hard being a number one or number two option scorer.
I was really probably a two or a three at best.
And but for stretches in Charlotte, you know I'm being
guarded by Michael and.
Speaker 5 (29:20):
Michael Cooper RX Chatman over Jordan.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You know, you find out very quickly kind of where
you are being able to fight through that, But missed
all the losing. I remember Ricky Green pulled me aside
one of our teammates, older teammates, and I was really
down about the losing, and he pulled me aside and said, hey, Rex, listen.
Dell might have been there too, and he pulled us
aside and he was like, listen, we're going to get
(29:46):
beat three out of four nights. That's just the way
it is. You guys are going to play a long time,
but you need to get your shots up. Fifteen shots
a game. You guys get them up.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
No matter what.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And as a pro, you know, you're raised everything as
team and I'm coming from college where like you just like,
that's not something that you think about.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
And it was really good advice.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
There were highs too.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
On December twenty third, nineteen eighty eight, the Hornets beat
the Chicago Bulls one o.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Three to one oh one at the Buzzer.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It was Michael Jordan's first time playing in Carolina as
a pro.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Game.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
When Michael came to Charlotte, he was their guy, so
they were they were a little it was they were torn.
It was mixed when Michael, because they knew he was
a Carolina guy, wanted to play well, but this is
our team. The Hornets is our team. We Tier four.
But it was always fun to compete against Michael because
he wanted to He wanted to put on a good
show for the fans of Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
I do remember him because they're again. I was like
the only woman, I think in the locker room, and
I remember being kind of terrified going in. I didn't
really like going in the locker room. And I remember
going in to interview Michael Jordan and he called me
ma'am and.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I was so young, but you know, it was like
a Southern thing, you know that.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Like nice, like those nice manners and just and he
was like, I don't know, he.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Was so respectful.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
And I do think a lot of times, even you know,
before winning those championships and things, he kind of set
the tone. I think a lot of guys looked at
him and said, you know what, this is how we
should behave.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Absolutely. And I remember Scott Burrell. I'll played with him
in Charlotte and he got traded to Chicago. Summers he'd
come back to Charlotte and he talked about how different
it is playing with Michael in Chicago and the way
he demands every player be ready to play give their best.
He took his toll Scotty Barrell. I remember telling you, man,
(31:55):
it's a tough playing with that guy, and you see why.
I mean he was so competitive. He wants to win,
and he knows he needs healthy, wants these guys to
be account to be held accountable.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Jordan works is where around the top of the key,
left Lain inside up and left pan or scored.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Did you have any idea in those early years sort
of what he would become and what the bulls would become?
Speaker 5 (32:14):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I knew what he would become in college. I remember
the eighty four Olympic trials. Bobby Knight was a coach.
I was by that trial and that was some of
the best practices I've ever been involved of my life.
That team was unbelievable and Michael stood had shoulders above everybody.
So we all knew before he got to the league
that he was going to be that type of player.
(32:37):
And he's still the best player to play the game
of my book. Look coventer Jordan.
Speaker 10 (32:48):
Michael.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I'd played against Michael on the summer after being drafted,
and until that point I had never really been on
the court with someone that I kind of had to
admit was better than I was. A His hands are
so big, I mean so big, and when you can
if a ball comes off the rim, and it goes
it's going out of bound, and ten guys are going
(33:13):
for it. Nine guys are going for it to grab
it with two hands as it goes for the fore,
when you have hands so big that you can reach
out with one hand.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
And grab that ball and grab it and be gone,
you're playing a different game.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
If you got two feet in the paint, he's dunking it.
He was just different, and you know, it was fun.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Tippin gets it to Jordan Michael challenges.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
It was fun playing him.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
So it wasn't frustrating, it wasn't aiming.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
It was just you love the challenge.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
It loved it and you don't like you could get him.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You know, there are times you at him, he gets you,
and he got me more than I got him. But
I was hurt a lot, and there were games when
I would miss playing against him. That just drove me insane.
And you got to remember, at the time, he's not
the greatest player.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We know he was, Honestly, he was on his way,
and that's the time when I came in, he couldn't
really shoot yet.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
So for two or three years I just backed off
of him.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
We all didn't really matter because he was so crazy
athletic and bouncy and quick and competitive. Once he got
where he could shoot it, it was a wrap.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Mj would eventually own the Charlotte Hornets, but when I
was in Charlotte, they were owned by George Shinn, whose
life outside of basketball sometimes overshadowed the team. In nineteen
ninety nine, he moved the franchise from Charlotte to New
Orleans after he was accused of sexual assault. His trial
was broadcast nationally on Court TV. Basketball returned to Charlotte
(35:08):
in two thousand and four and the forum of the
Charlotte Bobcats, making media mogul and billionaire Robert Johnson the
first African American to own a major sports franchise. In
twenty ten, that team was acquired by Michael Jordan, who
owned the franchise for many years, changing the name back.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
To the Hornets.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Obviously, you've been with a franchise for those years, you
know what was that like?
Speaker 3 (35:33):
I mean, it was great having him around. The players
loved it. He's still going to court, you know, back
when he's playing a little one on one shoot motivate.
It was fun having him around. But it just goes
to show you that as good a player as he was,
it's so hard to win this league. As an owner
or an executive. You're not on the floor. You have
(35:54):
no say about how teams play or what do you
want to happen. And that was I know that was
frustrating for everybody, especially him, you know, as a competitive
as he was. But it was great having him around,
especially owning that team in the state where he was born.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I read this quote from you and the Charlotte Observe
and you said I was very fortunate to join the Hornets,
although I.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Wasn't so sure at the time.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
You know, in retrospect, why was that a good thing
that happened to you?
Speaker 4 (36:22):
Going in that expansion draft.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
One I got to really kind of carve out a career.
I knew. We were all guys that again, trying to
find our way in the NBA or guys, you know,
finding their way out. So a lot of us were
in the same boat talking Rex, Muggsy, myself. We're all
still good friends, and we were just trying to we
were in it together. We're trying to figure out how
(36:46):
are we going to make a career out of this together.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
It took four years for the Hornets to emerge from
the basement of the Eastern Conference and make an appearance
in the playoffs, led by the likes of Larry.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
The first playoff series that you guys win against the
Boston Celtics, Alonzo morning with a buzzard beater.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Showing a lot of time out.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
What do you think it was that set that team
apart that allowed you guys to finally achieve postseason success.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
I think our chemistry. We got along so well on
and off the floor that won us a lot of
GEDs on the floor because we knew each other. We
policed ourselves in the locker room with Larry, Alonzo, myself, Muggsy,
our coach didn't have to. I mean, he just coached
x's and o's. We coached ourselves in the locker room
(37:58):
of guys being on time, guys being ready to play.
That was the fun of it. We all respected each other.
We all brought different areas of expertise as as far
as leadership, and we all respected and we played for
each other.
Speaker 8 (38:11):
Abert read slide through outside, curry, open shot right and
the key is in yel curry.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
What three for four.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
We thought we were right there. We had a good
group of young experience playing the Celtics getting that win,
and we were like, oh, we're right there. You got
to keep this team together. And we still talk about
that team could have done something, We could have made
a difference.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Rex was gone by then traded away to the Washington
Bullets for Tim Hammond. The year before Charlotte's playoff run Oftha.
Speaker 10 (38:43):
Comes to Chapping almost overthrown.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Chapping lng shot.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
He would have his own journey, which we will dig
into in the next episode. Dell stayed in Charlotte for
a long time, eventually becoming one of the best six
men in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (39:04):
Here's current.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Heck of the jip shots. Delle just were getting close.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
The Hornets I covered coped incredibly well with the adversity
of losing night after night. They weren't at each other's throats,
and off the court, they developed enduring bonds.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Muggsy Dell and I were eating breakfast in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
Dell's dad was fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Years old at the time, and you know, he came
to a lot of our games and they talked before
every single game, every game. And this is like before
cell phones and stuff were right around that time, and
we're with Dell in Los Angeles. We just had shoot around,
I think and Dell were in his room and Delle
got a phone call and.
Speaker 5 (39:45):
His dad had died and he was destroyed. We were destroyed.
This is his best friend, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
And I think us being young and things like those
things happening just sort of bonded us forever.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
I could call that dude with anything right now and
he would pick up. He knows he could do the
same with me.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
He mugsy the same those teams and some of the
people on those teams that I still have relationships with,
you know, thirty thirty years later, thirty five years later.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
Just I'm so grateful, so thankful.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Meanwhile, back in the subdivision, Rex didn't realize it, but
he was babysitting the future basketball.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
He's really the first little baby i'd been around. I'd
been around little kids. But then I remember coming back
to the summer after the first year and he's talking.
He's calling Dell daddy, and I thought, this is hilarious.
I've got a friend who has a kid that calls
him daddy. Daddy is what I call Dell.
Speaker 5 (40:55):
In my phone. It's what I call him to this day.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Because of that.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
What's fun about Stephan is every time I.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
See him at a ball game or wherever it is,
it is the very first moment is a little smile
kind of a and I don't even know what we're
smiling about.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
It's probably me playing little games with him when he
was a kid.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Those are kind of hardwired memories. I remember being in
the car coming home like an exhibition game in Greenville
from South Carolina, and we drove to the game to
meet Delle Muggsy and Stephan, and I've said before, you know,
I'm sure at the time we thought we were big
ship basketball players and the.
Speaker 5 (41:35):
Best player in the car was in a babysat the
all time.
Speaker 10 (41:39):
So True got a hand on it a turnover up ahead.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
And night and Stephan was just crying, balling, crying.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
And Dale finally like, take him out of.
Speaker 5 (41:51):
There, see, you know, if you can get him. I
put him on my chest.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
He went out like that, and I just remember feeling
his heart beating on mine, and close to that moment,
I was like, I've got to be a dad.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Winners could add to their lead.
Speaker 10 (42:04):
Now Curry left wide open right between the eyes and
they have it on the bench. High scream comes Curry,
some ball handling, fires up for three?
Speaker 5 (42:17):
Does it again?
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I want to touch on the three pointer because we've
talked about that a lot in this series. How do
you think it evolved as a weapon in the NBA
to what it is today?
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Uh? You know, my playball play gut Eric Collins, he's
the biggest trivia basketball guy I've ever seen. I'll get
to the game tonight and he'll have some trivia about
the back in you know, nineteen ninety three or ninety
four and AFL on this day the Hornets did this
and Dale? How many? How many threes do you think
you shot? I'll say a number here. Get up. You
(42:55):
were one for two, you were one for three, you're
one for four? Like what he let you be shot?
Speaker 5 (43:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (43:02):
You guys shot ten as a team and you took
three of him and stuff like what He's like? Yeah?
How far we come with the with the NBA three
point shot? Now? And Steph, I'll tell everybody it's Steph's fault.
It's my fault for teaching them how to shoot. It's
his fault for changing her and ruining the game with
the three point shot. You know, I actually love the
(43:23):
way the game is played now with with the threes
and so much emphasis on scoring. You know, everything changes
for a reason for good, maybe one player. I know
Michael changed the game ley Bird and Magic changes it
before that, and you know Steph has changed it to
where the NBA is today, and I think it's good.
Speaker 11 (43:42):
Del Kurry, You're going to be calling a game where
both of your sons are going to be playing against
each other. This is gonna be for the first time
in NBA history that a father will call the game
for both of his sons.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Like that a parent's dream come true. Where else would
you rather be than in the booths calling. It's like
I'm in the in the kitchen there in the backyard.
I'm watching them play, watching them fight, watching them foul
each other. I'll go out sell it, go back in
and let them finish the game. When I go to the
games in the Hornets, I still see our old doctor Perry,
who is a team physician. And we still have some
(44:16):
some greeters who work in the new arena that was
at the old coliseum, and they just smile because they
saw Stephan hisself when they were little boys back in
the family room, shooting tread you know, wads up paper
in the trash can and getting the people's way in
the locker room and the training room, and there they are.
Speaker 7 (44:36):
They flip a point on who's gonna wear the gold
state jersey.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Who's gonna wear the Portland Jersey.
Speaker 7 (44:40):
Sons have played twenty four playoff games during this morning.
They then in person took twenty one or the twenty
four Cheth Curry against Steph Curry, Rodney Hood drills, the
three the buzzer.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
But they were part of the family. They knew they
were Dale's kids. They loved the game. So it's good
to see all those people, you know, think by I
remember when you know he was just hide and now
he's able to play. But it's great. Being a father
and a fan started in college for me when they
were at College of Davidson, a duke. The reason is
(45:16):
at a hurry, I didn't have to coach anymore. I
could sit back and be a father and a fan
and enjoy the game had another clean look, wide open.
I mean, you can't put into words how proud I
am to know how hard it is to get to
the NBA and then have two sons following your footsteps
(45:36):
and be the players be better than their their old
man was.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Next time on NBA DNA, Rex Chapman talks about his game,
his addiction, and his remarkable recovery. NBA DNA with Hannah
Storm is a production of iHeart Podcasts, the NBA and
(46:07):
Brainstorman Productions. The show is written and executive produced by
me Hannah Storm, along with Julia Weaver and Alex French.
Our lead producer and showrunner is Julia Weaver. Our senior
producers are Peter Kouder, Alex French, and Brandon Reese. Editing
and sound design by Kurt Garren and Julia Weaver. The
(46:29):
show's executive producers are Carmen Belmont, Jason English, Sean ty Tone,
Steve Weintraup, and Jason Weikelt
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