- [Clara] Manute Bol and Muggsy Bogues have more in common
than meets the eye.
I mean, we should address what meets the eye.
One is extremely tall and one is extremely short,
but they were both long shots for the NBA.
Neither guy got back a high school career aptitude test
that said "future pro basketball player".
Muggsy, because he was short.
Manute, because he didn't take one of those tests
or even go to school.
But they did make it to the NBA.
And in fact, in 1988, the tallest player in the league
and the shortest player in the league
found themselves on the same team,
fighting to prove they were more than just a gimmick.
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Whether you subscribe to this newspaper or not,
we all know basketball players are tall.
But even for the NBA, Manute Bol stood out when he stood up
or sat down or even laid down.
The guy was 7'7".
He's the tallest NBA player, tied with George Muresan,
but even Muresan didn't come close
to Bol's 8'6" wing span.
Despite his size, Bol was not destined for the NBA.
He grew up a Dinka tribesmen in South Sudan.
He lived with no electricity, no running water.
Oh, and also no basketball.
But thanks to a visiting politician,
snapping a press photo with the towering Bol,
the Sudanese team became aware of him.
Shortly after that, American scouts became aware of him.
Nobody seemed to care that Bol had no experience.
The guy could touch the rim without jumping.
Manute came to America in 1983,
but didn't head straight to the NBA.
He spoke no English and weighed a shocking 180 pounds.
It was hard to see him taking a hip check
from Moses Malone or a hard foul from Bill Laimbeer,
or even a chest bump from a teammate.
Instead he went to the University of Bridgeport
to play ball, learn English and eat a whole bunch.
He fit in with his teammates
and had a fairly typical college experience.
He was known as a funny guy who,
despite growing up in Sudan,
could hold his own in a campus snowball fight.
After just a year of college ball,
Bol decided to go pro.
You see, Sudan was mired in civil war
and he needed money to get his sister out of there.
Bol was called the biggest gamble of the 1985 draft.
While his agent touted his tribal life accomplishments
as proof of athleticism,
others called out his lack of experience and skill.
So what team was willing to take a gamble
on the tall, skinny, lion-hunting center from Sudan?
The Washington Bullets, a team with lackluster attendance
who just that summer had been called
the NBA's colorless monument to mediocrity,
drafted the tallest player ever with their second pick.
Accused of merely trying to create spectacle
and sell tickets, the Bullets brass defended their choice,
though some of their comments didn't quite ring true.
But Bol proved to be a shot blocking menace,
setting the rookie record for most blocks.
And while still skinny,
Bol found ways to prove he could handle the rough stuff,
like being a central figure in what the NBA called
the worst fight of the season,
where he used his wingspan against Chicago's Jawann Oldham
and was barely held back by four pro athletes and two refs.
Sure, Bol's offense and rebounding had room for improvement.
And sure, his numbers dipped his sophomore season,
but the general consensus was he's more than a spectacle.
He's a real NBA player.
But that consensus was short lived.
Due to no fault of his own, Bol was about to face
renewed allegations of being a gimmick.
In the 1987 draft with their number one pick,
the Bullets selected Tyrone Muggsy Bogues.
Height, 5'3".
He's the smallest player in the NBA ever,
and in '87 was four inches shorter
than the next shortest, Spud Webb,
who had his share of doubters
when he joined the league two years' prior.
What made Bogues an unlikely pro was solely his height.
He had an impressive basketball resume
and had been proving detractors wrong his whole life.
He played with the passion of defiance.
He was MVP of his Dunbar High School team,
which included three other future NBA players,
and is generally regarded as the best high school team ever.
Dunbar coach Bob Wade was a great match for Muggsy.
He knew how to harness his speed and athleticism.
For example, Muggsy put on a full-court press
on opposing point guards all the time.
When he wasn't stealing the ball,
he was putting on pressure and frazzling opponents.
He was a pest, in a good way.
He played four years at Wake Forest
and led the ACC in assists and steals for three years.
His defense was the stuff of legends
that haunted the division.
Before the '87 draft,
Bogues used NBA tryout camps to prove his worth.
At the biggest pre-draft camp,
he recorded a standing vertical of 44 1/4 inches,
but the only measurement most people cared about
was his height.
Critics declared he wasn't cut out for the NBA
and diminished his college accomplishments,
saying they wouldn't transfer to the professional game.
They called him a defensive liability.
And to be fair, in the pros,
he'd have to handle things like a post-up
from 6'9" Magic Johnson.
So while not called
the biggest gamble of the draft, like Bol,
Bogues was seen as a gamble.
Don't worry, the Bullets,
still struggling with attendance, love to gamble.
Perhaps it was an addiction.
They use their first pick to draft Muggsy 12th overall
before eventual rookie-of-the-year point guard Mark Jackson.
And suddenly Washington had both the shortest player ever
and the tallest player ever.
It was hard not to call them a gimmick,
mostly because people wanted to call them meaner things.
But hey, at least they were gonna sell some tickets.
The Bullets defended the legitimacy of their pick
saying Bol and Bogues together
would be great for a full-court press.
And coach Kevin Loughery said
he didn't think other teams were laughing at them.
A Bullet's PR rep said,
"We're trying to keep
"all the freak-show stuff to a minimum."
Really?
The guy works in PR and couldn't come up
with better words?
And I'm not so sure he was telling the truth
because Washington held a press conference
in which Muggsy was introduced
by the shortest senator in DC.
And then Bogues dunked for the crowd on a lowered hoop.
Luckily Muggsy and Manute weren't bitter or resentful
or too sad to get out of bed over all this.
In fact, they were pals.
Manute even said he liked having Bogues around
to take the press attention off him.
They wrestled in elevators, picked each other up,
that's right, Muggsy could lift Manute.
And even played one-on-one after practice.
During one of those games,
Muggsy somehow blocked Manute,
who then proceeded to chase him around the gym.
They were physically unusual, sure,
but they were still regular guys.
Unfortunately they both struggled on the court.
Despite the Bullets knowing their starting point guard
excelled in a fast break,
they played slow, half-court basketball,
which rendered Muggsy's speed moot.
He said he felt like a robot
and his confidence suffered, as did his game.
In mid-November, he had a three-game stretch
where he didn't score a point.
Then snapped the streak with a two-point game.
He lost his starting spot in December
and the press concluded the Bullets wasted their draft pick.
Without playing time, he had no chance of improving.
And by the end of the season,
Bogues's minutes were in single digits.
Manute didn't fare much better.
He had his worst season across the board.
He played so poorly, people seemed to forget
he had once proven himself.
Manute and Muggsy did occasionally perform well enough
to rebuff the sideshow label, but only on defense.
Their offensive output wasn't a factor.
To make matters worse, the freak show,
I'm quoting of course, didn't even sell tickets.
Look at all those empty seats.
One writer said the novelty had worn off by December.
That's one month into the season.
The Bullets finished with the third worst
attendance in the league.
And that's why you don't put all your eggs in one basket
and hold up the basket and yell,
buy a ticket to look at my weird eggs.
It was clear Muggsy and Manute
were on their way out of Washington.
The Bullets left Muggsy exposed in the expansion draft
and he was picked up by the brand new Charlotte Hornets.
It took some time,
but Bogues found success in North Carolina.
The '93 season was Bogues' and the Hornets' breakout season.
They played the fast break,
run and gun game Bogues thrived in.
His offense improved from his time in Washington
and he led the league in assist to turnover ratio.
Oh, and he made crowd-pleasing, head-turning,
physics-defying plays like blocking Patrick Ewing,
an All-Star who's a foot-and-a-half taller than him.
With Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson
to receive his assists,
the Hornets were an exciting team on the rise.
Their popularity belied their recent expansion status.
Charlotte made it to the second round of the playoffs in '93
and it was Muggsy who led the show.
Off court, Bogues landed tons of endorsement deals.
Whether he was acting as small business incarnate
for an AT&T commercial.
- [Commercial Announcer] So what if you're not
the biggest business in the game.
You still succeed because you call the shots.
- [Clara] Or declaring height is nothing.
Thirst is everything for Sprite.
- [Commercial Announcer] Height is nothing.
Thirst is everything.
Obey your thirst.
- [Clara] His accomplishments in spite of his height
was a very marketable angle.
What the Bullets tried to do,
make money off his unique characteristics,
Muggsy actually did.
The difference is the Bullets tried to market Muggsy
as merely a short guy in the NBA.
Whereas Muggsy marketed himself as a short guy
who succeeded in the NBA.
Bogues stayed with Charlotte for nine seasons
and then came off the bench for the Warriors
and then the Raptors.
And while the Hornets never performed much better
than that '93 season,
Muggsy's legacy was untarnished.
He was an inspiration to diminutive athletes everywhere,
and he's still the franchise's all-time leader
in assists and steals.
Manute Bol's post-DC career was quieter than Muggsy's.
The Bullets traded him to the Warriors
where he led the league in blocks in '89
and became a fan favorite,
complete with a fan club called the Bol Pen.
He bounced around the league,
playing fewer and fewer minutes.
He returned to the Warriors,
but they waived him in February '95 after a knee injury.
In 2010 at the age of 47,
Manute Bol passed away from a kidney disease
and a painful skin condition
known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.
He left behind a basketball legacy
of more than just the NBA's tallest man.
He led the league in blocked shots twice
and is 16th in all-time career blocks.
His son, Bol Bol, now plays for the Denver Nuggets.
But there's even more to his legacy.
He used his celebrity to raise awareness
of the Sudanese Civil War
and resulting human rights violations.
He lobbied Congress and donated
most of his NBA salary to relief efforts.
When that wasn't enough,
he participated in publicity stunts
like FOX's Celebrity Boxing,
or an appearance as the world's tallest jockey,
and then donated all his stunt earnings to the Sudanese.
In his playing days, the NBA called Manuta a gimmick.
Well, he embraced the role
and use the money to feed hungry refugees.
Both Manute Bol and Muggsy Bogues were unusually sized.
Though on opposite ends of the spectrum,
they faced similar criticism and doubts
about their ability to play in the NBA,
which was highlighted by the fact
that they were on the same team.
Two guys whose NBA origin was called a joke,
a spectacle, a Barnum and Bailey act
ended up rising above their detractors
and having an impact on not just the game, but the world.
Muggsy expanded the physical limitations
of what a basketball player could look like.
Manute expanded the idea of where
a basketball player could come from.
Plus he literally saved lives.
And they both remain in the NBA record books
for more than just their height.
Thanks for watching folks.
Want to watch some more stuff?
Check out Overlap, episode one,
or if like me, you're a DC b-ball fan,
check out this rewinder.
Hit that subscribe button to get alerts for new videos.
For Secret Base, I'm Clara Morris.
Good night and good game.
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