Remembering the Charlotte Hornets 25 years later: Fashion, Basketball, and Barbecue

As we continue to lead up to the 25th Anniversary of the Charlotte Hornets first game this upcoming Monday, we are doing a look back at the early days of the Hornets franchise, from George Shinn assembling a "Band of Renegades" to bring Charlotte an NBA franchise, to the day when David Stern told Shinn that it wasn't a joke on April Fool's Day, 1987 that Charlotte made the cut, and in part 3 of this series, we talked about how Shinn wanted to give the fans what they want in a team name, with "Hornets" being the winning favorite in the "Name-the-Team" contest.

In this chapter of our series, we'll talk about how a famed clothing designer, with ties to our state, played a role in designing a uniform that would become one of the most recognizable looks in NBA history, and the little perk that he would get in return for designing the team's uniforms.

Fashion, Basketball and Barbecue?

There's a certain old saying that goes "Clothes make the man", and for the young Charlotte Hornets franchise, they need some colors and a jersey to make the team look great, so George Shinn enlisted famed clothing designer Alexander Julian to come up with some color combinations for the team's jerseys and colors.

Alexander Julian, who grew up in Chapel Hill and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is best known for creating the Colours by Alexander Julian fashion collection in 1981, and he was also known for the redesign of the University of North Carolina men's basketball team uniforms with the signature argyle pattern on the side of the jerseys upon the request of legendary head coach Dean Smith during the 1991-92 season. Julian also designed the jerseys and seating layout for the Charlotte Knights, a team that Shinn also owned at the time in 1990, the year that the Knights, who were affiliated with the Chicago Cubs and played in the Southern League at the time, began play at Knights Castle(later renamed Knights Stadium) in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

At one point in time during the uniform design process, Julian suggested that pink would one of the colors that the team would use, which did not please Shinn during a press conference when he announced that Julian would design the uniforms, and he was trying to decide if he would or would not use pink as one of the uniform colors.  He would go to the drawing board, and do a lot of brainstorming on some color combinations for the Hornets to use for their team colors and uniform design.  In the end, he decided that he would go with Teal, which was one of the newer colors at the time, saying that "Teal was idea to use because it was fresh and new and exciting and looked good on every color of skin tone."  said Julian. He also decided that Purple would be one of the Hornets colors to go along in the uniform design process.  He would also add in Kelly Green, Royal Blue, and Carolina Blue to the mix on the pinstripes and he would do some multi-color trims to round out the uniform design process.

And what would Alexander Julian get in return for the Hornets uniforms? Barbecue.  Why barbecue?  Because we all know that Barbecue is a way of life here in our state, and Alex would later go on to say that Shinn would send him 5 pounds of North Carolina Barbecue to his home in Connecticut, and the rest as they say, was history as Julilan's Hornets jerseys would mean a lot of historic significance, as he was the first fashion designer to design an NBA team's uniforms, while the Hornets would become the first team in history to wear Teal uniforms on the road.

In Part 5 of our series coming up, we'll put the spotlight on Cheryl Henson, the daughter of famed Muppets creator Jim Henson, as she would have the task of building a mascot from scratch.

Remembering the Charlotte Hornets 25 years later: The Name Game

This upcoming Monday will mark the 25th anniversary of the Charlotte Hornets first game back on November 4, 1988, and we are looking back at some of the important and interesting milestones from the franchise's birth.  In the first chapter, we talked about how George Shinn went from being a janitor at a business school, to making millions as owner of Rutledge Education Systems, and to assembling a group of investors in a quest to bring an NBA team to Charlotte, and in part 2, we talked about how his speech to the NBA Board of Governors led up to the phone call from commissioner David Stern back in 1987.

Today, we'll discuss about how one name didn't warm up to those of us that were growing up here during that time, and how Shinn wanted to give the fans what the wanted to look for in a name for an NBA franchise.


What's in a Name?

"Lakers", "Yankees", "Cowboys", "Celtics", "Red Sox". Those are some of the legendary nicknames that we have come to known as sports fans, but during our quest to bring the NBA to Charlotte, it was a tale of 2 nicknames, one that was somewhat a bad decision, while the other would be all about a connection to our city's history.  Shortly after the NBA awarded Charlotte an expansion franchise, George Shinn and his group already selected a name for the new expansion team, called the Charlotte "Spirit"?  When that was first announced, some of the fans said "What kind of nickname was that?" 

Well, according to legend, Shinn wanted to choose the name "Spirit" as a reflection of the city and it's people, and many said that the choice for the name wasn't pretty, given the fact that some of the fans would associate the name with "The PTL Club", which was a christian television program that was based in Charlotte and was hosted by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and it was a subject of an investigative report by The Charlotte Observer, the city's newspaper back in 1987 uncovering the organization's fundraising activities that would lead to the eventual downfall of the Bakkers and the PTL ministries as a whole, and The Charlotte Observer would go on to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the PTL investigations in 1988, but it was part of a marketing campaign the Charlotte group had in 1986 titled "Bring the NBA to Basketball Country", and that drew a lot of outrage from the fans saying that it was a bad choice for a team nickname in the NBA, so it was back to the drawing board for George Shinn to come up with a way to give the fans what they want.

And he did, as Shinn realized that the "Spirit" name wasn't taking off with the hometown fans in Charlotte, he would give the fans what they want the team to be called in something he would call "Spirited Voting".  So in April of 1987, he enlisted the help of The Charlotte Observer for a "Name-the-Team" contest, which drew over 9,000 Charlotte Observer readers, and fans, to send in their suggestions for what the team should be called, and it was pretty obvious that both, Observer readers and fans wanted a team name that can reflect the city's history and heritage, and in the end, 2,916 of those fans that took part in the Name-the-Team contest overwhelmingly chose "Hornets" as the winning nickname for the team, over the "Knights", "Cougars", "Spirit", "Crowns", and "Stars".

The meaning of the Hornets nickname

When Shinn officially announced that the Charlotte Hornets would become the team's name on June 5, 1987, team officials would have do a lot of research to dig up some history behind the team's name, as well as the historic significance and connection to Charlotte itself.  According to legend, the origins of the "Hornets" namesake trace to the Revolutionary War, and one of those battles that occurred was the Battle of the Bees, which occurred on October 3, 1780. In that battle, an estimated 450 British troops were attempting to load up on some supplies from McIntyre's Farm in the Northeast end of Mecklenburg County, but they were met by a group of 14 American patriots after the British Redcoats turned over several hornets nests, causing the British soldiers to elude from them, and along the way, the hidden American patriots saw their chance to strike and open fire, causing the British to retreat in the hopes that they were under attack from a significantly larger force.  After British general Charles Cornwallis left Charlotte on October 12, 1780, he would go on to say that Charlotte was "A veritable hornet's nest of rebellion."

The "Hornets" nickname was used by our city's minor-league baseball teams from 1901-73, and it was also the nickname of our city's short-lived World Football League franchise during the 1970's.  There was a lot of reasons why the "Hornets" nickname would be a good fit for the team, and they wanted to choose it to reflect the city's history, and I did a post about the history of the Hornets name back in July, when the city's current NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, was on the verge of reclaiming the Hornets name again, and you can read more about it here.

In our next installment of our series leading up to the 25th Anniversary of the Hornets first game, we'll talk about how Alexander Julian wanted to design the uniforms for some good-old fashioned North Carolina barbecue, and how the daughter of famed "Muppets" creator Jim Henson got into the act of designing and building a loveable mascot we would all fall in love with.

NOTE: One of the nicknames that was considered in the "Name the Team" contest, was the "Knights", and it would eventually become the nickname of Charlotte's minor-league baseball team when Shinn bought the Charlotte O's from the Crockett family in 1987.

Remembering the Charlotte Hornets 25 years later: The call that changed a city forever

As we continue to countdown to the observance of the 25th anniversary of the Charlotte Hornets inaugural game this upcoming Monday, we are taking a look back at the birth of the franchise, and how the city fell in love with the Hornets.  In part 1 of this six part series, we talked about how George Shinn made his millions as a self-made entrepreneur and how he assembled a band of renegades back in 1985 that would set out on a journey to bring Charlotte an NBA franchise.  In part 2 of this series, we'll talk about how Shinn impressed the NBA Board of Governors, and the call that would change the city forever on April Fool's Day, 1987.

How Shinn sold the NBA on Charlotte

After announcing his intentions to pursue an NBA expansion franchise, George Shinn and his group would have to do a lot of hard work in order for Charlotte to secure the bid. After Shinn and his group presented the league with a $100,000 check to make Charlotte's bid official, which was backed by First Union, the next step in the process would have to be a presentation to the NBA Board of Governors on October 20, 1986 in Phoenix, Arizona.  Commissioner David Stern knew that he wanted Charlotte to be in the fold for an expansion franchise.  At one point, there was 11 cities that were in the running, and Charlotte was always last in the pickings, according to Shinn.

Then, came the presentation to the NBA Board of Governors, and in that speech, Shinn addressed the Board of Governors about why he and his group wanted Charlotte to have an NBA team in the first place, and the reasons why fans wanted to support the team when it would begin play in the 1988-89 season.

In the speech, Shinn would say that Charlotte was on the rise as one of the fastest-growing cities in America with it's rapid population, and realizing that the one thing that Charlotte was lacking was a major-league sports franchise with the minor-league Charlotte O's baseball team(Shinn would later acquire the team in 1987) and UNC Charlotte's athletic teams being the only games in town back then. He would later say that the Charlotte group had over 10,000 ticket deposits from those in Charlotte that signed up to be on a waiting list to purchase season tickets for that first season, after the group launched its ticket drive in July of that year, with former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt being the first to purchase two season tickets at a Charlotte City Council Meeting on July 23, 1986 to kickoff the drive.

Shinn stated that Charlotte was already building the new Charlotte Coliseum, a modern-day state-of-the-art facility that would serve the franchise as it's major tenant, and during discussions he had earlier in the process with Martin Brackett, who oversaw the Charlotte Auditorium-Coliseum-Convention Center Authority as it's Chairman at the time, along with Paul Buck, who served as the Managing Director of the Auditorium-Coliseum-Convention Center Authority before retiring in 1988, they both agreed on good terms with George and went on to say that having a NBA team as the major tenant for a new facility would put the city on the map, as well as generating revenue for the new Coliseum as a whole.

And when the speech came to its conclusion, hall of fame coach Red Auerbach stood up and applauded, and he would hug him after he made his speech to the Board of Governors on that night in Phoenix.  A day later after the speech to the NBA Board of Governors, a columnist for The Sacramento Bee said that "The only franchise Charlotte is going to get is one with Golden Arches", referring to the famed logo for McDonald's. With Shinn's speech to the Board of Governors in the rear view window and the reasons why the league should consider giving Charlotte an NBA expansion team, all that was left was for commissioner Stern to decide if the "Queen City of the South" would make the cut for an expansion franchise to join the National Basketball Association for the 1988-89 season.

The new Charlotte Coliseum first opened it's doors on August 11, 1988, and it's 23,388 seating capacity would be one of the largest seating capacities in the NBA at that time.

Some of the NBA experts that covered the league during the mid to late-1980's knew that Charlotte would have a legitimate long shot to be in the running for an NBA expansion franchise, with the city being on the verge of the birth of the banking industry during that time with the city being the home of First Union(later Wachovia and is now Wells Fargo) and NCNB(later NationsBank and now Bank of America) and with the city's rapid growth in its population, making it one of the fastest-growing cities in the country during the mid 1980's, and in his speech to the NBA Board of Governors, Shinn did mention that his group had an "Ace in the Hole", and that was Charlotte was already in the process of building the "New" Charlotte Coliseum, a $52 million dollar state-of-the-art 23,000 seat facility located on Tyvola Road Extension in the western end of the city just off Billy Graham Parkway and minutes away from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, at the time during the city's pursuit of an NBA expansion franchise.

Work on the new Coliseum began with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on August 12, 1985, after Charlotte voters approved a bond referendum one year earlier in November of 1984, given the fact that the original Charlotte Coliseum(now Bojangles Coliseum), which opened in 1955 on East Independence Boulevard was beginning to show its age at the time of construction, knowing that it was lacking a lot of amenities such as an outdated sound system, concession space, luxury skyboxes, and lack of parking spaces, and when the building was completed in time for it's grand opening on August 11th, 1988 before a sold-out crowd, with an opening ceremony that featured a dedication by the reverend Billy Graham, and of course, the infamous scoreboard crash the following day on August 12, 1988, the new Charlotte Coliseum would have three unique distinctions that would set things apart from all of the other NBA arenas in that time: 

• The Charlotte Coliseum's seating capacity of 23,388 would be one of the largest seating capacities for an NBA team. 
• It would be the largest basketball-specific arena ever to serve as a full-time home for an NBA franchise.
• The new Charlotte Coliseum would have the distinction of not only being the largest sports and entertainment venue in North and South Carolina, but it would also have the distinction of being the largest sports and entertainment venue in the Southeast when it opened its doors in August of 1988.

The Call that wasn't no April Fool's prank

It was April Fool's Day, 1987, and it was the moment of truth for the people of Charlotte, and for George Shinn.  The culmination of a dream and a vision to bring an NBA franchise to Charlotte would be decided with just one phone call.  Then, out of the blue, David Stern called George's son, Chad Shinn and he would give the phone to his dad when he said "It's David.", and commissioner Stern said that "George, this is April Fool's Day, but this is no April Fool, you have been selected Number one." As that call by commissioner Stern would officially seal the deal for the City of Charlotte to finally welcome a major-league sports franchise to not only the city, but also to the states of North and South Carolina, as George Shinn's lifelong dream of bringing pro basketball to the "Tar Heel State" finally came true.

The other 3 cities that made the cut for expansion by the NBA along with Charlotte, North Carolina were Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Orlando, Florida, as approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 22, 1987 in New York City. Charlotte and Miami would be the first 2 teams to play in the 1988-89 season, while Minnesota and Orlando would begin play in the 1989-90 season.

I forgot to mention this in part one of our series about the Carolina Cougars role in Charlotte's hunt for an NBA franchise, that many of us here at the time thought we didn't have a chance to land an NBA team, but for those who grew up during the 1960's and into the 1970's we were one of three cities that served as the home for the old Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association, along with Raleigh and Greensboro, and it was one of the key parts of why George Shinn and his group wanted the NBA to have Charlotte in the picture of getting an NBA team.

In the next chapter of our series, we'll explain about why the "Spirit" name didn't turn out to be a good choice at first for the franchise and how Alexander Julian came into the fold to design the uniforms for the team.

Remembering the Charlotte Hornets 25 years later: A 7-part series

1988, A special year in history.  A cost of a gallon of milk was just $2.30, a postage stamp: only $0.25, and the cost for a gallon of regular gas would only be $1.08.  The number one song on the Billboard chart was "Groovy Kind of Love" by Phil Collins.

1988 was also a special year in Charlotte, North Carolina, a city of only 350,000 residents at the time, as Sue Myrick was sworn in as Charlotte's first and only female mayor, famed mosaic artist Romare Bearden, who grew up in our city, died at the age of 76, The Charlotte Observer won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the downfall of Jim Bakker and the PTL ministries, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's men's basketball team went back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977, after the 49ers defeated Virginia Commonwealth University in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game, and the new Charlotte Coliseum on Tyvola Road would officially open its doors for the first time.

But the date that many Charlotteans, as well as those in North and South Carolina will always remember will be Friday, November 4th, 1988, when the NBA's 24th franchise, the Charlotte Hornets, took the floor for the first time. It was the culmination of 4 1/2 years of planning and hard work for the man who had a vision to bring NBA basketball to our region, George Shinn, and in this series leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Hornets first game, we'll talk about how it all came together for Charlotte to become an NBA town. In the first of this series, we'll talk about George Shinn's role in putting it together, and his dreams of making Charlotte an NBA town a reality.

One Man's Vision

Shinn, who grew up in nearby Kannapolis, and attended A.L. Brown High School, made a name for himself as the owner of Rutledge Education Systems. Prior to that, he worked as a janitor at Evans Business College, when he realized that when the school was in financial trouble, he stepped up and bought the school.  In 1985, He would put together a group of local investors, which included Rick Hendrick, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports and Hendrick Automotive Group, Felix Sabates, who currently owns a Mercedes-Benz dealership, and media magnate Cy Bahakel, the founder of Bahakel Communications, owners of Charlotte's CW affiliate, WCCB, to begin a 2 1/2 year push to "Bring the NBA to Basketball Country".  Many of the critics said to themselves that our city could support an NBA team, and for one columnist for The Sacramento Bee said in his article that "The only franchise Charlotte is going to get is one with Golden Arches".  Shinn's first goal was to ultimately be a owner of a Major League Baseball franchise, and he said in an interview with Charlotte Magazine, which can be found HERE, it was Peter Ueberroth, who was at the time the commissioner of Major League Baseball told Shinn that the city was too small at the time to have a Major League Baseball franchise*.

That didn't stop him for continuing his lifelong dream to bring Charlotte a true major-league sports franchise, and to add some excitement to a state that truly loves its basketball with the "Big 4" teams of Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, and Wake Forest, as well as the college teams here locally, including Davidson, Johnson C. Smith, and UNC Charlotte. During that time, Charlotte was making a name for itself as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States back in 1985, while the NBA announced it plans to expand, and Shinn indeed wanted to try his luck there, and after filing an application with the league for an expansion team, he had a long road ahead of him.  

In the next chapter of our series, we'll talk about the day Charlotte would get the call they've been waiting for, and in the days to come, we'll talk about how the name, uniforms, and mascot came together, as well as a roster of players that would become household names, leading up to next Monday's anniversary of the Charlotte Hornets first game.

*-Shinn's dream of becoming a baseball owner, a minor-league baseball owner to be exact, became a reality in 1987, when he bought the Double-A Charlotte O's, who were affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles and played in the Southern League at the time, from the Crockett Family and he renamed the team as the Charlotte Knights in 1988, and in 1989, he bought the Single-A Gastonia Rangers, who were affiliated with the Texas Rangers in the South Atlantic League. Shinn would own the Gastonia Rangers until 1992, when he sold the franchise to Don Beaver, who relocated the franchise to Hickory, North Carolina, where they would become what we now know today as the Hickory Crawdads.

As for the Charlotte Knights, Shinn would remain the team's owner until December of 1997, when once again, Don Beaver bought the franchise from Shinn, just like he did 5 years earlier in 1992, when he bought the Gastonia Rangers from Shinn.