Hornets Extra: Jefferson named to All-NBA third team; Hugo makes his triumphant return tomorrow

Earlier today, the NBA announced its 2013-14 All-NBA team, and among the recipients for the honor, Charlotte Hornets center Al Jefferson was on the list, making the All-NBA third team.  Jefferson received a total of 191 points, including four first-place votes by the media that covers the NBA on a daily basis.  The honor is the first for Jefferson, who averaged 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds for the then-Bobcats this past season, helping them to a 43-38 mark this season and to the playoffs.  He finished the season being ranked eighth in the NBA in rebounding, 11th in scoring, 23rd in field goal percentage(.509), 29th in blocks(1.1), and was tied for 30th in minutes played with 35.0

Jefferson recorded 29 games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, which is the second-best single-season total in the history of Charlotte NBA basketball since Larry Johnson recorded 32 games in the 1992-93 season for the original Charlotte Hornets franchise, with a career-best seven consecutive games from April 2nd-14th, tying "Grandmama" for the longest streak in Charlotte NBA history.

He becomes only the fifth player to be named to the All-NBA team in franchise history(dating back to the original Hornets first season in 1988-89), joining Larry Johnson(1992-93, All-NBA second team), Glen Rice(1996-97 All-NBA second team and 1997-98 All-NBA Third team), Anthony Mason(1996-97 Third Team), and Eddie Jones(1999-2000 Third Team).  Jefferson was thrilled to receive the honor, and when he came here, he wanted to turn the franchise into a contender this past season, and he delivered on his promise. "When I signed here, I had a feeling that we had a chance to do something special - and we did." Jefferson quoted.  "Looking back, we've come a long way."

Hugo the Hornet makes his long awaited return to Charlotte tomorrow

After 12 years, one of the most popular and beloved mascots in all of sports, and in NBA history, will finally make his long awaited return back home starting bright and early tomorrow morning.  Hugo the Hornet will officially be reborn at 7:30 a.m. atop the roof Time Warner Cable Arena, a.k.a. "The Hive", to begin a busy day of appearances to mark his return to "Buzz City", and to greet Hornets fans throughout the city as a way to welcome him back home to Charlotte. His appearances will include the following:

• 7:30 a.m. - On top of the Time Warner Cable Arena roof
• 9:00 a.m. - Lynx Blue Line(from Bland Street to Carson Boulevard)
• 9:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m. - Lowe's at 217 Iverson Way in South End
• 10:15 a.m.-10:30 a.m. - Charlotte Fire Department station 1(221 North Myers Street)
• 12:15 p.m.-12:45 p.m. - Hornets Social Tweet-up(The corner of Trade and Tryon Streets in Center City)
• 1:45 p.m.-2:00 p.m. - CMPD Eastway Division(3505 Central Avenue)
• 2:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. - Rama Road Elementary(1035 Rama Road)
• 3:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Novant Health Hemby Children's Hospital(200 Hawthorne Lane)
• 6:30 p.m. - Hornets Open House at Time Warner Cable Arena

Remembering the Charlotte Hornets 25 years later: The making of a mascot

In the first 4 chapters of our series looking back at the early years of the Charlotte Hornets franchise leading up to the 25th anniversary of the team's first game this upcoming Monday, we covered a lot of background of the Hornets franchise during it's infancy.  From George Shinn's intentions to bring a NBA franchise, to the day that Charlotte would join the NBA, to the team's decision to have a "Name-the-Team" contest which saw "Hornets" be the winning favorite, and we talked about Alexander Julian's involvement in designing the team's uniforms...all for some North Carolina barbecue.

In Part 5 of our series, we'll talk about the involvement of how the daughter of the "Muppets" creator, got to work on building a mascot from scratch.

The birth of "Hugo"

When the team was going to be known as the Charlotte Hornets, it was obvious that the team needed a mascot that fans of all ages can love, and they turned to the daughter of Jim Henson, the man responsible for creating the "Muppets" to come up with a mascot that would be the face of the Hornets franchise.

Cheryl Henson, the daughter of "Muppets" creator Jim Henson,
came up with the design for Hugo the Hornet.

The person that came up with the concept of the mascot was Cheryl Henson, who is the President and CEO of the Jim Henson Foundation.  Shortly after the team unveiled it's logo, designed by Jerrell Caskey of Hendrick Sportswear on November 12, 1987, which featured a teal and purple bee all decked out in sneakers dribbling a basketball, Henson wouldn't waste any time to come up with a design for the team's mascot, as the team announced that she would build the costume of the Hornets mascot on August 26, 1988.

When she finished up earning a degree in textile design, she first went to Alexander Julian to ask him for a job with his company, and he informed her that he wasn't hiring at the time he was designing the uniforms for the Hornets, and she asked Julian if she needed any help in designing the mascot.  The backstory of it was that Cheryl did a lot of work building the characters on "The Muppet Show" as a teenager.

She and Alex both agreed, and Cheryl would turn the logo into a full-bodied costume, done in of course, purple and teal, which was suggested by Julian, and she done the work on the costume by hand and she even hand-sculpted the head of the mascot, which would be known as Hugo the Hornet by the time he made his debut on November 4, 1988 during halftime of the Hornets inaugural game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Charlotte Coliseum.  The name was suggested by over 6,000 people in the Charlotte Observer, and another backstory to the name was that the name "Hugo" was chosen one year before Hurricane Hugo struck the Carolinas on September 22nd, 1989, as there was talk about changing the mascot's name, but a Hornets spokesman at the time said that Hugo the Hornet will continue to be the name.

In Part 6 of our series, we'll talk about the core of every NBA team, a head coach, and players, and on Monday, we'll commemorate the anniversary with a look back at some of the hoopla from November 4th, 1988, when the Charlotte Hornets took to the floor of the Charlotte Coliseum for the first time.