Frank, Bethesda, MDSubj: What’s in a name?
How did Muggsy Bogues get his nickname?
Most basketball fans recall Tyrone Curtis Bogues as being a cute and huggable ambassador of the game, but the reality is that this 5’3” sparkplug grew up in one of Baltimore’s most dangerous housing projects and saw his father carted off to the clink on an armed robbery charge when he was just 12. "I grew up as hard as you can get it," Bogues told Sports Illustrated years later. "I wasn't proud of what my pops did, but I guess at the time he felt that was his only means of survival." That experience, combined with his diminutive size contributed to Bogues usually being the dirtiest and most physical player on the court. In fact, Bogues manhandled his opponents so much that fellow Dunbar Poet – and 5’5” guard - Dwayne Woods named him “Muggsy” because his style of play reminded him of a mugging. The name stuck and Bogues still answers to his colorful moniker to this day.
