Shot at 5 Years Old, Muggsy Bogues’ Life-Threatening Encounter Failed to Stop His Undying Resolve

If you need an example of turning adversity into inspiration, look at Muggsy Bogues. The ‘shortest player in the NBA’ could make titans like Michael Jordan trip on his feet. At 5’3″ and playing pro-ball, he embodied defying the odds. And it didn’t begin when he was picked 12th overall in the 1987 NBA draft, it was way before, when he was a five-year-old who didn’t know yet he’d become an NBA legend. But he survived a near-fatal incident to get there.

Describing his experience on The Knuckleheads Podcast, Bogues noted, “It was unfortunately fortunate,” after flustering Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. “At the age of five years old I got shot,” Bogues revealed, stunning the hosts who missed this very famous story in Muggsy’s life. Growing up in the housing projects of Baltimore, he witnessed more than his share of violence very young. When he was five, a stray buckshot hit him in the head, hitting his arms and chest too. Bogues was hospitalized, he thought he wouldn’t survive then but as we know, he did with a new lease on life. And that’s why he calls it both unfortunate and fortunate.

“The unfortunate part is where I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, got shot. A fight broke out outside of our apartment, my mom and dad thought I was still in the house but I snuck outside and a fight broke out. One of the kids took a rock and broke one of the gentleman’s store windows.” Bogues proceeded, adding that instead of scolding the kids, the shop owner fired a double-barrel shotg*n. While the bullet missed, the buckshot caught Bogues.

Before that incident, he was always going to the community basketball court and shooting hoops. That routine didn’t change after he recovered. “After I woke up and recovered from all those buck shot one I still was interested in going down on the basketball court.” Additionally, it helped that he had the best cheerleader anyone could ever ask for, his mother.

Muggsy Bogues is larger-than-life

Muggsy Bogues narrated that he has been playing basketball since he was four. Though he was still a child with years to grow, he was teased for being short even then. But his mom had his back, and she even encouraged him to keep playing. Her advice to him was that, other than these bullies not knowing his worth and potential, they also, “can’t measure your heart.”

She told him that if he wanted to play, he could go out and play. When he healed, Bogues kept at it. Even when he witnessed more violent incidents and his father went to prison, Bogues stayed on the basketball track. That led him to four years of collegiate ball at Wake Forest and then the NBA. He led the Washington Bullets in assists (5.1 per game) and steals (1.6 per game) before establishing his fame with the Charlotte Hornets.

In his nine seasons in Charlotte, Muggsy Bogues averaged 8.8 points and became an all-time leader in assists (5,557) and steals (1067). He even made Jordan look bad once, and that’s one fortunate part of his career. What’s your take on Bogues’ struggles? Share your thoughts below.