Hugo (or Hugo the Hornet) is the mascot of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association. Designed by Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim Henson, Hugo the Hornet was created in 1988, one year before Hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas. [1]
Hugo (or Hugo the Hornet) is the mascot of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association. Designed by Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim Henson, Hugo the Hornet was created in 1988, one year before Hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas. [1]
The Hugo moniker was selected from a pool of more than 6,000 fan suggestions, and was inaugurated as part of the Charlotte Hornets' first season. [1] In the aftermath of the damage resulting from Hurricane Hugo in September 1989, the Hornets announced that the Hugo moniker would remain, and the mascot's name would not be changed to Hoser or Hank. [2]
During a break between the first and second quarters of a 2008 game between the New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs, Hugo jumped off a trampoline through a ring of fire and dunked a basketball. Afterwards, the New Orleans Arena arena crew responsible for cleanup used the wrong fire extinguisher and were unable to put the fire out, resulting in the arena filling with smoke and causing a 19-minute delay. NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson canceled the halftime show and later fined the team. During the halftime show, TV commentator Charles Barkley dared Hugo to repeat the stunt after the 3rd quarter. [3] Barkley continued calling out Hugo throughout the night and in the next game.
After the New Orleans team became the Pelicans in 2013, Hugo was retired in favor of Pierre the Pelican. On December 21, 2013, the Charlotte Bobcats announced they would reclaim the Hornets name and Hugo the Hornet for the 2014-15 season. Hugo officially returned to Charlotte on June 5, 2014.
Hugo is a 4-time winner of the NBA Mascot Slam Dunk Championship. Hugo is also a 2-time winner of the NBA Best Mascot Award by NBA Inside Stuff , a magazine that he has been featured in on numerous occasions. In addition, Hugo has also been featured in such foreign magazines as New Sports and 5 Majeur.
Hugo, as well as three other NBA mascots (Benny the Bull, Crunch the Wolf and The Suns Gorilla), appears as a hidden player in the video game NBA Jam Tournament Edition .
The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at the Smoothie King Center. Since 2014, the NBA officially considers New Orleans as an expansion team that began play in the 2002–03 season.
The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at the Spectrum Center in Uptown Charlotte.
Spectrum Center is an indoor arena located in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. It is owned by the city of Charlotte and operated by its main tenant, the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. The arena seats 19,077 for NBA games but can be expanded to 20,200 for college basketball games.
Charlotte Coliseum was a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was operated by the Charlotte Coliseum Authority, which also oversees the operation of Bojangles Coliseum, the Charlotte Convention Center, and Ovens Auditorium. It was best known as the home of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets from 1988 to 2002, and the Charlotte Bobcats from 2004 to 2005.
Smoothie King Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and has been home to the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 2002. The New Orleans VooDoo of the Arena Football League played their home games in the arena from 2004 until the team disbanded in 2008. The VooDoo resumed play at the arena in March 2011, until after the 2015 AFL season when the franchise folded.
Bobby Ray Phills Jr. was an American professional basketball player. He played shooting guard and small forward for the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets.
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, four games to two to win their first NBA championship.
The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the 2003 NBA Finals. This would be Michael Jordan's last season in the NBA. This season would also mark the first finals since the 1998–99 NBA season that the Lakers did not appear in, and the Spurs' first finals appearance since then.
The National Basketball Association All-Star weekend is a weekend festival held every February during the middle of the NBA regular season that consists of a variety of basketball events, exhibitions and performances culminating in the NBA All-Star Game held on Sunday night. No regular season games are held during this period, which is also known as the All-Star break. It is right after the trade deadline.
The 1997 NBA All-Star Game was the 47th edition of the All-Star Game and commemorated the 50th anniversary of NBA. The game was played on February 9, 1997, at Gund Arena in Cleveland. The winner of the MVP award was Glen Rice of the Charlotte Hornets who played 25 minutes and scored 26 points while breaking two records in the process, 20 points in the third quarter and 24 points in the second half. Rice's 20 points in the period broke Hal Greer's record (19), set in 1968. Rice's 24 points in a half surpassed the previous mark of 23, owned by Wilt Chamberlain and Tom Chambers. Michael Jordan's 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists were the first and until the 2011 NBA All-Star Game the only triple-double in NBA All-Star Game history; LeBron James (2011), Dwyane Wade (2012), and Kevin Durant (2017) have also achieved this. Five players who were voted or selected for the team opted out due to injury, opening the doors for the annually neglected and the new stars—Joe Dumars, Detlef Schrempf, Chris Webber, Chris Gatling and 20-year-old second-year man Kevin Garnett took their spots.
This is a list of the accomplishments and records of the current Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets, known from their creation in 2004 until May 2014 as the Charlotte Bobcats, are an American professional basketball team currently playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The 2002–03 NBA season marked the return of the National Basketball Association to New Orleans. Decades after the Jazz relocated to Salt Lake City, the NBA returned to New Orleans as the New Orleans Hornets were established from the Shinn organization that once made up the Charlotte Hornets. Originally reckoned as the 15th season of the franchise, the second incarnation of the Charlotte Hornets' reclaiming the heritage of the original Hornets has since retroactively deemed this season as the inaugural season for the franchise that would eventually become the Pelicans.
Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, and caused extensive damage to the New Orleans Arena. As a result, the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s New Orleans Hornets were unable to play any home games at the Arena for both the entire 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, and temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to become the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. After playing the majority of home games for both the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, the Hornets returned to New Orleans for the 2007–08 season.
Stuff the Magic Dragon is the official mascot of the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His name is a play on the Peter, Paul and Mary song "Puff, the Magic Dragon", and the basketball slang term "stuff".
The New Orleans Pelicans are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team commenced play in 2002 after the NBA granted founder George Shinn an expansion franchise to play in New Orleans. The Pelicans' establishment was unusual compared to most modern expansion teams in that New Orleans' roster was not stocked through an expansion draft. Instead, Shinn transferred the entire basketball organization of his former team, the Charlotte Hornets, to his new franchise.
The history of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Hornets dates to 1985 when founder George Shinn first thought of bringing professional basketball to Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets commenced play as an expansion team in 1988. After fourteen seasons under its original ownership, the franchise suspended operations in 2002 when Shinn transferred the basketball organization under his control to a new franchise in New Orleans. The Charlotte franchise was subsequently acquired, reactivated and renamed the Bobcats by Robert L. Johnson. After restocking its roster through their second expansion draft, the team resumed play in 2004. Johnson sold controlling interest to Hall of Fame legend and North Carolinian native Michael Jordan in 2010. Jordan, who restored the club's original name in 2014, sold the team to group led by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin in 2023. The franchise has reached the postseason twelve times and made ten playoff appearances, although as of 2024 they are the oldest club in all of North American major professional sports to have never won a division championship.
Zion Lateef Williamson is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward position. Following a freshman-year stint with the Duke Blue Devils, Williamson was selected by the Pelicans with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2020. In 2021, he became the fourth youngest NBA player to be selected to an All-Star game.