George Shinn at 80: Hornets’ first owner reflects on Charlotte, basketball and God

George Shinn, the original owner of the Charlotte Hornets and quite an original himself, turned 80 years old Tuesday.

To mark the occasion, I asked Shinn for an interview. I wondered if that nice round number might mean one of Charlotte’s most charismatic and controversial sports figures would be willing to reflect on his greatest hits — and his greatest mistakes — while in Charlotte.

After a few days, Shinn agreed. We spoke by phone for 45 minutes Monday. As for his landmark birthday, Shinn said: “I’m 80 years old. I’m confident I’m going to make at least 90, and I’m shooting for 100.”

Shinn’s primary home is now in Franklin, Tenn., just outside of Nashville. But he occasionally returns to Charlotte for charity functions or to visit his oldest son, Chris, a musician who still lives in the Queen City.

There’s a lot to unpack regarding Shinn and Charlotte. The 5-foot-6 businessman, who finished dead last in his high school graduating class in Kannapolis, created the Hornets almost out of thin air in the 1980s. Shinn’s favorite Hornets player of all time was Muggsy Bogues. The owner once decreed that the Hornets must take him in the NBA expansion draft because he felt a kinship with Bogues’ struggle to make people take him seriously. Shinn also knew a 5-foot-3 point guard would sell a lot of tickets. So you could say he made a sharp business move, or that he meddled, and either would be correct.

Yet there would be no “Will the Hornets make the playoffs?” buzz in 2021 if Shinn hadn’t landed Charlotte’s original NBA team in 1987. The Carolina Panthers also likely never would have been born in 1993.

Shinn first made his fortune with a chain of for-profit business colleges. He dabbled in writing motivational books with titles like “Good Morning, Lord” and “You Gotta Believe!” In hundreds of speeches around the Carolinas, Shinn portrayed himself as a devout Christian (as he still does) with a rags-to-riches origin story. He was so popular in North Carolina that at one point he considered running for governor.

But much of that goodwill dissolved into acrimony between Shinn and the city of Charlotte, spurred in part by Shinn’s nationally televised trial in 1999 when a woman sued him for sexual assault. A jury acquitted Shinn, but he had to admit to so much seamy behavior on the witness stand (including two sexual relationships with women besides his then-wife) that his reputation was forever tarnished.

In 2001, Charlotte voters resoundingly rejected a referendum that would have built a new arena for the Hornets. The vote was, in large part, a personal rejection of Shinn. By then, the city had soured on him, and Shinn moved the Hornets out of Charlotte following the 2001-2002 season.

The NBA would later return to Charlotte, as would the Hornets nickname. The new arena in uptown Charlotte would get built anyway, without a public referendum. But none of that was Shinn’s doing.

Shinn nevertheless said this week that most of his memories of Charlotte are warm ones, and many of those include the Hornets’ earliest days. The team led the NBA in attendance for its first eight years of existence starting in 1988, routinely packing close to 24,000 fans into the now-demolished Charlotte Coliseum.

In June 2020, Shinn got married for the third time. He said that he and his new wife Megan Shinn, 50, are “totally inseparable.”

As has almost always been the case with Shinn, to understand him, it’s best to let him speak for himself. I’ll do that for the rest of this column, with a Q and A from our interview that has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Scott Fowler: First of all, congratulations on reaching 80 years old. How are you doing?

George Shinn: All is good with my medical stuff. My wife Megan makes sure I stay healthy. She keeps me working out. We ride our bikes 20 miles a day, five days a week. I’m really in great health for my age, I think.

But at this point in my life, I realize I don’t know how many days I’ve got left. In the remaining days I do have, I want to do the best I can to serve the Lord.

I know I’ve made some bad judgments and decisions in my life. But I think I’m way ahead with the good stuff I’ve done, and I’m very proud of it and particularly what I’ve done in Charlotte. I couldn’t be any happier with my life at this point.

SF: I wasn’t aware that you had gotten married again. How did that happen?

GS: After I went through my divorce (with his second wife), I went through this craziness of trying the Internet.

SF: You mean you tried online dating?

GS: Yes (Laughs). I lied about my age, but I found out that the women lied (also) .... I said, ‘This is crazy.’ Finally, a friend recommended somebody she knew.

I saw a picture (of Megan) and said, ‘She’s too young for me. She won’t like me. I’m too old.’

And (my friend) said, ‘No, she’s recently been divorced. She’s great. She loves to play golf. She’s a good Christian girl. I think she’s just wonderful.’ We played golf together and had dinner together and quite frankly have been totally inseparable for the last few years. … Megan and I got married last June outside on our property in Tennessee. COVID was really bad at the time, so we had only maybe 10-15 people there. It was still really touching.

SF: You’ve been an NBA owner in Charlotte, Oklahoma City and New Orleans at one time or the other before selling your franchise for good in 2010. Do you still cheer for the Hornets?

GS: Yes! Always have, always will. I’ve always liked and admired Michael Jordan.

SF: Tell me about a few of your favorite moments as the Hornets owner.

GS: On April 1, 1987, (NBA commissioner) David Stern called me at about 9 o’clock at night. And he said, ‘George I know today is April Fool’s Day, but what I’m going to tell you is not an April Fool’s joke. I’m calling you first because you were selected first (to get an NBA team).’ And I just started bawling. … And the parade in Charlotte at the end of our first season (when the Hornets finished 20-62). I mean, they give us a parade for winning 20 games? Unbelievable.

And the very first game, in 1988, when we lost by 40 points to Cleveland but the fans stayed until the end and gave the team a standing ovation. And of course Michael Jordan’s first (NBA) game back in North Carolina (on Dec. 23, 1988), when we won at the buzzer when Kurt Rambis tipped in a shot. That’s when Hornets hysteria really began. We had sellouts for 364 straight games starting then. We led the league in attendance for years, as the smallest market in the NBA.

And one more: When Alonzo Mourning hit that shot for our first playoff series win, when we beat Boston in Game 4 in 1993. I’ll never forget that, either.

SF: What about some of your worst moments?

GS: The day that I realized the city was not going to pass the referendum (in 2001), because relocation became likely at the time. And it broke my heart, because of my love for the city of Charlotte. And I still love Charlotte to this day. That was a low point.

And another one would be of course the death of (former Hornets player) Bobby Phills in 2000. That was such a tragic end, not only to a great athlete, but to someone who was going to accomplish so much even when his playing days were over. He was a good person, such a strong person.

SF: You have said previously that you were very embarrassed when you were sued for sexual assault in 1999. Although you were acquitted, you had to reveal many sordid details on the witness stand, including a longtime affair with a Hornets cheerleader who wasn’t even the woman suing you. And after the verdict, you basically disappeared from the public eye and put others in charge of securing the new arena. Was disappearing a mistake?

GS: Oh yeah. (Then-Hornets PR director) Harold Kaufman told me I ought to suck it up and get out there…. He said, ‘If you just keep moving forward and doing your best, people will forgive what you’ve done in the past.’

There are a lot of people who followed that philosophy and have done well. But I was really embarrassed. I just felt so uncomfortable. I had publicly embarrassed my wife and done such stupid things. ... I’ve asked forgiveness so many times because of my stupidity and what I did wrong. But to me, it was more of a mistake I made in the eyes of God. I didn’t break any laws. ... The bottom line was it was a mistake. We all make them, and we all have to pay the price for them.

And the price I paid was that the city of Charlotte lost some confidence in me. They wouldn’t support me with the referendum, and I had no choice but to move the team.

SF: Did you really tell your basketball people that they had to take Muggsy Bogues in the NBA expansion draft before the Hornets started playing?

GS: Yes. I was accused of being instrumental in all our draft picks, but that was the only one where I really was. I said, ‘Look, this guy is a lot like me. He’s little. Most people count him out and say he can’t do it, but he did it.’ I wanted Muggsy on our team.

To this day, I love Muggsy. I told him once: ‘You’re my all-time best player, and my most valuable player, because you sold more tickets than anybody.’

People couldn’t believe we had a 5-foot-3 point guard, they had to see it for themselves. And Muggsy did more than just play. He was always there. Anytime I ever asked him to go visit a kid in a hospital or something, he never turned me down.

SF: In terms of unpopular basketball-related moves you made in Charlotte, trading future hall of famer Alonzo Mourning in 1995 to Miami has to be No. 1. Do you regret doing that?

GS: I think it was something that had to be done. Alonzo was a great player. But at the time, the guy I relied on completely was (then-Hornets GM) Bob Bass. I thought the world of Bob, and he was the person who first told me this isn’t going to work.

I don’t want to dig up any old bones or anything, but there were a lot of reasons it just didn’t make sense to go forward. We already had the highest-paid player in team sports at the time in Larry Johnson. And we were going to pay more for Alonzo, but more wasn’t enough … I think the best decision at the time was made.

SF: I get the feeling that you’re happy with where you are in life.

GS: I just really feel good and I’m trying to stay active and healthy, because I do want to hang around longer so I can do some good. ... I have Megan, and three kids that I’m pleased with where they all are in their lives. I have no grandkids yet, but I hope one day some are forthcoming. The Lord has blessed me abundantly. And I hope, the day that I do pass, that I’ve given away all my money.

SF: All of it? Really?

GS: Well, at least I want to have a plan to give away all of it. What I’ve tried to do is set it up so that when I do die that I will have a board that will manage whatever I have left and will use it wisely to serve and do good things for others: My wife Megan, my children and probably a couple of ministers.

SF: You certainly gave away a good chunk of it to the Atrium Health Foundation with a $7.5 million gift that was announced in Charlotte in October. That gift also caused Atrium Health to name its regional stroke center in honor of you. Why did you do that?

GS: When I was 47 years old, I had a stroke and was treated there (at the Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center). They saved my life. My dad had died of the same kind of stroke when he was 50.

The day I had the stroke was also the day of the Hornets’ first-ever win (Nov. 8, 1988). All the players and coaches signed the game ball and gave it to me and I was very touched. It was a high point in my life. But I thought: ‘Good grief, if I had to have a stroke for us to win our first game, what will I have to do for us to win our second one?’

SF: Why donate exactly $7.5 million for the stroke center, instead of a rounder number?

GS: Felix Sabates (a longtime Charlotte sports entrepreneur and Shinn’s former partner in the Hornets) was involved in that, calling me and twisting my arm. He said, ‘George, you should give some of your money back to Charlotte, because it’s been good to you. Matter of fact, that hospital saved your life.’ And I said, ‘Well, I can’t deny that. What did you have in mind?’ Felix asked for $10 million. I said I could do $5 million, so we just split the difference. ... I want to do more in Charlotte, too. I plan to.

SF: What else are you thinking about at age 80?

GS: Sometimes I look over my life and I realize a lot of things happened that are not good. But sometimes things like this happen to get you closer to your Maker, to make you stronger. I think over time it has made me stronger.

And of all of the mistakes I have made, if you figured it on a batting average, I would be batting pretty dang good. Because I’ve done a lot of good, too. My life continues to be blessed. And until they throw the last shovel of dirt on me, I’m going to be reaching out, serving the Lord and trying to do the best I can.