![]() ![]() Scheer preferred a roster of veteran players, hoping to put together a competitive team as soon as possible. Shinn hired Carl Scheer as the team's first President and General Manager. Similar designs by other teams followed, as they became a hit. The team's uniforms, designed by international designer and North Carolina native Alexander Julian, featured a first for NBA uniforms- pin stripes. The team received further attention when it chose teal as its primary color, setting off a sports fashion craze in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The name originates from British General Cornwallis, who allegedly described the city as "a hornet's nest of rebellion" following the Battle of Charlotte in 1780, though it was first attested in 1819. Originally, the new team was going to be called the Charlotte Spirit, but a name-the-team contest yielded "Hornets" as the winning choice. Franchises were also granted to Miami, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, and Orlando. On April 5, 1987, then- NBA Commissioner David Stern called Shinn to tell him his group had been awarded the 24th NBA franchise, to begin play in 1988. Charlotte was also one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, and was previously one of the three in-state regional homes to the American Basketball Association's (ABA) Carolina Cougars from 1969 to 1974.ĭespite doubt from critics, Shinn's ace in the hole was the Charlotte Coliseum, a state-of-the-art arena that would seat almost 24,000 spectators, the largest basketball-specific arena ever to serve as a full-time home for an NBA team. The Charlotte area had long been a hotbed for college basketball. ![]() George Shinn, an entrepreneur from Kannapolis, wanted to bring an NBA team to the Charlotte area, and he assembled a group of prominent local businessmen to head the prospective franchise. In 1985, the NBA was planning to expand by three teams by the 1988–89 season, later modified to include a total of four expansion teams.
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