Can Charlotte Hornets recapture early ’90s mystique, become buzz-worthy once again?

Comfortably resting on a plush couch, the architect of one of the great moments in Charlotte pro basketball history smirked, reminiscing about the glory days of yesteryear.

Shown a picture — the very same snapshot that adorns the wall just outside Section 107 inside Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte — Alonzo Mourning chuckled. The photo shows Mourning side-by-side with Charlotte Hornets iconic pillars Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues.

Now 53, memories appeared to race through Mourning’s 6-foot-10 frame. For a split second, he longed for a dip in the fountain of youth.

“Well, I mean, wishing I could turn back the clock to be that young again — especially with the money they’re making,” Mourning told the Observer, explaining his initial thoughts when he saw the photo. “No, but the memories that brings back is excitement, a city that was very supportive of us and we had the highest attendance in the league.

“Even on nights when we played teams that were subpar, they packed the arena. They got us up to play every game. So, it was an exciting time in Charlotte during the early ‘90s, it really was.”

Time is flying. The 2023-24 season marks the franchise’s 35th anniversary. The Hornets were the first major professional sports franchise in the Carolinas, birthing new life into an area exploding with growth and yearning for more high-level entertainment options.

The dream that appeared unfathomable — twice, including when the expansion Bobcats were created after Charlotte’s original franchise moved to New Orleans — has been in place for more than three decades. Some days, it’s hard to fathom the team has existed for this long.

Well, maybe not everybody needs convincing.

“Yeah, I can believe it because I’ve got a head full of gray hair,” quipped Kenny Gattison, a Wilmington, North Carolina, native who played for the Hornets from 1989-1995. “I’ve got evidence every day. A busted up neck, a busted up back, knee, hips. Go ahead. Yeah, I believe it.”

But Gattison, Mourning, Dell Curry and just about everyone else associated with the Hornets during the early apex in the franchise’s history wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.

‘The Hive, always jumping’

The interest level during Charlotte’s pro basketball peak was off the charts, buoyed by unparalleled crowd support thanks to the newness factor associated with NBA superstars frequently coming to the city. Boosted by a capacity of 24,042 at Charlotte Coliseum — where the team played until the franchise returned via expansion in 2004 — the Hornets led the NBA in attendance during their inaugural season in 1988-89.

Following their initial campaign, the Hornets’ impressive attendance streak continued, with the franchise boasting more fans coming through the turnstiles than any other in the league. Charlotte was at the top of the NBA attendance list for seven straight years from 1990-91 through 1996-97, when the Hornets made it to the playoffs three times and won as many as 54 games in 1997.

The Hornets registered 364 consecutive sellouts from December 23, 1988 through November 21, 1997.

“We were the only show in town,” said Kendall Gill, who played for the Hornets from 1991-1993 and again in 1995-96. “That was one of the advantages of being in Charlotte — the fan support back then was second to none.

“It was a great atmosphere to play in, the Hive, always jumping and with the fan support, it was so loud in there”

‘That’s our sixth man’

Cavernous, yet cozy and transcendent in its own way, there was nothing like that juice that engulfed the old Coliseum. The crowd’s fervor oozed out of the television broadcasts, causing the commentators to raise their voices over the deafening noises while describing the action — particularly during the 1992-93 campaign when the Hornets made the playoffs for the first time.

“Yeah, man, it was fun to play in front of them,” Mourning said. “It really was. And like I said, we fed off their energy because they had a deep love for the game of basketball, obviously, with the history of North Carolina basketball and all the schools, and the ACC and everything.

“To have a pro team … we had a contending team that year. We were pretty good and the town got really excited about it and it was never a dull night. It really wasn’t.”

In the early days of their existence, going to a Hornets game was the thing to do.

“The Hornets, we were the greatest thing on the hardwood,” said Gattison, who moved back to Charlotte in 2019 and runs a yearly basketball camp. “It was a show. It was a spectacle. See, that’s the one thing you got to understand about the Carolina fan. This is basketball country and they were rabid — just crazy basketball fans. And by having the Charlotte Hornets, all of the college fans, for that one night, they put their voices together and cheered for one team.

“It wasn’t like Carolina was playing Wake Forest or whatever. For those game nights and in that Hive, 24,000 people were screaming for the Hornets — and mostly at the same time. It was the loudest arena.”

The Hornets’ early fan base wasn’t born in a city already rich with professional sports, which Gattison surmises is a big reason for the city’s ardent embrace. At the old Coliseum, no one sat on their hands and waited until the fourth quarter to become vocal.

“I believe the arena was packed when we came out for warm ups,” Gattison said. “It just was a different environment. I’ve always said that Hive was the best arena, the best fan base, the best crowd in the NBA. Guys couldn’t stand playing there because they couldn’t hear. They were like, ‘We expect not to hear the last six minutes of the fourth quarter.’ They say, ‘We can’t hear from the start of the game to the end of the game.’

“And I say, ‘Yup, that’s our sixth man up there.’ It was just unique.”

Revisiting Mourning’s big shot

Members of those early Hornets teams still remember the iconic playoff series victory in 1993, one of only four in franchise history. Charlotte, making its first postseason appearance, was matched up with the veteran-laden Boston Celtics, who were spearheaded by the likes of Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dee Brown.

Charlotte was a No. 5 seed and took a 2-1 lead in its best-of-five Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with No. 4 Boston into Game 4 at the Coliseum. With the Hornets trailing by a point and 3.3 seconds remaining, Mourning drained a jumper from the top of the key nearly at the buzzer to lift them to a 104-103 victory and catapult them into the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Mourning’s shot and subsequent mobbing on the floor by teammates lives forever in his heart.

“It was a broken play, an out-of-bounds play, and I was the outlet pass,” Mourning said. “I was wide open, man. So, they weren’t expecting the ball to go to me. We were trying to get it to either Dell or L.J., and the ball found me, and I let it fly, man.

“It hit the bottom of the net and I couldn’t do nothing but just fall back and celebrate. It was one of the biggest moments of my career — my young career then — and as a rookie I never thought I would have been put in that situation. But a four-year college grad, I was ready. I was ready for moments like that.”

The New York Knicks proved a tougher out in the next round, and they halted Charlotte’s inaugural playoff run in the semifinals — Mourning and company lost that seven-game series, 4-1.

But taking down the Celtics overshadowed that. The Hornets put the city on the professional sports map.

“The Knicks were tough that year,” said Mourning, who’s now the Miami Heat’s vice president of player programs and development. “Coach (Pat) Riley, he had prepared a monster in New York and we just wasn’t physically ready to play against that type of team. They beat us up in the halfcourt and I think it was a perfect matchup to play against that old Boston team because we were a young, high-flying fast team, and we ran them off the court. We really did.

“We were up and down the court and they couldn’t keep up with us. And Muggsy (Bogues) was the catalyst. He was pushing the ball and getting us layups in transition. You know, we had a funny style of basketball back then. We attracted the younger generation and everybody wanted to wear Charlotte Hornets gear because we were the up-and-coming team.”

A return to Charlotte Hornets’ glory days?

Mentioning Mourning’s game-winning dagger will always conjure flashbacks to some of the franchise’s most exciting days, replicas for which the current iteration of the franchise yearns to find. The Hornets have appeared in the NBA playoffs 10 times, advancing to the second round in four of those seasons — but never beyond. Their current seven-year postseason drought is the longest in the league, and they’ve reached the playoffs just three times since 2005.

How can the Hornets get to those booming days again, returning to the point when ticket sales were through the roof, and merchandise flew off the shelves?

The approach must be methodical. The Hornets have to stay true to their plan of incrementally increasing the talent level through smart drafts and surrounding star point guard LaMelo Ball with the right complementary players.

“It would be great, one, because all of those fans are still there,” said Gill, now a Chicago Bulls analyst for NBC Chicago. “Back when I played there in the ‘90s — that was 30-something years ago — and all of those fans are still there. They are just waiting for the Charlotte Hornets to become a consistent winner.”

Building on the past, for the future

It all starts with a successful NBA Draft — or two.

“They’ve done a great job with retaining LaMelo and let’s face it, the Hornets have to build through the draft.” Gill said. “Much like they did when they drafted me one year and then drafted Larry Johnson and then Alonzo the very next year. That’s how you have to build your franchise because Charlotte is not a free-agent destination. You may get a free agent here or there, but no real top 10 free agent is looking at small market teams — they are looking at the big markets.”

There’s a way they can change that, but it goes back to one thing: winning.

”When you build through the draft, you actually become a big-market team once you get good,” Gill said. “Because that year when me, Larry and ’Zo went to the playoffs we had all kinds of guys asking us, ‘Hey, what’s it like to play here, man?’ This and that.

“And our colors were great. The Starter jacket was the most popular in the NBA, so it was a buzz in our league about the Charlotte Hornets. But that’s how you have to do it.”

If the Hornets can rebuild themselves into an NBA contender , there’s little doubt that one particular piece of memorabilia Gill mentioned would rake up thousands of dollars in profit in stores. Retailers couldn’t keep them on the shelves then, and it probably wouldn’t be any different now.

“Aw, man,” Mourning said. “Everybody wanted that Starter jacket.”

Which is why Mourning got pelted with requests far more than he liked.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah — I actually had one myself,” Mourning said. “I wish I still had it. I don’t know where that thing is. But yeah it was a really exciting time for basketball and for the NBA, to have a young, exciting team to watch. Myself and L.J., Muggsy, Kendall, Dell.

“We really had a good team.”