D.G. MARTIN
Special to The Observer

"What has changed the most?" my friends keep asking now that I am back in Charlotte a few days each week after being away for a long time. Every day something pops up to remind me that 14 years can make a big difference.

For instance, when I left Charlotte in 1988, you could not say anything bad about George Shinn. But today in Charlotte, you had better not say anything good about him.

The year before I moved away, George Shinn brought a major league professional sports team here. It stunned and delighted the city. Overnight, thanks to Shinn, we began to think that we really lived in a major league city.

When Shinn was given a hearing by the National Basketball League in 1986, I thought it was a great compliment to the city, even though I "knew" nothing would come of it. When the league granted the franchise in 1987, I could not believe it. Nor could anybody else.

It was maybe the biggest upset victory since Bible times, when David knocked off Goliath with a slingshot.

The Children of Israel made David their king, and that is exactly what Charlotte wanted to do with Shinn. At a downtown parade to celebrate the new team, a crowd of 50,000 people cheered Shinn as if he were a Roman emperor.

He made the cover of all the local magazines. People started talking about his running for political office -- starting with governor. Later, the real governors of both Carolinas proclaimed "George Shinn Days."

People praised his Horatio Alger story (and the award of the same name that he won). They were moved by his public testimony of God's power in his life and by his plan to bring 40 homeless kids into his gigantic home on Carmel Road.

When I left town, it is fair to say, King George Shinn and Queen City of Charlotte had transformed an ardent romance into a marriage meant to last a lifetime.

How things change.

Back in Charlotte today, most people can't say George Shinn's name without trying to spit at the same time. And from what they say, you would not think they were talking about the same hero who first made Charlotte a major league city.

George and Charlotte's marriage has gone bad.

Recently former Observer cartoonist Doug Marlette spoke to the Queens College Friends of the Library. He talked about his childhood visits to his grandmother, who lived in the "big house." Then, he would "go out back to the little house" where his grandfather lived. Marlette's grandparents had 11 children, but they could not stand each other and never spoke.

Marlette's audience wondered why the grandparents didn't divorce. "People said they were just waiting for the kids to die," Marlette explained.

Why haven't Shinn and Charlotte gotten a "divorce"? The answer is the same as Marlette's was for his grandparents. It is the kids. In this case it's the 11 (or so) kids who wear Charlotte Hornets' basketball uniforms. They are the reason Charlotte and Shinn are still together in a marriage in which they do not speak to each other.

All that background prepares the way for this voice from the past to make two points.

First, try to remember, however you feel about Shinn today, what he did for this city. Whatever else he did while I was gone, you cannot erase the fact that Shinn changed the way we think about this city. So, even though it is no longer politically correct, I want to thank George Shinn again for bringing the Hornets to Charlotte.

Second, even if you can't go along with my first point, remember this: Shinn and his partner own the Hornets. "George stole 'em fair and square," somebody said. As long he does, it is a mistake to treat him like a Saddam Hussein who needs to be "forced out."

Now, you say, what advice would you give to George Shinn? If he asked me, which he hasn't, I'd tell him what Grover Robbins, the founder of Beech Mountain told me once, "Don't ever let your money get mad."

Then I would say, "Move the Hornets to New Orleans and you will prove a point. Stay in Charlotte, let things work out, and you will be even richer than you are now."

D.G.

Martin

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Community columnist D.G. Martin, a former political candidate and University of North Carolina vice president, is Carolinas state director of the Trust for Public Land. Write him c/o The Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308, or by e-mail at dg.martin@tpl.org.