Michael Jordan

EARLY LIFE

Michael Jeffery Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Deloris (née Peoples), who worked in banking, and James R. Jordan, Sr., an equipment supervisor.

Michael Jordan and his family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina when he was a toddler.

Michael Jordan took home economics in high school to learn to cook because he was worried his big ears would make it hard to find a woman who would want to marry him.

In 1981, Jordan went to the University of North Carolina to play basketball. North Carolina won the national championship in 1982, his freshman year. Jordan made the winning shot with 18 seconds left in the championship game.

Jordan for the Laney High School varsity basketball team in 1979–80

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

In the 1984 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls made the 6-foot, 6-inch (1.98-meter) Jordan the third player picked.

Wilt Chamberlain was the only other player to score 3,000 points in a season before Jordan did it in the 1986-87 season. He won seven consecutive scoring titles from the 1986-87 season through the 1992-93 season and a record eighth in the 1995-96 season.

Michael Jordan won back-to-back slam dunk contest victories in 1987 and in 1988. His victory over Dominique Wilkins on February 6, 1988 in Chicago finished with a perfect 50 dunk from the free-throw line on the far end of the court to win the contest. His signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspired Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.

When in December 1987 Michael Jordan dunked over Utah Jazz's 6-foot-1 guard John Stockton, an angry fan yelled at him to “Pick on someone your own size”. The next play he dunked over 6-foot-11 Mel Turpin. As he ran back down the floor, Jordan turned to the heckler and said, “Was he big enough?”

Michael Jordan popularized a dunk referred to by some fans as the "Leaner". This dunk was so called because Jordan's body was not perpendicular to the ground while performing the dunk.

Michael Jordan practiced with strobe lights as part of a training technique called "perceptual-cognitive training," which aims to improve an athlete's ability to process and react to visual information quickly and accurately. By flashing lights at different frequencies and patterns, the technique disrupts the athlete's visual processing and forces them to adapt and improve their reaction times. The technique also helped Jordan become more accustomed to the sudden flashes of cameras in games.

On February 14, 1990, Michael Jordan wore a nameless no. 12 jersey because his no. 23 jersey had been stolen. He scored 49 points, setting a franchise record for players wearing that jersey number.

Jordan led the Bulls to four world championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996. He was named most valuable player in each of the four championship series. He was also named most valuable player in the NBA at the end of the 1987-88, 1990-91, 1991-92, and 1995-96 seasons.

His career scoring average of 32.3 points was an NBA record.

Jordan led the United States basketball team to a gold medal in both the 1984 and 1992 Olympic Games.

LeBron James and Michael Jordan are the only basketball players to have won an Olympic Gold medal, regular season MVP, and NBA Finals MVP all in the same season.

The 1992 USA Men's basketball 'Dream Team' Olympic win was the highlight of all the players' careers except Michael Jordan who said that the biggest benefit for him was that he learned more about his teammates' weaknesses. He later defeated Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and John Stockton in three NBA finals.

Jordan retired from pro basketball on October 6, 1993, because he did not "have anything else to prove."

In 1994 he signed on to play for a minor league baseball team in the Chicago White Sox's system, the Birmingham Barons. However, Jordan hit only one home run during his whole baseball career.

After one season playing baseball, Jordan announced that he would return to the NBA with a two word announcement: "I'm back"  He returned in time to play for the Bulls in the 1995 playoffs, but the Bulls lost in the playoffs before reaching the NBA Finals.

The next three seasons after that, the Bulls won the championship. This included the 1995-1996 season, when the Bulls won 72 games in the regular season and only lost 10. No NBA team has ever won more regular season games in one season.

Jordan goes to the basket for a score in 1997.By Steve Lipofsky at basketballphoto.com

Michael Jordan delivered a legendary performance against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals despite battling food poisoning. The game on June 11, 1997, earned him the nickname "Flu Game" due to Jordan's visibly weakened state. Accounts describe him suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, and general fatigue. Despite his illness, Jordan put on a show, scoring 38 points and leading the Chicago Bulls to a crucial victory over the Jazz.

Jordan retired for a second time in 1998, but was still not done playing. In 2001 he returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards. (The Wizards lost 93-91 to the New York Knicks in his first game with them).

He played for the Wizards from 2001 to 2003, and ended his playing career after that.

The Miami Heat retired Michael Jordan's number 23 in April 2003 for "contributions to basketball." He never played for the team.

Michael Jordan missed 12,345 shots in his NBA career

Michael Jordan had a clause in his contract called “For the Love of the Game” that allowed him to play basketball anytime, anywhere, for any reason.

PERSONAL LIFE

Jordan earned the nickname "Air Jordan" due to his leaping ability which was illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests.

Michael Jordan is also known for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today

Air Jordans were banned from the NBA as they didn't meet their standards. Michael Jordan wore them anyway and was fined $5,000 per game for wearing his signature shoes, but had Nike pay the fines.

Michael Jordan started the baggy shorts trend in the NBA. They became a thing when Jordan asked Champion, the maker of NBA uniforms, to make longer shorts so he could grab onto them when he hunched over out of breath.

James R. Jordan Sr., the father of Michael Jordan, was murdered on July 23, 1993, in Robeson County, North Carolina. He was shot and killed by two robbers while sleeping in his car after playing a round of golf with friends. One of the robbers, Larry Demery, was wearing a Michael Jordan T-shirt when he and Daniel Green spotted Jordan's red Lexus SC400, and decided to rob him. 

Jordan's brother James retired in 2006 as the Command Sergeant Major of the 35th Signal Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the U.S. Army.

Grocery store chain Dominick’s Finer Foods ran a steak in Sports Illustrated congratulating Michael Jordan on entering the NBA Hall of Fame in 2009. Jordan sued and won $8.9 million for invoking his name without his permission.

Michael Jordan made more money in 2013 than his NBA salary for any year during his playing career.

A pair of Air Jordan XIII sneakers worn by Michael Jordan in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for $2.238 million at auction in April 2023. The shoes were sold by collector Nick Truglia, who had purchased them in 2020 for $215,000. The shoes set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a pair of sneakers. 

The Last Dance shoes are particularly valuable because they were worn by Michael Jordan during one of the most iconic moments in NBA history. In Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Jordan scored 37 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a victory over the Utah Jazz. The Bulls went on to win the championship that year, and the Last Dance shoes are seen as a symbol of Jordan's greatness.

When she was in third grade, Irene Liao of New York carried a Michael Jordan cardboard cutout everywhere she went—she was obsessed with him.

Source Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc