Michael Jordan is undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes of
all time,
but his time away from the basketball court is just
as twisty and dramatic as all his championship runs with
the Chicago Bulls.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in Brooklyn,
NY on February
17th, 1963. Till he grew up in Wilmington,
NC. He displayed exceptional athletic ability from an early age
and his first real love was baseball.
But eventually though, he gravitated to the sport that would
make him a superstar.
In 1978, a 15 year old Jordan unsuccessfully tried out
for his school's varsity team.
That rejection led to a steely resolve to make it
next time.
As he later told Newsweek,
whenever I was working out and got tired and figured
I ought to stop,
I'd close my eyes and see that list in the
locker room without my name on it.
By the following year, Jordan was 4 inches taller and
good enough to make the team.
As his brother Larry recalled to ESPN in
2009, his level of play was just so much higher
than the rest of us.
People ask me all the time if it bothered me,
but I can honestly say no because I had the
opportunity to see him grow.
In 1981, Jordan earned a basketball scholarship to attend the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
It didn't take long for him to make an impact.
During the first game of his college career,
he scored twelve points. While his potential was obvious,
he also suffered from inconsistency during his freshman year.
But he gradually honed his skills under the tutelage of
the legendary coach Dean Smith.
By his junior year, his future as an NBA prospect
was considered pretty much an inevitability.
I think that my scoring ability is a lot better.
Well, Jordan clearly worked hard at the court during his
time at UNC.
The same couldn't necessarily be said about his time in
the classroom.
In 2014, his academic record wound up in the hands
of an auction house.
That document revealed that he majored in geography with his
freshman course load,
including such classes as beginning tennis,
basic writing and elementary Portuguese.
It was during Jordan's freshman year at UNC that he
made an unmistakable impression on the basketball world.
After advancing to the
1982 NCAA Championship game, the Tar Heels faced stiff competition
from the Georgetown Hoyas led by future New York Knicks
star center Patrick Ewing.
Jordan wasn't his team's highest scorer in that game,
as his teammate and fellow future NBA All Star James
Worthy led the way with
28 points. As the clock ticked down to where the
end of the game Georgetown was holding on to a
narrow
62 to 61 lead with just 17 seconds remaining.
Jordan took an audacious jump shot that hit nothing but
net and ended up being the game winner in 2016.
N Carolina was back in the title game.
Jordan was in attendance and he recalled how that single
shot ended up changing everything.
As he put it, that's the birth of Michael Jordan.
Before then I was Mike Jordan.
All of a sudden I make that shot.
I'm Michael Jordan. For me,
it started my career. After his junior year at UNC,
Jordan left college early and became the third player selected
in the
1984 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls.
It's fair to say that expectations were sky high,
as then Bulls coach Kevin Loggery told the New York
Times that October.
He's got to produce immediately.
It can't be down the road.
The question is, can this player do it?
Indeed, he could. Jordan dazzled NBA fans throughout his rookie
season as he soared through the air and delivered dynamic
slam dunks.
Alas, during his second season he broke a bone in
his foot,
but that set back was far from career ending as
he eventually led the Bulls to three consecutive NBA championships
in 1990,
one 1992 and 1993. Following that third title,
he made a bull declaration during a press conference.
We feel we must be considered one of the best
teams ever.
Shortly after being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in
1984, Jordan had a meeting with Nike's Sonny Vaquero about
a potential endorsement deal.
At the time, Nike wasn't as big a company as
they would become and Jordan was tempted to sign with
a more established brand like Adidas or Converse.
But Nike made him quite the lucrative offer
$2.5 million / 5 years.
Their partnership resulted in the iconic Air Jordan line of
shoes.
The Jordan one was initially sold in just six States,
and Nike expected to sell
100,000 pairs in the first year,
but then a staggering
450,000 pairs were sold in just the first month.
Jordan has his mother, Dolores,
to thank for just how lucrative this deal ended up
being for him.
She was the one who pushed him to reconsider Nike
after his initial lack of interest,
and she was also the one who helped negotiate the
terms before the deal was finalized.
She demanded 1 crucial addition.
Nike would give her son a 5%
royalty on all shoes bearing his name and likeness.
The company agreed, and Jordan has since earned A staggering
$1.5 billion from the partnership.
Jordan actually won Olympic gold in basketball for the first
time in
1984, before he ever played an NBA game,
but his most famous Olympic chapter was,
of course, during the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona,
Spain. That particular year marked a major rule change that
allowed professional basketball players to play for the first time
ever.
The resulting American squad was dubbed the Dream Team as
it featured an all time stunning array of talent,
including Jordan and his Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen,
as well as Karl Malone,
Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley.
Those who watched enjoyed some of the best basketball ever
played.
Although it was difficult not to pity the Americans opponents,
they defeated them by an average of 44 points and
didn't lose a single one of their eight games
over the years. What's become even more legendary than the
teams gold medal win is a dream team scrimmage in
which the NBA top players pulled out all the stops
attempting to top each other.
As Jordan admitted to Sports Illustrated in 2012,
everybody asks me about that game.
It was the most fun I ever had on a
basketball court.
After the Chicago Bulls won their third consecutive NBA championship
in
1993. Jordan had rightfully earned a reputation as one of
the world's best athletes.
But in the midst of that glory,
scandal reared its ugly head.
After reports emerged that he'd lost
$57,000 on a golf bet to a man named James
Slim Bowler,
Jordan claimed that it was a loan that he had
given Bowler for a business opportunity.
I just felt that it was unfair
that I was being considered a criminal
for doing something that is not illegal.
The NBA responded by hiring former federal judge and US
Attorney Frederick Lacey to launch an investigation into
Jordan's gambling. When Bowler was subsequently charged with unrelated charges
of money laundering,
Jordan was called to testify and he admitted underoath that
the money was meant to cover his gambling debt.
Then the Washington Post reported that businessman and author Richard
Esquinas claimed that Jordan owed him
$1.25 million from golf gambling.
Jordan confirmed that that was true,
and that he and Esquinas agreed to a
$300,000 settlement after winning three straight NBA titles.
The last thing anybody expected Michael Jordan to do was
retire from basketball.
And yet, that's exactly what he did as he walked
away from the NBA after nine seasons with the Bulls
at the age of 30
During a press conference, he explained.
It's not because I don't love the game.
I love the game of basketball.
I always will. I just feel that at this particular
time in my career,
I've reached the pinnacle of my career.
I just feel that I don't have anything else for
myself to prove.
But Jordan wasn't done with professional athletics completely,
as he decided to shift his focus to his other
favorite sport of baseball.
Even though he hadn't played since high school,
he wanted to see if he still had it.
So he signed with the Chicago White Sox organization and
headed to Florida for spring training.
He impressed some reporters by managing a couple of hits
during an exhibition game,
but Jordan's skills ultimately weren't up to Major League standards.
He played for one season with the
AA minor league Birmingham Barons and was never called up
to the majors.
During Michael Jordan's 1993 retirement press conference,
he was asked if he'd ever returned to basketball,
to which he responded, Maybe that's the challenge that I
may need someday,
or down the road. I'm not going to close that
doors.
He eventually kicked that door wide open in a brief
announcement sent via fax in March
1995 that consisted of just two words.
I'm back. Despite being away from the game for more
than a year and a half,
Jordan hadn't lost a step.
He once again led his team to the playoffs.
They lost in the second round that year,
but starting the following season,
Jordan and the Bulls pulled off a second three peat
as they won the championship in
1996, nineteen 97 and 1998.
That final championship season has become so legendary that it
served as the focus of a 2020 ESPN donkey series
called The Last Dance,
which presented the front behind the scenes story leading up
to that extraordinary win.
November 1996 saw Michael Jordan branching out to the big
screen as he starred in the live action animated hybrid
Space Jam.
The film featured Jordan as himself,
teaming up with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the
Looney Tunes to play a basketball game against a team
of fearsome cartoon aliens
you were expecting. Maybe the Easter Bunny
Jordan shot his scenes during the summer of
1995 as he filmed during the day and played basketball
at night.
Those games were held in an inflatable Dome dubbed the
Jordan Dome,
which had been set up in a parking lot in
Warner Brothers Studios.
Jordan invited fellow NBA stars like Dennis Rodman,
Patrick Ewing and Reggie Miller to join him for pickup
games so that he could prepare for the upcoming season.
Space Jam proved to be a box office hit as
it racked in
$230 million worldwide. With the real money came from the
massive merchandising blitz which reportedly garnered an additional
$1.2 billion. Jordan reportedly had a piece of those profits
and walked away from the film $20 million
richer. After winning the 1998 NBA Championship,
Jordan made a big announcement In January
1999. He was retiring for a second time.
The 38 year old insisted that he was
99.9% certain that he wouldn't return to the NBA.
Well adding I'm very secure in my decision.
The following January, Jordan took on a new gig,
part owner and President of Basketball Operations for the Washington
Wizards as he announced.
I look forward to turning this thing around.
Right now, we're an underachieving team.
Then in September 2001, Jordan announced that he was coming
out of retirement a second time and then he would
play for the Wizards.
As he declared, I'm convinced we have the foundation on
which to build a playoff contention team.
In 2002, Jordan's age proved to be a limiting factor
when a knee injury required surgery and left him sidelined
for a good portion of the season.
However, there was still flashes of the old fire,
such as a 2003 game against the New Jersey Nets
when he became the first ever 40 year old to
score at least 40 points in a single NBA game.
Mike Can you score 40 every night?
On April 16th, 2003, Jordan retired from the NBA for
a third and final time.
He scored 15 points in his last game.
Reports at the time indicated that the decision to retire
was Jordan's own,
but an anonymous source within the Washington Wizards organization later
claimed that it was actually team owner Abe Pullin who
cut him loose.
One of the reasons cited was deteriorating relationships within the
franchise.
Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise later revealed that Wizards
general manager Wes Unseld once told him that when he
asked Jordan's teammates to contribute to a retirement gift,
every single one of them turned their backs to him.
After retiring, the basketball legend founded Michael Jordan Motorsports.
He'd long been a fan of motorcycles,
and this new venture was set to compete in the
AMA Pro Super Bike Series.
Despite a roster of talented riders,
the team was unable to make much of an impact,
primarily because the factory owned teams continually brought the best
machines to the track.
Michael Jordan Motorsports have finally logged its first win in
the Super bike class in 2010.
Alas, financial challenges and the loss of a key sponsor
stood in the way of any further progress and their
operations were suspended in 2013.
In 1989, Jordan married Juanita Vannoy,
with the ceremony taking place in a Las Vegas wedding
Chapel.
That marriage lasted nearly two decades,
with their divorce finalized in December
2006. As their lawyers announced in a statement,
Michael and Juanita Jordan mutually and amicably decided to end
their 17 year marriage.
A judgment for dissolution of their marriage was entered.
Today, there will be no further statements.
Juanita had previously filed for divorce in
2002, amidst rumors of her
husband's frequent infidelity. At the time,
they were reportedly able to work out their issues and
reconcile,
but that wasn't the case.
Four years later, Forbes speculated that Jordan could potentially have
to pay his ex-wife a settlement of more than
$150 million, which would make their divorce the costliest celebrity
split of all time.
When the death settled, that settlement was even higher than
estimated,
with Jordan having to pay
$168 million. I knew what I was getting into
when I got married to Michael.
Well, that was indeed the most expensive ever celebrity divorce
at the time.
The record was eclipsed a few years later when Mel
Gibson split up with his wife Robin.
It was reported that it cost Gibson an estimated
$425,000,000. In 2006, Michael Jordan began investing his money and
effort into another NBA franchise,
the Charlotte Bobcats. Then in 2010,
he made a $275 million bid to gain a controlling
interest in the team.
Jordan had increased his ownership stake as he held
89.5% of the team. At the time,
Forbes reported that the organization was estimated to be worth
somewhere between
600 and six $125 million.
Jordan was also instrumental in rebranding the franchise under its
original moniker,
as the Bobcats were officially renamed the Charlotte Hornets in
2014.
In 2023, after a 13 year run as the team's
owner,
Jordan decided to sell his stake.
The buyer was a group headed by Gabe Plotkin,
who already owned a minority stake in the team,
and Rick Schnall, who owned a minority share of another
NBA team,
the Atlanta Hawks. The sale price was a staggering $3
billion,
which was ultimately approved in a near unanimous vote by
NBA team owners.
As Jordan announced in a statement,
the opportunity to be the majority owner of the Charlotte
Hornets in my home state of North Carolina for the
last 13 years has been a tremendous honor.
I'm proud of all that the organization accomplished,
the exciting on court moments,
the return of the Hornets name and Charlotte hosting the
2019 NBA All Star Game.
In April 2013, Jordan tied the knot with his second
wife,
model Yvette Prieto. They exchanged vows in a lavish ceremony
in Palm Beach,
FL. The wedding reportedly cost $10 million
and boasted a star-studded guest list that included Tiger Woods,
Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Spike Lee,
Robin Thicke, and Usher. There's no question that Michael Jordan's
considerable fortune took a hit after his divorce,
and he reportedly entered his second marriage with an ironclad
prenuptial agreement in place.
According to the National Enquirer,
if a divorce were to happen,
Prieta would be paid $1 million for each year of
their marriage.
After 10 years, that amount would then increase to
$5,000,000 per year. As a source told The Enquirer,
Michael loves Yvette, but he won't let that interfere with
his common sense and his money like it did before.
The source also revealed she feels they have a strong
relationship.
She can't imagine that they'd ever split up.
Jordan and Prieta wasted little time in starting a family.
In February 2014, just ten months after their wedding,
they welcomed twin daughters Victoria and Isabel.
As the couple's spokesperson told The Associated Press,
Yvette, Jordan and the babies are doing well and the
family is overjoyed at their arrival.
In 2020, Michael Jordan cast his eye on a new
challenge when he partnered with champion race car driver Denny
Hamlin to launch their own NASCAR Cup Series race team.
The first competitor they signed was Bubba Wallace,
the only black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series at
the time.
Hamlin and Jordan subsequently revealed the teams name
2311 Racing, a combination of Jordans number from his time
with the Chicago Bulls and the car number that Hamlin
currently drives in the Cup Series,
and Wallace joked about his new bosses during an interview
with Fox NASCAR.
At the end of the day,
they're ultimately in control because they're the ones signing them
checks.
And The
thing is, we don't sign checks to losers.
2311 Racing got off to a soaring start when Wallace
won the
2021 fall race at the famed Talladega Superspeedway.
That was the first time that a black driver had
ever won that particular race,
and it was also the first ever win for the
fledgling team.
The team then signed NASCAR veteran Kurt Busch,
who brought 2311 it's second win when he crossed the
finish line in the Advent Health 400 race in Kansas
while driving an Air Jordan inspired car.
The following season, in September
2022, Wallace brought the team another win at Kansas Speedway.
That same year, 2311 announced that Tyler Reddick was joining
the team,
as he eventually replaced Busch when the latter retired in
2023.