Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffery Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York to James and Dolores Jordan. He was the fourth of five children having two older brothers and an older sister and a younger sister. His father worked at an electric plant while his mother had a job at a bank. They both earned enough money to provide their family with a comfortable lifestyle.

When Michael was still a toddler, his parents decided to move to Wilmington, North Carolina because they were concerned about raising their children on the streets of Brooklyn where drugs and violence were a  big problem. They were very eager people who wanted to live their lives the best as they could and they passed this attitude on to their children. A statement that James Jordan once gave at an interview was:"We always tried to make things happen rather than wait around for them to happen. And we've always found that if you work hard you can make it happen."

When Michael entered school everyone got to know quickly that he was a very good athlete but his favourite sport was not basketball but baseball. A reason might be that he was not really tall for his age and his older brother Larry always kept beating him at one-on-one games. He played at the school baseball team as a pitcher and outfielder and at the age of twelve he was named the top player of the league. Another sport he did was football.

When he entered Laney High School in Wilmington he he was already 5'10'' tall and tried to get into the basketball team, though he was already playing football in the varsity team but he was very ambitious and thought for sure that he could make it because the team needed an extra player during the playoffs. But another student, who was much taller than Micheal, was chosen and he instead had to hand out towels to the players during the breaks.

This was the moment when his attitude changed and his ambition to make the team became enormously great. He later said at an interview:"I made up my mind there that this would never happen to me again. From that point on I started working harder than ever on my basketball skills." His new dedication had an impact on his normal school activity because he was cutting classes and instead of doing his homework in the afternoon he went to the gym to practice.

Between the 10^th and 11^th grade; Jordan grew from 5'11'' to 6'3'', and was much taller than all the other family members. He also had improved greatly as a player and therefore made the varsity team the following year. He played so well during the season that he was invited to attend the Five-Star Camp in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania during summer.

By the time he finished his senior year at Laney High Scholl he had grown to 6'5'' and attained a basketball scholarship from the University of North Carolina. In the fall of 1981 he left his parents and started his carrer as a college basketball player.

The most important game in his college career came in the championship game when he was still a freshman. North Carolina won the game because Jordan hit the game winning shot only seconds before the end. This incident made him very popular at once and he was then nominated player of the year.

The biggest succes of his young career was the participation at the US Men's Olympic Basketball Team in 1984 when he led the team scoring with an average of 17.1 points per game.

Because of the big attention he then got from various NBA teams he decided to play as a professional rather than finishing college and he was drafted into the NBA by the Chicago Bulls. Only two months after the Olympics he played his first regular-season game for Chicago.

The same season he became rookie of the year with an average of 28.2 points per game.

The next season he set an NBA playoff record by scoring 63 points against the Boston Celtics on April 21^st, 1986.

In 1987 and 1988 he won the Slam Dunk contest and the same year he was named MVP ( also 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998 ).

In 1991 he led the Chicago Bulls to their first NBA championship title, and defended it the following two years.

In 1992 he was member of the US Olympic Basketball Team, known as the "Dream Team", which captured the gold medal. His akrobatic moves and hang-time won him the famous nickname "Air Jordan".

Because of all this great succes Micheal Jordan had become one of the greatest players in NBA history which also made him a worldwide celebrity which was further strengthened by his numerous commercial endorsements ( "Nike").

Shortly after having won the third consecutive NBA championship with Chicago, Jordan stated that he had lost his desire to play professional basketball and announced his retirement prior to the 1993-1994 season. This was mainly because of a tragic thing that happened in his family. His father was murdered by two teenagers in 1993.

Early in 1994 Jordan returned to professional sports, this time as a baseball player.

He tried out for the MLB team Chicago White Sox during spring training but did not make the team. But he was promoted to the Birmingham Barons and later to the Scottsdale Scorpions which were both Minor League teams. His baseball career was not taking off like he expected and he decided to return to the game that he really wanted to play, basketball. At a press conference he just said two words:"I'm back."

He rejoined the Bulls near the end of the 1994-1995 season  right before the playoffs but the team could not win the championships. But the next year was another very succesful season for him and the Chicago Bulls during which they won their fourth NBA championship title in six years, scoring a record of 70 winning games in a season.

Jordan was named MVP of the finals.

The same year he had his first appearance in a movie which was the animated comedy "Space Jam" where he starred at the side of Bugs Bunny.

Michael Jordan retired after winning his last Championship in 1999.

In his whole career he made a total of 29,277 points which is an average of 31.5 points per game.

He has decided to dedicate his life to his wife Juanita and his three children, Jeffrey, Marcus and Jasmine.

Hie now lives in Highland Park where he is enjoying his retirement.

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."  - Michael Jordan