54+ Michael Jordan Facts For All The Basketball Lovers
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Michael Jordan is a retired American professional basketball player who is credited with completing the rare 'three-peat' twice with the seemingly unbeatable Chicago Bulls during the '90s and also winning two Olympic gold medals for the USA.
His career with the NBA extended for over 15 seasons, but he took a break at the prime of his career after the death of his father and tried his luck in baseball as well. He has been forever goal-oriented and his excellent disposition has earned him unmatched fame and success.
This fame has made him successful even in the business world after retirement, making him a billionaire. He has won matches and accolades with such attitude giving his all. He has proved his success both in business and basketball, evidenced by NBA final Most Valued Player (MVP) awards.
Read along to learn all about Michael Jordan, facts about his life, career, success, retirement, and even family.
The Life History Of Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan was born as Michael Jeffrey Jordan to parents Deloris and James Jordan. He was born in Brooklyn on Feb 17, 1963. Though he was born in Brooklyn, he was brought up in North Carolina. He used to share a strong relationship with his father because of their love for basketball.
The relationship remained sound right up to the latter's tragic death. He has an older brother, Larry, whom Jordan idolizes, as he was a spectacular athlete well recognized for his games. Following Larry, Jordan pursued a love of basketball. He captured NBA championships through his sheer hard work and determination. He has six children and has been married twice.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan has been the NBA Finals MVP from 1991-1993. He was also the NBA Finals MVP from 1996-1998.
For his jumping skills, they gave him the nicknames 'Air Jordan' and 'His Airness', which he exhibited by performing slam dunks from the free-throw line in many slam dunk contests. Michael Jordan won his first NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1991, then repeated the feat in 1992 and 1993 to complete a three-peat.
Michael Jordan was a well-rounded athlete, but his Air Jordan reputation is widely blamed for accidentally lowering young players' jump shooting ability, defense, and fundamentals. He won many awards, such as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1988.
As a basketball player, Michael Jordan was at his best in the '90s.
The management of the Chicago Bulls was able to create an impressive team around Jordan which included names like Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, and Dennis Rodman. Michael Jordan formed a great partnership on the court with Scottie Pippen and the two worked together to drive the team forward even in the fiercest matches.
The competitive attitude of Michael Jordan sometimes meant that his relationship with his fellow players or coach Phil Jackson used to be tested, but nobody ever doubted his ability to lead the team to win positions.
After the team completed their first three-peat between 1991-93, he took a break from basketball after the tragic death of his father. Before returning to join the Bulls in 1994, he played for one season in the Minor League Baseball.
But it was basketball where his true calling was and he soon returned to his best, resulting in the second three-peat between 1995-98 for the Chicago Bulls.
The Family Of Michael Jordan
As mentioned above, Michael Jordan was born to James Jordan and Deloris Jordan. They inculcated within their son Jordan the virtues of labor and hard work.
Deloris, his mother, worked in a bank, and since she was a successful career woman, she made her children learn all about the household chores to manage things by themselves at a certain level.
Both the parents kept worldly attractions a little far from their family so that the children could focus more on achieving goals. James and Deloris were parents to five children, Michael being their fourth born.
The eldest of the five was Larry Jordan, whom we should be grateful to for transporting the passion of basketball to Michael Jordan. Then came James Jordan Jr who is a soldier by profession, and then Deloris, Michael, and Roslyn. Deloris and Rosyln are Michael’s sisters.
When it comes to marriage, Michael has been married twice. The first time with Juanita Vanoy whom he married in 1989 but the couple sought a divorce in 2002.
Jordan gave a huge amount of money in alimony to Juanita. The couple has two sons and one daughter named Jeffery Michael, Marcus James, and Jasmine. Michael married Cuban American model Yvette Prieto in 2011 with whom he has three children, two of them are identical twins, Victoria and Ysabel.
Michael Jordan retired in 1993 from the Chicago Bulls after the death of his father, who was very close to him. Michael Jordan later said in an interview that the murder of his father led to his decision to retire from playing.
When he was shortlisted for the 1984 NBA draft, he was the third overall pick of the Chicago Bulls ahead of Sambowie and Hakeem Olajuwon.
In addition, Jordan appointed Doug Collins, his former Chicago Bulls head coach, as Washington's coach for the next season, a move that many interpreted as a portent of another Jordan comeback. ESPN ranked Jordan above any player.
The Career Of Michael Jordan
Jordan attended Laney High School, located in Wilmington, North Carolina, and tried to get into the Varsity basketball team. Unfortunately, he was 71 in (180.3 cm) at that time and was very skinny, which is why he was cut from the team. But later he grew to 75 in (190.5 cm) and began walking his path to success.
Jordan attended the University of North Carolina, where he played as a freshman under the shadows of James Worthy and Sam Perkins. His skills began to be recognized while playing against Georgetown in the NCAA championship. As a sophomore, he was named the College Player of the Year by Sporting News for his excellent skills.
Michael Jordan received many awards while playing college basketball, after which he was drafted for the NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls in 1984. He earned the NBA Rookie of the Year award for his incredible performance on the court. In 1984, he also was a member of the gold medal-winning US Basketball Olympics team.
In 1985, Jordan missed most of the season due to a broken foot, but he returned to lead the NBA and scored 3000 points in a single season, becoming the second person after Wilt Chamberlain to do so.
He has, in fact, been named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA five consecutive times. He retired for a brief time from basketball in 1993 and joined baseball, pursuing a professional career in it.
Two years later, he again led the Bulls, where he went on to set the best record of any player in the entire history of the NBA.
In 2001, Jordan renounced his ownership and management positions of the Washington Wizards, an American professional basketball team, to be a forefront player on the team. In 2010, he became a majority owner of the league’s franchise, Charlotte Hornets.
He was also given the nickname 'Air Jordan' applauding his extraordinary capabilities of leaping and acrobatic maneuvers. He became so successful that he got brand endorsements lined up, offering him millions of dollars for his exceptional Air Jordan basketball shoes.
He earned so many accolades, medals, and nicknames for his incredible abilities in the sport of basketball. One of his accolades includes the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
He was also elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. He even starred in the movie 'Space Jam' with animated characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and the movie was extremely successful.
In 2006, Jordan held a minority ownership stake in the then-Charlotte Bobcats and later in 2010 bought the team from Bob Johnson, the then-owner of Bobcats. Since then he has opened medical clinics, is involved in a lot of charity programs which has seen him donate millions for serious causes, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
Michael Jordan's return to the NBA was on Jan 19, 2000, but this time as a co-owner and president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards, rather than as a player. In Caracas, Michael Jordan first represented the USA during the Pan American Games, Venezuela, in 1983.
As the United States, coached by Jack Hartman, won the gold medal in the competition, he led the team in scoring with 17.3 points per game. He returned to the basketball court as a basketball trainer.
He has won many awards even when he was an NBA rookie. Michael Jordan is a legend in the world of basketball for his incredible feats, which include six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and two gold medals in the Olympic Games.
Michael Jordan had attempted to become a co-owner of Charlotte's original NBA franchise, the Charlotte Hornets, a decade before, but negotiations fell through when owner George Shinn refused to give Michael Jordan entire control of basketball operations.
After his retirement, Michael Jordan gained a majority stake in the NBA team Charlotte Hornets. When he gained the majority stake in the franchise in 2006, its valuation was estimated to be around $175 million.
Since then, it has risen to more than $1.05 billion (as of 2018). He is also the chairman of NASCAR Cup Series' 23 XI Racing.
He was instrumental in the popularity of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which debuted in 1984 and continue to be popular today. Jordan has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice.
Once in 2009 for his performance as an individual player and in 2010 as a member of the Dream Team which won the Olympic Gold Medal during the 1992 Olympics.
The Dream Team was the title given to the US men's Olympic Basketball Team in 1992, and it included some legendary players like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. In 2015, Michael Jordan was also inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
He was an NCAA college player in a minor league team before he started playing for the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan's string of consecutive MVP seasons came to an end when he was defeated by his friend Charles Barkley for the title.
Since 2004, Jordan has owned Michael Jordan Motorsports, a professional closed-course motorcycle road racing team that competed in the American Motorcyclist Association's top super bike championship with two Suzukis until the end of the 2013 season.
Some Unknown Facts About Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is presently the only athlete who is a billionaire with a total net worth of 1.6 billion dollars. He owns a custom-built mansion in Florida.
Jordan used the numbers 23, 12, and 45 on his jerseys throughout his athletic career.
With the number of donations he makes and the way he is engaged in social awareness activities, he is also known as a philanthropist.
He planned to become a weatherman in case his career as a basketball player didn't work out.
He took a short break from basketball and joined baseball because of his father’s death.
He is the first player of the NBA to have a hold over an NBA team by becoming a majority owner.
'Space Jam' was the film he starred in, made in 1996.
Michael Jordan actually dropped out of college to pursue his basketball career.
Jordan sneakers were priced at $71,000 at an auction, it was the highest bid.
Michael Jordan didn't get off to a winning start when he first began his basketball career in the NBA. At the beginning of his career, Jordan lost three games in a row.
During his career that lasted 15 years, Michael Jordan won the NBA Championships six times.
A doctor named a type of salmonella after Michael Jordan.
Even after his retirement, his brand value has not deteriorated at all, thanks to his loyal fans. As a matter of fact, the Jordan brand series from Nike clocks in around $1 billion in annual sales. Michael Jordan continues to earn around $60 million every year from Nike and Jordan brand royalties.
ESPN ranked him as the 20th century’s greatest North American athlete.
Michael Jordan also forayed into the restaurant business with his venture, Michael Jordan Steakhouse which was launched in 1998. The Steak House was located at the Grand Central terminal and offered seating space for 150 guests. It also accommodated 60 patrons at the bar. But the restaurant eventually closed owing to a legal dispute.
Jordan was a key member of the United States Olympic Basketball Team in both 1984 and 1992. Both of the times he played with the United States Olympic Basketball Team, he won the gold medals at Olympics.
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