When most people hear the name Michael Jordan, they think of this amazing basketball superstar who also made a movie with the Looney Tunes.
As true as that statement is, there is more to Michael Jordan than most people know.
Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, NY. He grew up in Wilmington, NC, and was very competitive at a very young age.
Jordan’s father was heard saying, “What he does have is a competition problem. The person he tries to outdo most of the time is himself.”
The year after Jordan began attending the University of North Carolina, his team won the NCAA Division 1 Championship. Jordan had scored the winning basket.
During the summer of 1984, Jordan played for the Olympic men’s basketball team and helped them win the gold medal.
Jordan left college his junior year to play professionally when he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls and began wearing the famous No. 23 jersey.
That season, Jordan won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
The Bulls won their very first NBA Championship in 1991 after they brought down the Los Angeles Lakers.
The year after that, they won the Championship again against the Portland Trail Blazers.
It was no surprise when they crushed the Phoenix Suns in 1993 to win their third NBA title.
“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve,” Jordan said. “And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.”
After the 1991 season, however, Jordan shocked everybody by retiring from basketball and pursuing a career in minor league baseball. For one year, he played outfielder for the Birmingham Barons.
In 1995, Jordan was back with the Chicago Bulls to help them win yet another championship title against the Seattle Sonics. In 1996, Jordan stared in the movie “Space Jam” with Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and a few other notable basketball players.
During the 1996-97 season, Jordan started in all 82 games and averaged 30 points per game.
In 1997 and 1998, Jordan and his team beat the Utah Jazz both times to clinch the championships.
“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game,” he said. “I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.”
Jordan retired once again, but that was short lived, and in 2001 he played for the Washington Wizards until he finally quit for good in 2003.
In 2006, Jordan bought a share of the Charlotte Bobcats and became a managing member for the team.
Jordan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in April of 2009. This was when Jordan knew that his basketball career was completely over.
The star still makes an appearance in the news with his recent engagement and modeling Hanes. However, he will never forget the memories he made playing basketball.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed,” Jordan said. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
