Michael Jordan

                                         Michael Jordan

     Michael Jordan is considered by many people to be the best basketball player to ever play in the NBA.  He was a basketball player who became an NBA superstar.  He is one of the best known and wealthiest athletes in sports history, winning an ESPY Awards for Athlete of the Century, Male Athlete of the 1990’s, Pro Basketball Player of the 1990’s, and Player of the Decade.  He had the legs of a high junper and the shoulders of a linebacker, allowing him to drive inside, fly through the air to dunk, or convert 20-foot jumpers.  Most importantly, Michael Jordan had an endless will to win.

     Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York to James and Deloris Jordan on February 17,1963.  Jordan’s family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina a few months after he was born because his parents thought it would be a safer place to raise a family.  He has two brothers, Ronald and Larry, and two sisters, Roslyn and Deloris. The Jordans are a close knit family and they instilled a strong work ethic and encouraged him to avoid alcohol, drugs, and street gangs.  Jordan played a variety of sports including basketball, baseball, football, and track. He began his sports career in Little League Baseball, and once pitched two games without allowing any hits.

     Jordan did not make the basketball team at Laney High School his freshman year because he was only 5 feet 11 inches tall. There was no exceptional height in his family.  He barely made the team his sophmore year, but he grew 3 inches by his junior year and another 3 inches by his senior year. He reached his full height of 6 feet 6 inches soon after that.  He was allowed to go to Howie Garfinkle 5 star summer basketball camp, and it was there that he began to believe that he would do great things in basketball.  After that summer he became the most sought after high school basketball player in the country.

     Michael Jordan accepted a scholarship at the University of North Carolina, where he scored the winning goal his freshman year to win the championship for UNC.  He was also selected as Rookie of the Year.  After his junior year, he was named Player of the Year by Sporting News.  Jordan then left UNC and entered the National Basketball Association draft.  The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan in the third round of the draft.  Before the season started, he competed in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and won a gold medal.  He would win his second gold medal for the United States at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.  

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