Mike Jordan, The Man And The Player

2 Pages 584 Words

Michael was born February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina. He was recently asked, "What was the first thing that went through your mind when you didn’t make the [high school] varsity team as a sophomore?" He replied, " I was very disappointed, and I thought the coach had made a mistake. But my mother said the best thing for me to do was to prove to the coach that he was wrong. And I started working on my game the day after I was cut." By the time he reached the University of North Carolina, he was ready!
The Chicago Bulls were impressed with this young player and was picked up in the primary round. Michael now had the opportunity to further re-define his basketball skills and ultimately basketball as a sport. His grace, power, artistry and on court improvisational ability led him to the hoop for score after score. He joined a team that prior to his arrival had only won 28 games in the previous season. With his talents, he would improve that to over 60 wins during the regular season. He would be awarded the Rookie of the year award this year.
He marched the bulls, starting in 1991, to the first of three consecutive titles. He would score over 29,000 points in his career at Chicago. Michael surprised the world and took a year off to play minor league baseball. This proved to be more of a break from basketball, than a retirement, as Michael had envisioned. He returned to basketball with his playing skills intact and continued to dominate the boards. In 1995-96 he won a record eighth scoring title and led the Bulls to their fourth NBA championship of the 1990’s, and in 1996-97 he raised those numbers to nine scoring championships and six NBA crowns in the decade.
Michael Jordan holds two Olympic gold medals for his participation in the 1984 and 1992 Olympics for Team USA. He was named to the 1997-98 NBA All-Interview First Team....