Michael Jordan

Childhood

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, and was the fourth of five children in his family. When he was still a young child, his parents moved to Wilmington, located on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina.

Michael grew up in a middle-class family - his father, James, worked as a supervisor at General Electric, and his mother, Deloris, worked at a bank.

Showing an interest in sports from a young age, Jordan played baseball and soccer, and tried out for basketball as a sophomore at Emsley A. Laney High School, but Jordan, who was 1.80 meters tall, was told he was too small to play for the high school team.

At the time, Jordan was told he was too small to play for the high school team. To prove otherwise, he became a star on the junior high school basketball team and played about 40 games. The next summer, he grew 10 centimeters and made the high school team. In his senior year, he was allowed to play in the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game, where he excelled and scored 30 points. So upon graduation, Michael received many offers from different colleges for a basketball scholarship and chose the University of North Carolina.

During his time in college, he played for the Tar Heels North Carolina team. As a freshman, Jordan earned ACC Freshman of the Year honors. Both his sophomore and junior year, he was selected to the NCAA All-American first team. Also in his college basketball career, he won the 1984 Naismith and Wooden Awards as the 1984 Player of the Year and helped his team win gold at the 1983 Pan American Games.

Michael dropped out of college a year before graduation to enter the 1984 NBA draft. He was selected in the first round with the third pick of the Chicago Bulls. Jordan did return to the university two years later to earn a bachelor's degree in cultural geography.

Career

Shortly after the draft, Michael Jordan played for the U.S. basketball team at the Los Angeles Olympics. Along with other strong players like Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins and Wayman Tisdale, he won gold. Together, they were the last U.S. amateur team to win an Olympic gold medal in men's basketball.

In his first season in the NBA, Jordan's play made him a fan favorite and allowed him to play in the 1984/85 All-Star Game. He won Rookie of the Year honors that season with a 28.2 points-per-game average.

In his second season, Michael broke his leg and was unable to play 64 games. However, he made a full recovery and had an insane amount of success in his third season. Jordan performed well and became the second player to score 3,000 points in a single season. He also became the first player to have 200 steals and 100 blocked shots in a single season.

In his fourth season in the NBA, the 1987/88 season, Jordan won his first MVP award, the league's top player award. He was also named defensive player of the year. During the 1988/89 and 1989/90 seasons, Jordan led the Bulls to the Eastern Conference finals, but the team lost to the Detroit Pistons in both seasons.

Then came a golden time for Michael and his team. They won the NBA championship three years in a row, and Jordan became the first player to win the NBA Finals MVP award three times in a row. In 1992, Jordan participated in the Olympics again. Along with some players from his first Olympic team, they formed what they called the "dream team" and brought home the gold again.

In 1993, Michael ended a seven-year run in which he won:

• seven individual MVP titles,
• three-time NBA champion,
• two-time Olympic champion.

There were signs that Jordan was tired of his rabid celebrity and all the non-basketball problems in his life. He became addicted to gambling and had a gambling debt of nearly $60,000. In the same year, his father was murdered under mysterious circumstances, after which Michael Jordan announced the end of his career and surprised the entire sports world by deciding to play baseball from that moment on. He did this to fulfill the dream of his father, who always wanted Michael to be a baseball player.

For two years as a baseball player, he played for minor league teams -

• . Chicago White Sox,
• Scottsdale Scorpions,
• Birmingham Barons.

He played with moderate success, won no titles, and eventually returned to his roots. On March 18, 1995, he uttered two famous words that swept all the newspapers: "I'm back."

He played for the Chicago Bulls again from 1995 through 1998 and again made the Bulls three straight NBA champions. The third Finals, against the Utah Jazz, was particularly dramatic.

With 42 seconds left in the game, the score was 86-83 for the Utah Jazz when Bull coach Phil Jackson called a timeout. After the timeout, Jordan scored and the score changed to 86-85. The decisive moment came with 5.2 seconds left when Michael made a fantastic shot to put the Bulls ahead and win their sixth NBA title. Well, Jordan was declared Finals MVP for the sixth time, making his record almost unattainable - all second place players have "only" 3 Finals honors.

On Jan. 13, 1999, Michael Jordan retired from basketball for the second time. At that point, he was 35 years old. A little more than a year later, he returned as manager of the Washington Wizards. And on Sept. 25, 2001, he announced his return as a player and said he would donate his entire salary to help victims of Sept. 11. Both seasons Jordan played for the Wizards, they failed to make the playoffs.

At Jordan's last game on April 16, 2003, in Philadelphia, he received a standing ovation. The audience began chanting,

Personal life

Michael Jordan is a living legend. His successes are unforgettable, his discipline remarkable. The documentary The Last Dance, available to watch on Netflix, shows his journey to becoming the greatest basketball player of all time. It takes a look behind the scenes, even talks about Jordan's gambling addiction. But one topic is left out there: Michael Jordan and women.

Michael first married in 1989 to Juanita Jordan, who was his childhood sweetheart. They had two sons, Jeffrey and Marcus, and a daughter, Jasmine. In 2002, the couple filed for divorce - due to "irreconcilable differences," as stated. But they quickly reconciled, and lived together until 2006, when the divorce did go through. And Michael Jordan set a new, alas, forced record: Juanita received nearly $170 million as part of the divorce.

Michael Jordan stood before the altar for the second time in 2013. He married Yvette Prietro, a Cuban model he met at a nightclub in 2008. It is claimed that the wedding party cost more than ten million dollars. And it's believable, since Yvette's engagement ring alone cost $1 million.

The event was held at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, where Melania and Donald Trump were previously married. It was attended by about 500 guests, a host of celebrities, including some other former NBA stars. In lieu of wedding gifts, Michael and Yvette asked guests to make donations to charity.

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The couple had twin daughters, Victoria and Isabel, in 2014. Michael and Yvette are still married and have no plans to divorce.

In addition to his official wives, Michael has had affairs with other women.

• Karla Knafel. American singer Karla Knafel claimed in the early 2000s that basketball legend Michael Jordan had an affair with her and then reneged on a deal they made to silence her. She claimed she was in a sexual relationship with Jordan between 1989 and 1991 and had a secret child with him. The case went to trial! And although DNA testing proved Jordan was not the father, he admitted to paying her $250,000 to keep the affair secret.
• Kylie Ireland. Porn star Kylie Ireland, 49, has claimed she had a one-night stand with Jordan in 1993. It happened at the peak of the basketball legend's career and shortly before he left to join the Chicago Bulls. While Jordan denied the affair, Kylie even starred in a movie based on her allegations.
• Ashley Dupré. The year of his divorce - in 2006 - Michael became close to Ashley Dupré, who was a sex columnist for the New York Post and a singer.
• Nicole Murphy. In 2007, Michael Jordan was spotted in Mexico with 52-year-old Nicole Murphy. Their relationship was never confirmed and didn't last long. Both were recently separated, the paparazzi photographed them together in good spirits at a nightclub. Nicole Murphy was married to American comedy legend Eddie Murphy from 1993 to 2006.

Revenue

Michael Jordan is the highest-paid athlete of all time. As of today, his fortune is estimated at about $1.6 billion. And in 2020, it was more - $2.1 billion. He is third on the list of richest African-Americans after Robert F. Smith and Oprah Winfrey and the first billionaire in NBA history.

Jordan has earned $90 million during his NBA career, about $63 million of that in the past two seasons. But Michael became one of the world's richest athletes thanks to lucrative contracts with Nike, making their Air Jordan sneakers one of the most famous in the world.

Thanks to his deal with Nike, he gets 5 percent of the net wholesale price of each pair of Air Jordan sneakers sold each year. On that alone, he makes $100 million a year. There are also advertising deals with Gatorade, Upper Deck and Hanes, whose products he has been promoting for nearly 30 years. In addition, Michael also owns multiple restaurants, including a steakhouse and a Michael Jordan's.

Michael Jordan bought the Charlotte Hornets for $175 million in 2010. The team is now worth more than $1 billion, and Jordan's stake is 90 percent of that amount.

Jordan has his own private jet, his own golf course and two villas.

But beyond all the amenities, Jordan donates a lot of money, especially to children in Chicago. He also likes to donate to other causes. His most recent donation was $2 million to the victims of Hurricane Florence.

His most recent donation was to the victims of Hurricane Florence.

Interesting facts

The sixth episode of "The Last Dance," a documentary series about Jordan, explores basketball legend Michael Jordan's possible gambling addiction. It talks about Jordan constantly gambling on private jets, golf courses and casinos. Jordan's alleged ludomania has been the subject of repeated conversations within the team in recent years.

There have been rumors for years that Jordan's first retirement from the NBA in 1993 was related to his gambling addiction. The NBA even launched an investigation into whether Jordan had violated any league rules. Four months later, MJ abruptly resigned from the NBA and the investigation was dropped.

Jordan's attitude toward gambling drew media attention in the United States as early as 1993. The New York Times reported that the Chicago Bulls star was playing baccarat at an Atlantic City casino until 2:30 a.m. instead of preparing for a game. The next day was the Eastern Conference finals game against the New York Nicks, the Bulls lost the game, and Jordan's casino adventures sparked a heated controversy. He was accused of irresponsible behavior because he looked tired and unfocused during the game.

In the TV documentary "Air," Jordan doesn't deny he was at the casino but says he returned early:

"My dad said: "Let's get out of New York. Let's go to Atlantic City.' We played for a couple hours and came back. It wasn't too late. We got back at 0:30, 1:00."

But the Atlantic City episode was not the first such incident: two years earlier, for example, Jordan missed a reception with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House after winning a championship. It turned out that he had instead played with James Buehler, who was later convicted of fraud and money laundering. When Buehler was arrested, investigators found in his possession a $57,000 check signed by Jordan for his loss.

According to Adam "Pacman" Jones, a guard for the Cincinnati Bengals, Michael Jordan was playing craps at a Las Vegas casino during the weekend before the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. Jordan was so engrossed in the game that he wouldn't let anyone else roll the dice. It was clearly not a good idea, as he lost more than $5 million that night.

Perhaps Michael's funniest gambling story involves a game that even a child can play: rock, scissors, paper. Jordan's former teammate Jay Williams said Bulls players often gambled during moves, and Michael was the most gambling of them all.

"Think of gambling on a new level. Rock, paper, scissors, you bet, bet $20,000 all the way. Why not? Because it's boring. And then Michael's like, "Stop being petty, I'll bet $100,000, who accepts?".

In late October 2001, the Washington Wizards traveled to an exhibition game against the Boston Celtics, which was to be held at the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena in Hartford, Conn. It should be noted that even exhibition games in a casino arena in 2001 were something new, but casinos were still doing something different to attract visitors.

Given that Jordan owned a restaurant in that casino, it doesn't take a genius to guess where Jordan would eat after the game or what he would do later. So the Hartford Courant's sports editor sent a full-time reporter to the Mohegan Sun with orders to track Jordan down and write a story. Although security personnel were keeping spectators out of the casino that night, the reporter was still able to infiltrate the casino. What follows is his story:

Just after midnight, Jordan made his way to the casino floor, where he was joined by teammate Richard Hamilton and Boston Celtics forward Antoine Walker. Jordan immediately bought 100 blue chips, which sell for $5,000 apiece.
Jordan began betting $5,000 or $10,000 per hand and lost a lot before heading to the restroom at 2 a.m., escorted by security. An hour later, he appeared to have lost the rest of his original half-million dollar stake.
By the time he went to the restroom again around 5 a.m., Michael Jordan was still mostly losing, playing blackjack for $15,000 per hand. Antoine Walker and Richard Hamilton were still occasionally playing, but now mostly watching.
Soon Jordan was drinking coffee and playing three hands at a time for $15,000 each. And he was suddenly on such a hot streak that he even bankrupted the bank - the dealer had run out of blue chips! Walker and Hamilton also started playing more hands, and everyone was winning. By my calculations, Jordan had about 160 chips in front of him - that's $800,000.
Finally, at 7:45 a.m., all three NBA stars had had enough. They got up, put on their jackets and declared game night complete. Thus, the math was staggering. At one point, Jordan went negative $500,000. Then he climbed out of that hole and left the casino with $800,000. That means his fortunes have turned over $1.3 million dollars.

At one point, Jordan was down $1.3 million.

Legacy

Michael Jordan (MJ) is considered the greatest basketball player of all time. His list of accolades is impressive:

• five times he was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player,
• Six times he won the MVP award, the award for the best player in the NBA Finals,
• won six NBA championships
• won two gold medals at the Olympics,
• was named North America's best athlete by ESPN in 1999.

He played a total of 1,072 games and scored 32,292 points, averaging 30 points per game.

One of the best defenders ever, Jordan has been instrumental in making basketball world famous. In June 2010, he was ranked No. 20 on Forbes magazine's list of the world's most influential celebrities.

In 2016, Michael Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, which, along with the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, is the highest civilian award a U.S. citizen can receive. In presenting the medal, Obama jokingly said these words:

"Michael Jordan is more than just an Internet meme."