Michael Jordan is synonymous with basketball. As a professional basketball player, Olympic athlete, actor, and entrepreneur, his influence reigned throughout the 1990s.
In 1981, Jordan accepted a scholarship to school at the University of North Carolina where he garnered lots of scouts interest for his incredible skills as a professional athlete. In his junior year of college, Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls and began playing for the NBA.
Born in New York and growing up in North Carolina, Michael Jordan was one of four siblings. James Jordan, Michael’s father, introduced him to basketball and even built a court for them to play in the backyard. In a heist gone wrong, James was slayed in the Summer of 1993. Aside from basketball, James encouraged Michael to play baseball, and after his father’s death, he took one season to pursue minor league baseball, ultimately coming back to his beloved basketball.
Jordan’s entrepreneurial life began in 1984 when he signed his first deal with Nike and launched the Air Jordan’s line of sneakers, which has proved to be one of the most profitable lines on Nike’s product list. Jordan continued to sign endorsement deals through the years with major brands, including giants like McDonald’s, Chevrolet, and Coca Cola.
In 1996, Michael Jordan starred in Space Jam, which introduced the major athlete to a whole new generation of fans. Cutting edge for its time, Space Jam used both animation and live footage in a mixed media production by Warner Brothers, like the well known Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Michael Jordan’s Black Moments:
- Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
- 6 NBA championships
- 5 Most Valuable Player Awards
- 14× NBA All-Star
- 10× All-NBA First Team
- Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year (1991)
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016)
- Authored 4 Autobiographical books
- The first player since Wilt Chamberlain to score more than 3,000 points in a single season.
- 1984 & 1992 US Olympic Basketball team champion
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