Facts about Michael Jordan

§  Nicknames include Air Jordan and His Airness.

§  He was born in 1963, Brooklyn, New York but grew up in North Carolina. He has 2 older brothers, 1 older sister and a younger sister.

§  When Michael Jordan was in his sophomore year, he tried out for the varsity basketball team but was rejected by the coach for being too short! Being left out of the team at first devastated him but he accepted the rejection as a challenge and strove to improve his technique and playing style to overcome for his “lack”. This spirit of dedication to improvement and that failure should only lead to success, is the belief and ideal that Michael Jordan based his sports career on.

§  Michael Jordan has a habit of dangling his tongue out of his mouth, while concentrating and especially while dunking or shooting. This quirk he picked up from his dad, who would do the same while tinkering with cars and electronics.

§  His impact on popularizing basketball and basketball products is like no other sportsman. Take Nike for example, which has a complete line of basketball shoes, dedicated to Michael Jordan. This line consisting of 22 models is called Air Jordans. Ultimately an entire brand line was formed called the Jordan Brand. This line generates an estimated $1 billion of sales revenue for Nike. Other successful brand tie-ups include Gatorade, McDonalds, Hanes and Coca-Cola.

§  His Chicago Bull’s team jersey numbers are 23 and 45. At the time of his first retirement, his jersey number of 23 was officially retired.

§  In 1993, Michael’s father James R. Jordan Sr. was murdered in North Carolina by 2 teenagers. The loss of his father made him lose his drive and competitive edge for playing basketball and he retired from the sport. He surprised a lot of fans and the world in fact, by joining a minor league baseball team, the Chicago White Sox. Apparently his father had wanted him to pursue a career as a professional baseball player.

§  He took over part-ownership of the Washington Wizards in 2000, becoming the 3rd African-American to become a team owner in the NBA. But sitting on the corporate bench did not satisfy him for long and in 2001, he joined the Wizards as a player. The team which was normally at an average playing skill level, excelled with his addition and reached the NBA playoffs for that year.

§  He is attributed with starting the basketball trend of wearing baggy or loose shorts as opposed to tight, form fitting shorts. Another signature basketball trend of sporting no hair or going bald, is also due to Michael Jordan.

§  He has 3 children from his marriage to Juanita Vanoy.

§  He was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 20th most powerful celebrity in 2010.

§  In the 1984 NBA draft, he was the 3rd pick from the overall competition.

§  He has won 6 NBA championships, 11 Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards (both regular season and finals), 2 Olympic gold medals, 10 All-NBA First Team designations, 9 All-Defensive First Team honors and 3 All-Star MVP awards in his 15 year old career.

§  He is the first player in NBA history to win both a “Defensive Player of the Year” award and an MVP award in the same year (1988).

§  Michael Jordan played a total of 1,251 (playoffs + season) games in his career and his total points scored during that period is 38,279! He has played in 15 NBA seasons and 6 NBA championships. His in-game steal score is 2,514, which ranks him as the second highest total steal score behind John Stockton.

§  His points per game average is roughly 30.1 with a playoff average of 33.4 points per game, making him a NBA record holder for highest point per game average in both seasonal and playoff matches.

§  On the Associated Press’s list of athletes of the century, he is second only to Babe Ruth. Michael Jordan has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. He was named as one of the “50 greatest players in NBA history”.

§  The Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship 3 times in a row from 1991-1993, with Michael Jordan. This feat was repeated in 1996, when the Bulls once again won the championship and continued to do so for the next 2 years (1997, 1998).

§  His drive and determination towards the game was never more apparent than during the 1996-1997 NBA season. Here he played a crucial series game while suffering from a viral infection. This game is infamously titled “the flu game”. Another game to look out for is the Chicago vs Utah game 6 of the NBA 1998 season.

§  This collection of facts about Michael Jordan’s life is just a rough glimpse into the raw talent and energy of this basketball god. The game has never been the same since his final retirement. But fans are left with memories of the games and the glory of the sport during the heyday of Michael Jordan.