Michael Jordan Biography

Michael Jordan Born February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, Michael Jordan, American Collegiate and professional basketball player, commonly considered the greatest all-around player in the history of the game. Jordan grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, and entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. In 1992, Jordan became the world’s highest paid sportsperson, earning three times more in advertising endorsements than for playing basketball. According to Britannica Biographies in 1984, the Chicago Bulls drafted Jordan. In his first season as a professional, he led the league in scoring and was named Rookie of the Year. After missing most of the following season with a broken foot, he returned to lead the

During his playing career Jordan’s popularity reached heights few athletes have known. He accumulated millions of dollars from endorsement (most notably for his Air Jordan basketball shoes). He also made a successful film, “Space Jam (1996)” in which he started with animated characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. In 1996, the NBA named him one of the 50 greatest players of all time, and in 2009, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. (Encyclopedia Britannica

The NBA leader in scoring the average, he was the league’s leading scorer each year from 1986 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998, for a record ten titles, and is third on the all-time points list. Jordan also starred for the 1984 and 1992 gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic teams. Known as his “His Airness,” and “Air Jordan,” he popularized basketball around the world; for a time he was probably the world’s most famous person. His commercial endorsements and the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats; he first invested in the team in 2006. (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition Pg. 2) As stated in Michael Jordan Biography, in addition to his basketball career, Jordan made a fortune with commercial endorsements for Nike’s Air Jordan shoes, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, and Hanes, and among others—and turned the shaved-head-look into a fashion statement for men. In 1996, he starred with animated Looney Tunes characters in the film Space Jam. (Michael Jordan Biography Pg. 1) Also stated in Michael Jordan Biography, Jordan married Juanita Vanoy in 1989; they have two sons and a daughter. A statue of the athlete outside Chicago’s United Center, home of the Bulls, perhaps best summarizes Jordan’s contribution to the sport of basketball: “The best there ever was,” it says. “The best there ever will be.” (Michael Jordan