Michael Jordan

Basketball Player

Born: 17 February 1963

Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York

Best known as: The super-duper-star guard for the Chicago Bulls

 

Michael Jordan was the dominant basketball player in the world during the 1990s. He won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award five times, and six times led the Chicago Bulls to the league championship. Jordan led the Bulls to his first three championships came in 1991, 1992 and 1993 with superb shooting and playmaking and a competitive killer instinct. In October of 1993 he stunned his fans by retiring from basketball and beginning a professional baseball career, saying that playing baseball had been an early dream of his. He played the 1994 baseball season for the minor league Birmingham Barons. In March of 1995 he ended his baseball career and returned to the Bulls. With Jordan, the Bulls won three more championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. He retired from basketball in 1999. In the year 2000 he became a part owner and executive for the NBA's Washington Wizards. In 2001 Jordan began considering another comeback as an NBA player, and that fall, at age 38, he returned once again to play for the Wizards. He played for two more full seasons, retiring again in April of 2003. Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

 

Extra credit: Jordan wore uniform number 23... His endorsement deal with Nike led to the creation of Air Jordans, the popular athletic shoe... Jordan married the former Juanita Vanoy in 1989. They had three children: Jeffrey (born 1988), Marcus (b. 1990), and Jasmine (b. 1992). Juanita filed for divorce in 2002; she and Jordan reconciled later that year, but then split again and were divorced in 2007. Jordan paid a reported $168 million to Juanita in the settlement... Jordan starred with Bugs Bunny in the 1996 feature film Space Jam