Michael Jordan transcended his basketball stardom to become an international legend.
But behind every legend is a human being with all sorts of secrets. From his impressive
bank statement to his tragic backstory, this is the untold truth of Michael Jordan.
As of 2019, the Forbes list of billionaires placed Jordan's net worth at $1.9 billion.
Enough to make him one of the richest people in the United States.
While those numbers are every bit as impressive as the ones he posted during his playing days,
he made almost all of that money off the court. Jordan reportedly earned a total of $93.8
million from his NBA salary, not adjusted for inflation with $63.3 million of that coming
in his final two seasons with the Chicago Bulls. But the vast majority of his fortune
came from a healthily diversified portfolio of endorsements and business holdings, raking
in cash at an unprecedented level both while he was playing and after.
One of Jordan's most lucrative endeavors is his ownership of the Charlotte Hornets, which
he bought in 2010 for $275 million. They're now worth over $1 billion, and Jordan retains
90 percent ownership, significantly increasing his personal wealth.
Of course, there's also his landmark partnership with Nike for Air Jordan which still makes
him more than $100 million a year in royalties. That's reportedly more than LeBron James is
currently making between his NBA salary and endorsements combined. All of that income
has made Jordan one of just 13 black billionaires in the world, and the first American professional
athlete to ever hit that milestone, coming from humble beginnings to prove to fans worldwide
that anything is possible.
When you think of a sporting god like Michael Jordan, it's easy to imagine that he emerged
a fully-formed hulking basketball deity straight out of the womb. But Michael's early years
were anything but glorious. In fact, his childhood was spent trying to keep up with older brother,
Larry, and he didn't make his high school varsity basketball team until his junior year.
"Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a god-given gift, and not something that
I worked for every single day of my life."
According to Newsweek, in 1978 he was, quote, "just another kid in the gym ... trying out
for the Emsley A. Laney High School varsity basketball team." At the time, Jordan stood
at only 5'10”, not the 6'6" he would later grow to, and he wasn't physically impressive
enough to secure a roster spot at the time. Jordan would later say that not making the
team was an embarrassing experience. That night, he went home and cried. But his tears
soon turned to resolve. According to Newsweek, Jordan said,
"Whenever I was working out and got tired and ﬁgured I ought to stop, I'd close my
eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it.That usually got me
going again."
Jordan did have a great sophomore season, putting up a few 40 point games and drawing
crowds for his JV performances.
He reportedly returned for his junior year four inches taller and with a better, much
more developed skill set, going on to become the team's star player. His efforts led to
him catching the attention of University of North Carolina, where he would eventually
rise to national acclaim.
One of the most well-known aspects of Jordan's off-the-court activities involves his serious
interest in serious gambling. As a 2006 article by Bill Simmons for ESPN the Magazine put
it,
"There's a famous gambling story about Michael Jordan. Actually, there are many famous gambling
stories about MJ."
The story in question involves Jordan standing around at the airport with his fellow Bulls,
waiting for the luggage from the trip to show up. As the story goes, he made an impromptu
$100 bet with the other players that his bags would emerge on the conveyor belt first.
After nine other players on the team took him up on the bet, Jordan's bags appeared
first and he cackled all the way to the bank. What they didn't know was that Jordan had
previously paid a baggage handler to help him out with this scheme, rigging the bet
in his favor.
As ultimately harmless as the luggage scheme was, Jordan's gambling may have had far greater
consequences for his life and career, with some arguing his first retirement from basketball
was actually a cover-up for a gambling suspension.
"Gambling is legal. And betting is legal. For what I bet, yeah, it's a little bit more
than I wanted to lose…"
According to Bleacher Report, Jordan was involved in an NBA investigation shortly before he
announced his first retirement, fresh off winning the league championship for the third
year in a row. Considering he was still in his physical prime and generally hellbent
on winning as much as possible, this struck many as an odd time for a retirement. Amid
allegations that he'd lost over $900,000 in gambling to one person, and he had to once
testify in Federal Court as to why a drug dealer had a check from Jordan for $57,000
- Jordan claimed it was a gambling debt, and that he was seen in an Atlantic City casino
the night before an Eastern Conference Finals game... well, it wouldn't be too surprising
if Jordan's "retirement" was a deal struck with league commissioner David Stern, allowing
him to preserve his image and the billions of dollars attached to it.
Despite his incredible success, Michael Jordan's life hasn't been all sunshine and roses. Tragically,
his father, James Jordan, was killed on July 23, 1993, in what is widely believed to have
been a botched robbery. Three years later, according to the Chicago Tribune, Michael
said of his late father,
"I think about him every day. I'm pretty sure I always will. Every day of my life."
Jordan had just won his third NBA championship in a row, and his father had a flight booked
to Chicago the very next day. Unfortunately, he never made it. After being carjacked, shot,
and robbed of the championship ring his son had given him, his teenage killers reportedly
dumped his body in a creek. He was found curled over a tree limb in a South Carolina swamp
with no identification, and cremated as a John Doe before Jordan's family had even gotten
a chance to file a missing persons report.
According to ESPN, Michael Jordan's family was a tight-knit unit. His father would do
anything he could to help Michael out, including remodeling his townhouse while Michael was
participating in an All-Star weekend. Even after the money started coming in, the elder
Jordan would reportedly never accept money from Michael to buy things that he could pay
for himself.
The news of his father's death devastated Jordan, who would end up taking time off from
basketball to try his hand at baseball, a move which many believe was made in honor
of his father. According to Jordan biographer Roland Lazenby, longtime Bulls coach Phil
Jackson made that observation at the time, saying,
"It was really his father's dream that he play baseball. His father wanted to play pro
ball and did play semi-pro. When his father passed away, I think Michael was kind of living
out his father's dream."
In 1994, instead of lacing up a pair of Nike sneakers, Michael Jordan threw on cleats and
reported to the Chicago White Sox's AA squad, the Birmingham Barons. He hit a subpar .202
batting average that season, and would return to basketball the following year, winning
three more NBA titles in a row after he came back.
While history looks back on Jordan's baseball days as something of a lark, people often
fail to recognize the improvement Jordan displayed in his game throughout his season with the
Barons. According to accounts from the time, he took batting practice five times a day
until his hands were covered in blisters, and he checked his ego at the door. For some,
including World Series-winning manager Terry Francona, had Jordan stuck around longer,
he would've been able to make it to the majors. Francona was quoted by ESPN in a 2019 article
as saying.
"He had it all. Ability, aptitude, work ethic. He was always so respectful of what we were
doing and considerate of his teammates. Granted, he had a lot to learn. [...] I do think with
another 1,000 at-bats, he would've made it."
"I mean you're talking competitive, intelligent, teamwork. He had it all."
Leave it to Michael Jordan to make a Looney Tunes/basketball mashup the most popular,
highest-grossing basketball movie of all time. Released theatrically in 1996, Space Jam pulled
in more than $90 million at the domestic box office and $230 million worldwide. But the
merchandise sales brought in even more money, raking in over $1 billion in retail sales.
"Let's play some basketball."
Jordan had actually collaborated with Bugs Bunny already by the time they ended up in
a movie together. Before the making of Space Jam, the two icons partnered for a successful
ad campaign for Nike titled "Hare Jordan."
The original ad ran during the 1992 Super Bowl, featuring the pair balling out on the
court and laying waste to challengers in ways that only a rabbit could get away with. The
six months and $1 million it took to create the ad would end up being well worth the investment,
and it seems Bugs Bunny could sense it, quipping at the end of the ad,
"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Space Jam was much more than just a movie. It was a pioneer in integrated product placement,
and a visionary film when it comes to leveraging the potential of the Internet. Despite its
1996 launch, Space Jam had a dedicated website years before doing so would become a standard
Hollywood practice. It was hardly noticed at the time, but as of 2020, it's still online,
managing to live on as one of the best time capsules of early web design.
For all his fame and fortune, Michael Jordan is still a man with straightforward interests.
Among two of his favorites are cigars and ... Westerns. That's right, after a long day
of slaying the competition, there's nothing Jordan loves more than curling up to watch
Gunsmoke in a cloud of tobacco smoke. Touchingly, Jordan's fascination with Westerns comes from
a childhood bonding with his father. Looking back on his life around his 50th birthday,
Jordan told ESPN,
"The thing we'd do,we'd stay up all night and watch cowboy movies. Westerns."
Reportedly, Jordan hasn't lost the habit. According to ESPN, an employee of his once
joked that she'd rather fly commercially than on Jordan's Gulfstream because of the non-stop
Westerns shown during the flights. Apparently his all-time favorite is The Outlaw Josey
Wales.
As for cigars, Jordan told Cigar Aficionado that his very first came after winning the
1991 NBA championship, which might explain why you can buy a pair of "Air Jordan 7 Cigar
or Champagne" shoes.
He soon took up smoking them while stuck in traffic on the way to home games in Chicago,
which could take a stressful 90 minutes. Cigars helped Jordan relax, and they soon became
a ritual before every home game.
Jordan's net worth of $1.9 billion is higher than the gross domestic product of some entire
countries. Much of that wealth has come from his main squeeze, the Nike Jordan Brand but
in his prime, Jordan had his face on what felt like just about everything. Jordan had
endorsement deals with McDonalds, Coca Cola, Upper Deck trading cards, Gatorade, Wheaties,
and a dozen others, all while also selling his own cologne, tequila and steak sauces.
But there were limits, even for him.
"Stop it — get some help."
Sports Illustrated quotes a 1992 interview with Playboy, describing just where his line
was drawn at Beanee Weenees. As Jordan put it,
"You ever heard of Beanee Weenees pork and beans? It was close to a million bucks a year.
I'm saying, Beanee Weenees? How can I stand in front of a camera and say I'll eat Beanee
Weenees?"
"Come on, Michael, it's game time. Get your Hanes on, lace up your Nikes. Grab your Wheaties
and your Gatorade. We'll pick up a Big Mac on the way to the ballpark."
While you can't pay Jordan a million bucks to talk about a big name in the pork and beans
industry, you can definitely pay him to talk about Hanes, which he's been doing for over
30 years. If you think hard, you can probably conjure up a memory of Jordan looking like
Mr. Clean with a pristine white tee and a notorious mustache. But that ad campaign reportedly
ended up boosting sales for the brand, mustache and all, proving once again that you should
never bet against Michael Jordan.
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