There are names that transcend sport
If you've never viewed a game of Golf in your life
you'll still know who Tiger Woods is
If you've never watched a game of Soccer, you'll be familiar with David Beckham
And if you've never seen a game of Basketball
you're still bound to have heard of Michael Jordan
and probably even worn his sneakers.
But just How Tall is Michael Jordan, really?
In Jordan's early years of High School, he wasn't a great player
He felt he was growing too fast and his skills weren't adjusted to his height
After ninth grade Michael was 5 foot 10 but he didn't even make the starting squad on his team
But coming out of junior year, he had a growth spurt reaching a towering 6 foot 4
Michael honed his skills on his own backyard court, alongside brother Larry
When it came to stature, Michael won the height lottery
His brother Larry only grew to 5 foot 7, whilst Michael ended up a head taller
Height in basketball is a definite advantage
there are exceptions to the rule of course
Like 5 foot 3 inch Muggsy Bogues, who when standing beside Jordan
makes him look like a giant
On the opposite end of the basketball height spectrum are players like the 7 foot 5 range Yao Ming
I'm sure even Michael felt rather short when standing alongside him
During his early College years he was reported as Six Foot Four
but by his Senior Years, he was being billed at Six Foot Five
and even sometimes reported
as tall as Six Foot Five and a half and Six
In 1983 at age 20
Jordan mentioned that after his freshman year in College
he was going to the basket more, grew an inch and put on 12 pounds
By the time Michael made the transition to the NBA
with the Chicago Bulls
he had become a 6 foot 6 shooting guard
But was he really 6 foot 6 barefoot?
Fellow basketball legends Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley were also billed at 6 foot 6
but both of them said they weren't quite that tall
Barkley was measured near 6ft 5 barefoot
and he claims that mark
beside Jordan
there's not much in it
but maybe Jordan has the edge
in fact Barkley said Michael was taller than him
with Kobe, who like Barkley claimed to measure just under Six Foot Five barefoot
it's touch and go as to who is taller
but Michael himself says he's Six Foot Six
Another player who claimed Six Foot Six is Julis Erving
and when he stands with Michael, it's Dr J who looks the taller of the two
Nowadays the NBA asks teams to submit player heights without sneakers
but back in the 90's and 80's it was common to list players in shoes
in fact Pat Riley once said
that without shoes, Michael Jordan measured only Six Foot Four and a half
And some people have claimed that Jordan was measured 6ft 4 7/8ths
for the 1984 NBA Rookie camp
but I've not seen any evidence of that. What I have seen though
is around that time, Jordan was indeed reported
as Six Foot Five for the Olympics
8 years later at the Barcelona Games
the New York Times reported
that the American Roster had Larry Bird at 6ft 7 and Michael Jordan at only 6ft 4.
The truth is though, he wasn't quite that short
But a journalist did reveal, that the media had access to the Olympic Database
and when he looked up Michael Jordan's stats
he saw he was listed at a weight of 196 pounds
and a height of Six Foot Four and Three Quarters
Certainly in the Dream Team photo
Jordan is a good 4 inches shorter than Larry Bird
but to be fair
he is a bit further from the camera there
but how does Michael stack up against other players?
here with Kareem
who is closer to 7 foot nowadays
Jordan looks at least 6 foot 5
and at the same event with the 6 foot 1 inch President Obama
he holds up very well
and here with Scottie Pippen
doing one of my favourite poses
he's only a coupe of inches shorter
and what about with Dennis Rodman
whose claimed Six Foot Six, Seven and Eight
Michael? He doesn't look quite as tall
I think if you look at Jordan with other celebs
like the 6ft 2 Samuel L Jackson
or the 5 foot 9 inch, cowboy heel wearing Michael Jackson
he comes across as a rather tall man
and that Barcelona Olympics figure of Six Foot Four and Three Quarters
is pretty compelling evidence
and I reckon Jordan measures around Six Foot Five barefoot
and Six Foot Six in sneakers