1 THE LEGEND BEGINS THE LEGEND BEGINS Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17 1963 Despite spending most of his childhood in Wilmington North Carolina Michael was actually born in Brooklyn New York an area where he’d stage some of his most thrilling moments on the court decades later His parents James and Deloris were in Brooklyn for just 18 months while James was studying airplane hydraulics As a newborn Michael was kept in the hospital for several days for observation The family had another scare several years later when he was shocked after touching a live electrical wire I’ve got to believe one thing James Jordan told the Chicago Tribune One day God was sitting around and decided to make the perfect basketball player He gave him a little hardship early to make him appreciate what he would earn in the end and called him Michael Jordan Michael was interested in sports from a young age and his first love was baseball not basketball Perhaps he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps James had been a semipro player in his younger days Thankfully for the rest of us eventually Michael found the game of basketball 4
2 A FAMILY AFFAIR A FAMILY AFFAIR James and Deloris had five children in all Ronnie Deloris Larry Michael and Roslyn The Jordans were a close family and Michael credits much of his competitive spirit to playing countless games against his brothers particularly Larry We had this barbecue pit that we’d use as the backstop and we’d play baseball with a tennis ball and we had numerous battles Larry told ESPN If I lost I had to keep playing until I won That’s why more often than not it would end in a fight I don’t think from a competitive standpoint I would be here without the confrontations with my brother Michael said in The Last Dance documentary When you come to blows with someone you absolutely love that’s igniting every fire within you And I always felt I was fighting Larry for my father’s attention Of all the Jordans no one was closer than Michael and his father The two were often inseparable during MJ’s career with the Chicago Bulls My heroes were and are my parents I can’t see myself having anyone else as my heroes Michael once said 7
