His life
You know who that is, but do you ever wonder how you came to know?
Who IS Michael Jordan?
The simple answer is that Michael Jordan was a basketball player who became a star. He went from being a star to being a NBA superstar. When people believed he could go no higher, he transcended sports altogether and became a international icon. To many, he was simply GOAT, the Greatest Of All Time.
Michael Jordan was basketball, and basketball was Michael Jordan. At one point during the peak of his career, Michael Jordan became an international celebrity. He filled stadiums where ever he went. Children from remote villages in China went to sleep with Michael Jordan’s poster on their walls. And every kid on a playground trying to dunk a basketball pretended to be like Mike.
So how did he become the Michael Jordan that we all know today?
Now that’s the question I want to answer.
It may come as a surprise, but Michael Jordan was not always destined to become a NBA player, much less the greatest NBA player of all time. He didn’t come from an athletic family. His dad was a mechanic and mom a bank teller. And no one else in his family was over 6 feet tall. Genetically at least, the odds were stacked against him.
Michael was not a basketball prodigy either. To most people who knew him growing up, Michael was just a goofy kid who liked to play basketball. He wasn’t the most popular kid at school and the older boys often made fun of Michael for sticking out his tongue during ball games. In fact, Michael Jordan learned how to iron his own clothes because he thought he would never get a girlfriend!
And yet somehow, that goofy kid with the wagging tongue made his dreams come true…
To truly answer the question of how Michael Jordan became Michael Jordan, we have to go back the past, and watch him evolve in front of our eyes.
We have to watch how the young boy with a nose for trouble evolved into a young man with a fierce competitive streak,
and how that young man with a passion for basketball evolved into a budding college star,
and how the college star who learned to fly evolved into a NBA scoring champion,
and how that NBA scoring champion with something to prove evolved into a NBA legend.
They say that evolution is the survival of the fittest, where the weak ones die out leaving only the strong. Michael Jordan took that same approach with himself. Any time he found a weakness in himself, he worked at it until it became a strength.
His life is composed of a series of obstacles, each of which he turned into an evolutionary step. With each step he discarded another weakness, and picked up another strength, eventually becoming the Michael Jordan that we all know. His life is a story of challenge, of struggle, and of ultimate triumph. We should learn all we can from this incredible story.
And now here I am, attempting to tell this incredible journey like it has never been told before. And we start, from the very beginning.
THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN
From New York to Laney High
- Chapter 1: The wonder years
- Chapter 2: Love and basketball
From a Tar Heel to a Bull
- Chapter 3: Jordan First ever TV appearance
- Chapter 4: Jordan’s first game as a starter in college
- Chapter 5: 1982 NCAA national championship
- Chapter 6: Birth of Air Jordan
- Chapter 7: 1983 Pan American games
From a rookie to a contender
1984-1985
- Chapter 8: 1984 NBA draft
- Chapter 9: 1984 Olympic Games
- Chapter 10: NBA debut
- Chapter 11: Rookie year in Chicago
- Chapter 12: First 40+ point game
- Chapter 13: 1985 All-star slam dunk contest
- Chapter 14: 1985 All-star game
- Chapter 15: the Air Jordan I and his other trademarks
- Chapter 16: 1985 Playoffs
- Chapter 17: Rookie of the year
1985-1986
- Chapter 18: The broken foot
- Chapter 19: 63 points at the Boston Garden
1986-1987
- Chapter 20: 86-87 Jordan’s assault on the record books (part 1)
- Chapter 21: 86-87 Jordan’s assault on the record books (part 2)
- Chapter 22: 23 points in a row vs. Hawks
- Chapter 23: First slam dunk championship
1987-1988
- Chapter 24: The arrival of Pippen and Grant
- Chapter 25: The dynamic duo of Jordan and Pippen
- Chapter 26: The new and improved Bulls
- Chapter 27: Dominique Wilkins vs. Michael Jordan, the slam dunk showdown
- Chapter 28: 1988 All-star game MVP
- Chapter 29: A strong run to the playoffs
- Chapter 30: MVP and Defensive player of the year
- Chapter 31: Round 1 vs. the Cavs
- Chapter 32: The Pistons and the “Jordan Rules”
From a contender to a champion
1988-1989
- Chapter 33: Heightened expectations and early challenges
- Chapter 34: 10,000 points
- Chapter 35: Michael and his critics
- Chapter 36: Michael Jordan becomes a point guard
- Chapter 37: The triple double run
- Chapter 38: Tight series against Cleveland
- Chapter 39: Game 5 and “The Shot”
- Chapter 40: MJ rolls over the Knicks
- Chapter 41: Pistons, round 2
1989-1990
Chapter 42: The Phil Jackson era
From a champion to a legend
Chapter : First NBA championship
Chapter : The three-peat
Chapter : 1992 Olympic games
Chapter : Michael and his gambling
Chapter : The murder of his father and his retirement
Chapter : Michael plays baseball
and much more!
Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please let me know! Feedback is always encouraged.
Amazing work!
Thanks!
GREAT INSPIRATION FOR MY SON THAT IS LEARNING THAT DREAMS DON’T JUST HAPPEN AND THAT YOU AREN’T BORN WITH FAME. THE TRUTH IS KIDS NEED TO REALIZE THAT ITS NOT THE OUTCOME THAT MAKES OUR DREAMS COME TRUE ITS THE JOURNEY .
GOD BLESS
Thanks so much for the comment. I agree wholeheartedly.
i agree
I just spent 2 hours reading this and watching the videos. Totally worth it.
Thanks so much!
Hi my name is Alexandra my friends call me alex for shorte I think you are the coolest basketball player ever when I grow up I want to be just like you NBA all star I dribble all day left and right I run really fast is there any tips you can give me to become like you I am in 6th grade and I want you help!!!!!!!!! : )
Hi Alexandra. I’m really glad that you are such a big fan of Michael Jordan. I am too as you can see by my blog. I think the best tips I can give you are lessons taken from the life of Michael Jordan, which is to always challenge yourself to do something you or someone else thinks you can’t. Don’t let fear stop you from going after your dreams.
Wow! this is great!
when are the other chapter oin out?
I would love to have the time to write more, but currently it’s still a work in progress.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* ….Thumbs up!
Great work, but I would love to read/watch the next chapters..
Anyways, this is a very good work, i have seen here photos and videos i had never seen before.
VERY NICE NAME MICHEAL JORDAN IWILL BE GREAT TO BASKETBALL IWILL BE GILAS PILIPINAS TEAM GILAS PILIPINAS PUSO FROM:::::::: {MARK PINGRIS}
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nice work i made a biography out of this for my speech class and told them about your source thanks man.
Thanks! Glad you found it to be useful.
Michael Jordan is the best player (:
Do you have anyhring I could learn about how he dealt with his learning disability
What learning disability?
I am doing a research project on him and this was really helpful