CHALLENGE OF THE MIND PROJECT
Michael Jordan
Phillips
Advanced English I, Period 4
12/14/23
Table of Contents
Page 3 ……………………………………………………………………………. Abstract
Page 4….…………………………………………………………Background Information
Page 6-8 ….……………………..……Contributions/Significance to the Modern World
Page 9 …………………………………………………………………… Final Comments
Page 10 ……………………………………………………….……………… Works Cited
Abstract
Throughout his lifetime Michael Jordan was one of the most significant basketball players of all time. Most people know him as the best basketball player of all time and others know him as a fashion icon who made one of the most successful lines of shoes ever. He was even a movie star who starred in a couple different movies; the most famous of the mall was Space Jam.
Some would say that he is fighting for equality by donating millions of dollars towards helping fund organizations and charities to make a difference in the world. He was influential on and off the court and changed many people's lives. The reason some may say that he was the best basketball player of all time is because in his rookie year he signed a deal with Nike for millions of dollars.
He also went to the Olympics and won a gold medal for the United States. He also starred in the famous movie Space Jam which is now one of the most successful sports movies ever. “Jordan's role in the 1996 film Space Jam” ('His Airness': Fun facts about Michael Jordan). He also has one of the most successful shoe lines with Nike. People to this day still wear his shoes and some of them even go for thousands of dollars. But one of the most impressive things he did was lead his team to six championships even though he had retired and then later came back he was still able to get another three rings. The most unusual thing that Michael Jordan has ever done was retired from the NBA three separate times each one had its own reasons behind it.
Background Information
Michael Jordan is one of the most famous and successful basketball players of all time. Being one of the biggest names in the NBA history Michael Jordan was very successful across his 15th season NBA career. During his NBA career he made close to 100 million dollars and now with all of the different brand deals that he has signed one of his biggest ones being with Nike he is worth $3 billion today.
Starting his professional basketball career in 1984 Michael Jordan was a young basketball prodigy showing great potential at what he was doing. He showed such great potential that Nike the shoe brand signed a 2.5 million dollar deal with him for 5 years when Michael Jordan was only in his rookie year this will later become the best decision that he could have made. Michael Jordan and Nike made a shoe called The Air Jordan which even today that shoe is one of the most popular shoes to wear amongst people of all different ages but the first version that they made there was released to the public was back in 1985.
Most of these major deals were signed before the end of his rookie year proving how great the potential of Michael Jordan was. As a rookie Michael Jordan went to the Olympics and helped get the USA a gold medal in basketball and he did it again in 1992 to get another gold medal for the United States. To add on to his achievements he was a four-time gold medalist with USA Basketball and he was twice named the USA Basketball male athlete of the year.
Contributions/Significance to the Modern World
Michael Jordan is very significant to the modern world because he brought a lot of popularity to the sport of basketball. People from all around the world hear of his great accomplishments. When he was a rookie people would be surprised that a rookie went to the Olympics and the won a gold medal. They were also surprised that as a rookie Michael Jordan signed a $2 million deal with one of the biggest shoe brands ever Nike. His fans would also hear about how great he was at the sport they would say that he can fly because his hang time whenever he jumped was above average more than what a regular humans hang time was. Thousands of people would buy tickets to go see him play in person, and millions would be at home watching him on the TV. He would set a new record for how many points were made in a game by a single player and the next game he would break his own record. Setting so many different milestones Michael Jordan quickly grew to be the greatest basketball player of all time people were writing books and autobiographies about him and he even got a movie which is now one of the most famous basketball movies in the world called Space Jam. “Rookie of the Year; Five-time NBA MVP; Six-time NBA champion” (NBA HISTORY). His professional basketball career, Michael Jordan won a total of six championship rings. The years 1991 through 1993 and again in 1996 through 1998. Jordan also went to the Olympics twice and brought back gold medals for the United States. During the summer of 1984, Jordan made his first appearance at the Olympic Games as a member of the U.S.(Piccotti). Olympic basketball teamThe first time he went to the Olympics was during his rookie year in 1984 and again in 1992 the same year where he was undefeated and won his second championship ring for the Chicago Bulls. For a short period of Time Michael Jordan retired in 1993 to 1995 to go play Major League Baseball this was because during this time his dad passed away and his dad's biggest dream was for Michael Jordan to play baseball. After his retirement, he retired from baseball and went back to basketball and retired again in 1999 but it wasn't long before he returned in 2001 and retired for the last time in 2003. After Michael Jordan's retirement, he tried to stay busy; he pursued one of his other Passions which was golfing, and is very good at it.
Another big impact that Michael Jordan had on the modern world was in fashion. The deal Michael Jordan signed with Nike was for basketball shoes. That deal for the basketball shoes that Nike made for Jordan became the most selling basketball shoes of all time. “Jordan signed his first deal with Nike in 1984” (Piccotti). The most famous pair of shoes was the Jordan 1s this was the original Style of the shoe the Michael Jordan would wear on the court. These shoes went against the NBA's rules. The NBA has a really strict uniform policy, and the colorway of the Jordan 1s went against those rules. Every time that Michael Jordan would wear his shoes he was fined $5,000 but this just grew the popularity of the shoes. Once these shoes were released for the public Michael Jordan's fans quickly started buying them. Many of the people who would buy these shoes didn't even play basketball and they would just wear them because they looked nice. The demand quickly grew so Nike had to make new pairs but they knew that the fans wouldn't Buy the same pair every time, so they started releasing new colors and new styles. The second style of Jordan shoes was the Jordan 2s; these weren't as big of a success as the first pair. The fans wanted more so Nike kept on making shoes. They made the Jordan 3s and the 4s, but each pair gained popularity. After this Nike kept on making more and more shoes and today there's over 30 different variations of Michael Jordan's shoes. With thousands of different colors now you can't walk around any city without seeing people wearing his shoes. Today some of the most popular pairs are the 1s, 3s, 4s, and 11s. An average pair of his shoes today can go from $120 to 300 and above. Some of his shoes even go for thousands of dollars now.
He also started different organizations that fight against racism and push toward equality. “In 2023, Jordan made a $10 million donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation—the largest by an individual in its history—in honor of his 60th birthday” (Piccotti) With the prophets that Michael Jordan has made from his clothing brand he contributes to many different organizations for example the black lives matter movement. After the incident in 2020 with George Floyd many people went into protest including athletes. One of the athletes who decided to try and make a difference was Michael Jordan. He did this by pledging 100 million dollars over a 10-year spend to two different charities and organizations to fight for equality. This has already made a big impact on the movement for equality. Michael Jordan has also donated millions of dollars to charities, some of the Charities that he has donated to include the Boys & Girls Club of America and Kids Wish Network. With all of the charity work and money donated over the years, Michael Jordan has impacted many people's lives for the better. With all of the amazing things that Michael Jordan has done for the community over his lifetime, it is safe to say that he cares about his community and will not stop helping them until he achieves his goal. Many athletes also try to help their communities but none of them have done it to the extent of Michael Jordan.
Final Comments
Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Many Great accomplishments for example his two Olympic gold medals and his six NBA championship rings and he did all of that in his 15th season NBA career which was 19 years long. retiring from the NBA 3 separate times, but even in his 40s Michael Jordan was still the best player. Even with modern-day basketball Superstars Michael Jordan is still considered to be better than all of them.
There have been some people who have come close to his title of the best basketball player. Some people even say that there are other players who are already better than him, but when you look at the amount of awards that he has won nobody comes close to being as good as him.
Michael Jordan is the richest basketball player in the world with his net worth of 3 billion dollars. The closest player that comes close to that number is LeBron James with 1 billion dollars. Michael Jordan made it into the Hall of Fame in 2009 6 years after his retirement. People say that he is the most deserving player to be in the Hall of Fame for all of his Great accomplishments throughout his career. Today he is living comfortably and his 60th birthday was a couple of months ago. This year marked his 20th year being officially retired from the NBA.
Works Cited
“Legends Profile: Michael Jordan.” NBA.com, Sept. 2022, www.nba.com/news/history-nba-legend-michael-jordan.
Piccotti, Tyler. “Michael Jordan.” Biography, 12 Sept. 2023, www.biography.com/athletes/michael-jordan.
Ricks, William E. “‘His Airness’: Fun Facts About Michael Jordan - ESPN.” ESPN.com, 17 Feb. 2023, www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35652687/michael-jordan-23-facts-stories.