On This Day in History, February 17: He May Have Played for Chicago, But He Was Born in Brooklyn

February 17, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 17, 1963. Many people consider him to be the greatest basketball player of all time. Playing with the Chicago Bulls, he won six NBA championships during the 1990s. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

While very young he moved with his family to Wilmington, NC. In 1978, his sophomore year at Laney High School in Wilmington, he tried for the basketball team but didn’t make it. He practiced, and in 1979 made the team.

As a freshman at the University of North Carolina in 1982, he nailed the bucket that won a title for the school. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year.

In 1984, Jordan was a member of the gold-medal U.S. Olympic basketball team (an achievement he repeated in 1992) and was also drafted third in the first round by the Chicago Bulls, a main factor in why the Bulls’ attendance doubled in 1985.

Early in the 1985-’86 basketball season he broke his foot and missed 64 games. Back on the court in 1986 Jordan scored the most points in a playoff game, 63, against Boston to whom the Bulls lost in the first round.

From 1987 through 1993 Jordan led the league in scoring with an average 37.1 points per game. In 1988 he was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the first of five times.

In 1993 Jordan’s father was shot to death and Jordan announced his retirement.

Jordan turned to baseball in 1994 as a free agent for the Chicago White Sox organization and batted an average of .202 on the Birmingham Barons minor-league team. He returned to the Bulls team to break more records and win more trophies. He retired again in 1999, but returned for two seasons with the Washington Wizards. He is currently part-owner of the NBA team the Charlotte Bobcats.Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 17, 1963. Many people consider him to be the greatest basketball player of all time. Playing with the Chicago Bulls, he won six NBA championships during the 1990s. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

As a freshman at the University of North Carolina in 1982, he nailed the bucket that won a title for the school. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year.

From 1987 through 1993 Jordan led the league in scoring with an average 37.1 points per game. In 1988 he was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the first of five times.

In 1993 Jordan’s father was shot to death and Jordan announced his retirement.