NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 3 Lost

There are five children in the family, and Michael is the laziest one.This is what he said himself.

At least, when it comes to chores, Michael is the best way to get away with it, he can always find an excuse.His father, James Jordan, later joked that it was a great thing that Michael became a professional athlete because he was too lazy to do anything else for long.

In Wallace, North Carolina, in 1956, James Jordan and Deloris Peoples met.If you believe in fate, the starting point of this story is probably a good argument, because Michael Jordan's parents met after a basketball game—see, Michael was destined to play basketball.

At that time, Dolores was only 15 years old, and James was about to serve in the Air Force.James promised Delores that, sooner or later, he would come back and marry her.Later, Delores also left home to go to Tuskegee College in Alabama, but soon returned because of homesickness.Shortly after returning to North Carolina, she married James and became Mrs. Jordan.

After James was discharged from the Air Force, he took his wife Delores to live in Brooklyn, New York for a year and a half.During that time, James received retraining for veterans and learned a solid mechanical repair skills, and Delores gave birth to Michael on February 1963, 2 at Cumberland Hospital.

When Delores was pregnant with Michael, her mother passed away unexpectedly. The doctor worried that Delores was too sad to cause a miscarriage, and told her not to get up in bed. Even so, Delores almost had a miscarriage, and Michael almost failed to come this world.

When he was born, Michael had a bloody nose, which worried James and Delores badly.

As a baby, Michael once fell out of his parents' bed and nearly died of suffocation.

When he was two years old, Michael picked up two electric wires next to the car. It was raining, and Michael was instantly electrocuted and flew a meter away.

It can't be said that the fate is ill-fated, but it is really not easy for this child to grow up healthy.

After Michael was born, James moved the family back to North Carolina, settling in Wilmington.James successfully found a job at General Electric, first as a mechanic and later as a supervisor of three departments.Delores worked as a teller at a local bank.In this way, the Jordan family has three stable incomes: James' salary, Delores' salary, and James can also receive a meager pension from the Air Force.Therefore, Michael Jordan was not born in poverty. He lived in a black middle-class family since he was a child.

Michael has two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister.The couple James and Delores wanted their five children to get rid of the shackles of color and race and live on an equal footing with whites.Michael and his siblings grew up in non-segregated schools and received the same education as whites.James and Delores asked the children to treat everyone equally. They instilled in the children the idea that the less you consider race, the less race will come against you; in order to win the respect of others , you have to respect everyone first.

Michael loved to be lazy when he was young, but his tutor was actually very strict.The Jordan family is extremely disciplined and has many rules.As a veteran, James pays attention to obeying orders, urging his sons to give their best on the sports field and not to waste their talents.According to friends, the real powerhouse of the family is Dolores.Delores's expectations for her five children are constantly rising, and she uses various methods to make them understand that the more parents give them, the more they are expected of them.Delores later revealed that the reason why she was so strict with her children was because she herself had dropped out of Tuskegee College when she was young-due to homesickness, she cried before finishing her freshman year there. Back to North Carolina. "My mom should have thrown me back on the train," Delores said. "I want to right that wrong with my own kids."

Once Michael got into trouble at school and skipped classes, and Delores took him to the bank where she worked and made him study all day in the car.The car was parked right outside the bank window so that Dolores could keep an eye on Michael while she worked inside.

James and Delores want their children to advance their lives by going to and completing college as much as possible.Later, Michael was in his third year at the University of North Carolina. His coach, Dean Smith, thought he had learned everything he needed to learn, and it was time for him to join the NBA. Delores was very opposed to such a decision. She wanted to Let my son study in North Carolina until graduation.Dean Smith had no choice but to say to Delores: "Mrs. Jordan, I'm not suggesting that Michael give up his college degree, I'm just suggesting that he give up his college status." Dean Smith means that Michael goes to play professional basketball , You can still go back to school, complete credits, and get a degree.

Unlike his father, James, and brother, Larry Jordan, Michael is not mechanically proficient.The whole family disliked this point.Because he is proficient in machinery, he is regarded as an essential quality for every man in this family.Sometimes while repairing things outside the door, James would let Michael "go inside with the women."Even so, Michael looked up to his father very much.When James was working, he always liked to stick his tongue out, and Michael completely copied this habit to himself.A few years later, the image of Michael Jordan playing basketball with his tongue out was imitated by thousands of young fans, all of which actually originated from James Jordan.

If you believe in destiny, then Michael's height is also good evidence.In the Jordan family, no one was taller than 6 feet (1.83 meters), and it took two or three generations to reach 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 meters), and Michael grew to 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 meters). "In that sense, I guess I'm The Chosen One," Michael said later.

The children of Jordan's family are all very competitive. At home, they have to compete with each other every day.Michael's incomparable competitive spirit, his love of competition and unyielding personality, his friends in school days believed that it was formed in the long-term competition with his brother Larry.

Larry Jordan has excellent athletic talent, good physical fitness, very strong, the only shortcoming is height.Doug Collins, who later coached Michael Jordan in the NBA, said: "I still remember the first time I saw him (Larry). Confidence. He has a great body, about 5'7" (1.70m), more like a football player's body than a basketball player's. The moment I met him, I knew where Michael's motivation was coming from .”

Pop Herring, a basketball coach at Lanney High School in Wilmington, who coached both Jordan brothers, also said: "Larry is a dynamic, scrappy athlete, and if he's 6 feet 2 inches instead of 5'7, I'm sure people would only know Michael as Larry's brother, not Larry as Michael's brother."

Ron Coley, an assistant coach at Laney High School, believed that Larry could have been a gymnast, and that gymnastics was the perfect sport for him.Later, Larry played in a professional basketball league under 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 meters) for the Chicago team, but eventually he understood that he was only used because he was Michael's brother , and quit.

For a long, long time, even after Michael was bigger than Larry, Larry could still jump as high as his brother.When Michael was a teenager, Larry was his biggest enemy on the basketball court.Day after day, the brothers fought each other on the small court that Dad had built in their backyard; year after year, Larry beat Michael to the brim with little chance of winning.It wasn't until later in high school, when Michael started to grow so tall that he was much taller than anyone in the family, that he could beat Larry.At this time, in order to balance the psychology of the two sons, James finally rewarded Larry more than Michael, and his father's "eccentricity" would only stimulate Michael to work harder.

Interestingly, instead of making Michael hostile to his older brother, the fierce intra-family rivalry strengthened his awe of his older brother.Later, Michael wore the No. 23 jersey on the basketball court because his brother Larry wore No. 45, and half of 45 is 22.5, so Michael chose No. 23.Others don't know what kind of basketball player Larry Jordan is. Michael told everyone: "When you see how I play, you see how Larry plays."

David Hart, Michael's later roommate at the University of North Carolina, said: "Michael and Larry obviously fought very hard when they were kids, and Larry was a huge part of his (Michael's) life. Michael really loves Larry, talks about him all day—just adores him. Even though Michael surpassed Larry so much as an athlete, he never let that affect their brotherhood. His love for his brother The emotion and respect was so strong that when his brother was around, he would drop all his fame and achievements and become a little brother who loved and adored his brother."

Of course, Michael also joked about his brother.Many years later, Michael has become a superstar in the NBA. Once the brothers had a bullfight on the court, Michael looked down at Larry's feet and said, "Remember whose name is written on your shoes!"

Michael Jordan's sports achievements were first achieved on the baseball field. (From here, we can finally refer to him as "Jordan" instead of "Michael.") At the age of 12, he represented Wilmington in the regional minor league baseball finals. The team didn't win the championship.At that time, Jordan was also obsessed with basketball, but basketball seemed like a distant dream.He was thin and short, standing only about 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters), not necessarily basketball material.Before entering high school, for a short period of time, because he was dissatisfied with his height, he hung on the horizontal bar to stretch his body every day, which didn't seem to work.

But there are still some signs, Michael Jordan has a good basketball talent.

Harvest Leroy Smith (Harvest Leroy Smith) was Jordan's classmate and close comrade-in-arms at the time, and he played basketball with Jordan every day.Leroy Smith felt that Jordan was already the best player on their ninth-grade team. "You see him take the shot and you wonder how he does it," Smith said, "because he's not that tall, but he's so fast. The only question is, how tall will he get -- and, he To what extent can the technology be improved.”

What really raised Jordan's level was his competitiveness, his fighting spirit.Leroy Smith recalled: "I practiced with him every day, and he always had to win. If you beat him in a shooting contest, you had to play another set until he won. Before he won, You don't want to go home."

The summer after ninth grade, Jordan went to Pop Heering's basketball camp with Leroy Smith.This Pop Herring was the head coach of the varsity basketball team at Laney High School, the school that both Jordan and Smith had entered that fall.By the time they were in their sophomore year of high school, Herring encouraged them both to try out for the varsity team, Smith because of his height of nearly 2 meters, and Jordan because of his speed and agility.The two were still growing, and the school team players at that time were basically two or three years older than them, and they were obviously much stronger. Adolescent children, with a difference of one or two years, may have a big difference in body.

If you ask Leroy Smith, who is the better basketball player, he or Jordan, Leroy Smith will definitely answer without hesitation that it is Jordan.There is absolutely no doubt about it.However, on the day the school team announced the layoffs, Jordan and Leroy Smith went to the gymnasium to look at the roster, only to find that Smith's name appeared on it, but Jordan's was not.

It was the darkest day of Jordan's short life at the time.He looked at the list over and over again, afraid that the coaches had put it in the wrong order, or he might have missed it.But no.

That day, Jordan walked home alone, locked himself in his room, and cried a lot.Leroy Smith knew what was going on—Jordan would never let you see him hurt.

Years later, the coaches of Laney High's varsity basketball team realized that they had acted sloppily, instead of trying to appease Jordan and tell him that his time would come.To make matters worse, they recruited Jordan's good friend to the school team, which is equivalent to saying that they felt that Jordan was not as good as Leroy Smith.Even Leroy Smith thought the coaches were crazy—yes, he was taller than Jordan, but he knew Jordan was far better than him.

Why was Leroy Smith wanted but not Jordan?Are the coaches blind?In fact, the coach has the coach's considerations, and it's still for Jordan's good.Assistant coach Fred Lynch later said: "We knew Michael was good, but we wanted him to play more and we thought it would be better for him to have him on the second team."

That year, Jordan was easily the best player on Laney High School's second basketball team. He dominated the game not by his height, but by his speed and explosive power.Some games, Jordan can get 40 points.Because of his outstanding performance, there was a strange scene in Laney High School: the second team game was very popular, and even the first team players would show up early to see Jordan play on the second team.

Leroy Smith discovered that Jordan's competitive spirit was already very strong before losing the school team, but after the incident happened, the flame of competition in Jordan's heart was burning hotter than ever before.

Coaches have noticed this too.Ron Curley said: "The first time I saw him, I had no idea who Michael Jordan was. I was helping coach Lenny's varsity team. We went to Goldsboro, and that was our toughest rivalry. When we entered the stadium, the game of the second team was about to end. There were nine players walking on the field, but one child was still doing his best. Looking at his desperate energy, I thought his team was in the last 2 Minutes down by one point. So I looked up my watch and they were down 20 with a minute to go. That was Michael. I soon found out, he’s always playing like that.”

From the loss of the school team in the second year of high school to the beginning of the senior year of high school, Jordan grew 4 inches (about 10 centimeters) in less than a year.He's still that fast, but he's got a stronger body, he can dunk, and his hands are bigger.All of a sudden, Laney High was a very good basketball team, and their new star was Michael Jordan, who had just been promoted from the second team.

During training, Jordan is the one who works the hardest. If he finds that his teammates are not working hard enough, he will step forward to teach them, and sometimes he will even forcefully push the coach over to reprimand those people.If there was anything Jordan could find fault with at the time, the coaches felt, it was that he wasn't playing selfishly enough—they would force Jordan to take more shots, but the more they forced him, the more resistant Jordan seemed to be.

In Jordan's senior year, Lenny went 13-10 at High School. By Jordan's senior year, he improved to 19-4 and almost made it to the state finals.Basketball is slowly dominating Jordan's life, and the fate of this teenager is already inseparable from this sport.

(End of this chapter)