Known simply as Michael Jordan, Michael Jeffrey Jordan in full was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. He is widely considered to be the greatest professional basketball player in the history of the game. He is one of five children of James and Deloris, born in Brooklyn, New York.

The family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, while Michael was still very young. His father obtained a job at General Electric plant as a supervisor while his mother was working in the banking field.

Michael grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, and attended the University of North Carolina in 1981 at Chapel Hill. He won playing against Georgetown in 1982 as a freshman in the national championship game.

As a result, he was named both the sophomore and junior years’ College Player of the Year. Later, he had his first pro draft by the Chicago Bulls in 1984. His first season was during 1984-1985 as a professional basketball player.

At the time that Michael came to the Chicago Bulls, they were a losing team. They only managed to gather about six to seven thousand fans at their home games. Jordan turned the odds while leading the league quickly. Michael was awarded Rookie of the Year in 1985.

He missed most of the upcoming season thanks to a broken foot. But after returning to the NBA, Michael managed to lead scoring in seven seasons with an average of 33 points every game.

During his whole career, the number 23 on his shirts became iconic in such a way that athletes nowadays are battling for this number, no matter the sport. This number is a synonym for “His Airness”, a nickname Michael Jordan has.

However, during a game in 1990, he was forced into wearing a nameless jersey with #12 on it. He lost his #23 jersey during a game against Orlando Magic when someone stole it, but this didn’t stop him from scoring 49 points.

Michael Jordan is one of the most marketed sports figures. He worked in collaboration with well-known brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Gatorade, Nike, and many others. Gatorade was his longest relationship marketing-wise, the star appearing in more than 20 commercials since 1991.

Nike is also a long-time partner, well known for creating his signature brand, Air Jordan, in 1984. He became associated with the name over the years resulting in significant revenue for the athlete.

This was only the start. He was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (or MVP) five times, in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, and 1998. He is also the only player to score 3,000 points during one season after Wilt Chamberlain.

During all this time, Michael worked hard and focused on improving his overall basketball capabilities, and took full advantage of his skills and talent. This represented the foundation of his successful career in basketball.

In 1993, he administered a shock to the NBA world, following a hard playoff against the New York Knicks. His team, the Chicago Bulls, played against the Phoenix Suns for the NBA Championship. He was once again named the MVP, resulting in Chicago Bulls winning a third straight title.

The summer came with horrific news for the players, as a robbery attempt turned into a murder, resulting in the death of his father, James. Stricken with grief, along with media reports for a gambling addiction, Michael Jordan, the young NBA player, announced his retirement from NBA and overall basketball in October the same year.

With three NBA titles straight, three MVP awards, the same number of MVP titles in playoffs, and no more than seven consecutive titles for scoring and also a member of the All-Star team every year while in the league, the news shocked everyone.

In nine seasons, Michael Jordan became the all-time leading scorer for the Chicago Bulls. He is a nine-time NBA All-Defensive First team from 1988 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998 and a two-time IBM Award Winner, in 1985 and 1989. These are only a few titles for the athlete.

In 1993, during the Chicago Bulls playoff, Michael Jordan was spotted gambling in New Jersey. He claimed to lose $57,000 the night before the game between the Chicago Bulls against New York Knicks. In 1993, Richard Esquinas wrote a book claiming to have won $1.25 million from the golf course owned by Jordan.

Jordan later discussed gambling in 2005 with Ed Bradley during 60 Minutes, admitting to reckless choices, and stating that impulsive behavior and other external factors almost jeopardized his career.

He returned to the baseball scene after a seventeen-month break from sports. In 1994 – 1995, Michael played for the Birmingham Barons, a minor and small league for baseball in Chicago White Sox. The experiment only proved that his love for basketball was bigger than everything.

The rest allowed him to regain popularity as a basketball player. He decided to quit baseball in March 1995 due to the Major League Baseball strike, trying to avoid becoming a potential replacement.

When Michael officially came back to Chicago Bulls in the ‘94-’95 regular season, many fans wondered if he could do it again and manage to keep up. While still being a good player, it was very obvious that the time off made him become a little rusty.

In a game against Orlando Magic, the Chicago Bulls team lost in the playoffs. Michael Jordan played basketball during breaks from filming the live cartoon movie and after a whole summer, he came back to the scene with determination to claim his spotlight as the MVP.

The NBA athlete also starred in a couple of movies and TV shows, starting in 1991 up until 2020. He is known for his performance in Space Jam from 1996. Year 3000 is also a movie released in 2018 where he can be seen performing.

In total, there are 7 biographical movies about Michael Jordan released by different media companies, the most recent one being The Last Dance released in 2020.

The ‘95-’96 Bulls finished the regular seasons with 72-10, which meant an NBA record for the most wins in a single season, allowing Jordan to win the scoring title with number 8 to his name. He became number 10 on the NBA leader board for scoring 25,000 points, being the second to reach that mark after Chamberlain.

With this comeback, Chicago Bulls went for their fourth NBA championship win, managing to overpower the Seattle Supersonics in a total of six games.

In 1999, Michael Jordan decided to retire for a second time, meaning an end to his career but still on a high note following an official end of the labor dispute among NBA team owners and players. Considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time by many, his official retirement meant the end of an NBA era.

Starting the new decade in 2000, Michael Jordan became the president and part-owner of the Washington Wizards, a basketball operation. This made him one of the three African American owners in the NBA.

In 1999, director Alan Metzger released a new TV Show called Michael Jordan: An American Hero. It follows Michael Jordan’s story starting from a little child and up to his career in the NBA. It shows the man behind the legend.

The cast included Debbie Allen, Ernie Hudson, and Robin Givens. This marks yet another milestone in Michael Jordan’s life. It shows appreciation for him as an athlete, but also as a person.

In 2001, after many rumors, Michael officially announced the end of his retirement plan and joined the Wizards team at 38 years old. He announced playing again shortly after the 9/11 attack. He also decided to donate his salary from the first year to relief efforts.

This added up to more than a million dollars regarding the incident. It provided the much-needed positivity and charity that was undoubtedly needed.

In 2001, during a news conference regarding his comeback, he stated that his age might not be on his side. But his mindset and physique were on his side.

He stated that he feels like playing the game at the highest levels, not letting the fans and team down. With only 19 games won by the Wizards, Michael Jordan helped.

While being voted for his 13th All-Star Game, Jordan rocketed the Wizards into the playoffs until a knee injury occurred. This led to him missing the last half of the season.

Another distraction was by his wife, Juanita, who filed for divorce in January 2002. One month later, the divorce was canceled, and Jordan announced one more season alongside the Wizards.

After retiring officially again for the third time following a dispute between him and owner of Wizards, Abe Pollin, Michael Jordan was fired on May 7, 2003, from his position as Wizards team president of basketball operations.

He felt betrayed and stated that if he had known, he would never have accepted to play alongside the Wizards. He kept himself busy with different businesses and charity events he previously started and continued over the years to come.

Michael kept himself busy during the next few years. He kept his physique playing golf in tournaments alongside celebrities. He also spent time in Chicago with his family. It was at this time he started promoting his clothing brand, Michael Jordan, and started riding motorcycles.

Since 2004, Michael Jordan Motorsports has been owned by him. It is a professional course for motorcycle racing, competing with the brand Suzuki in the Premier Superbike Championship. It was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (or AMA) until the end of the season of 2013.

Michael Jordan also authored or co-authored in several books, most of them about his professional NBA career and overall life. The first one, released in 1993 with Mark Vancil and Walter Iooss, was called Rare Air.

Another book followed the next year, authored by Mark Vancil and Sandro Miller. Several other books were published between 1998 and 2014 regarding basketball, sports life, and Jordan’s general world view.

Despite his fame and public coverage, the athlete always lived a private life as much as he could. His first marriage started in 1989 with Juanita Vanoy, and they had three children together.

In 2006, their divorce was the largest celebrity divorce resulting in Vanoy receiving $168 million in the divorce settlement. At the time, this was the biggest settlement ever awarded.

Jordan bought a stake in the Charlotte Bobcats on June 15, 2006, making him the second-largest shareholder in the team, after Robert L. Johnson, the majority owner. The deal gave him full control of the basketball operations, giving him the title “Managing Member of the Basketball operations”.

With previous success regarding endorsement, he was included in the marketing campaigns of Charlotte without effort. Ten years earlier, a bid was made for him to become a part-owner of the NBA original team, but the deal was off. George Shinn, the owner, refused to give Michael Jordan full control over the basketball operations.

The NBA star is also into the automotive business, being co-owner of a company bearing his name. The company owns a dealership in Durham, North Carolina, for Nissan, which was bought in 1990, and a former dealership for Lincoln-Mercury. This was kept open from 1995 to 2009.

Another business interest of Jordan’s is represented by the restaurant industry, including a couple of high-end restaurants in America. Among them, the most popular one is a steakhouse in New York City located in Grand Central Terminal.

His clothing brand, Air Jordan, produced sneakers exclusively for Michael Jordan in early 1984, later being released to the public. The shoes were designed by Peter Moore for Nike alongside Tinker Hatfield and Bruce Kilgore.

Since then, the Air Jordan line went through many controversies, being associated with riots, assaults, murders, and robberies. Nike also claims that the company doesn’t own any business where the clothing is manufactured; they only design and market the products, dictating terms, and standards regarding the quality of the product.

February 2010 marked the moment when Jordan was seeking a majority in ownership of the Bobcats team, later known as the Hornets, the change being made in 2014. As February passed, it was apparent the fact that Jordan and the ex-president of Houston Rockets, George Postolos, were the leading fighters battling over ownership of the team. On February 27th an announcement was made that Jordan was officially placed alongside MJ Basketball Holdings as an official buyer to the NBA team, waiting for approval.

Jordan’s purchase was approved unanimously by the NBA Board of Governors on March 17, turning him into the first ex-player to own the majority of the NBA team and also the league’s one and only African-American owner of the majority.

Michael Jordan was ranked by Forbes magazine in June 2010, the 20th most powerful star in the world. His fortune of $55 million was collected in a full year between June 2009 and June 2010, according to the magazine.

The Michael Jordan brand generated over $1 billion when it came to sales for Nike. This resulted in him becoming the first NBA player to achieve $1 billion net fortune in June 2014, after increasing the stakes from 80% to 89.5% in Charlotte Hornets.

Starting in 2001 and going all the way to 2014, Michael Jordan held an annual golf tournament raising money for multiple charities. The Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational tournament managed to raise millions of dollars over the years.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation named Michael Jordan in 2008 it’s Chief Wish Ambassador. He offered his 200th wish for the foundation five years later and also raised more than five million dollars for the foundation.

Forbes also gave Michael Jordan the title of the highest earnings in his career as an athlete in 2017. Thanks to his brand income and endorsements, he received an estimated income of $110 million, and it is the highest income for a retired athlete.

As of April 2020, he is estimated to be worth $2.1 billion by Forbes, making him also the fourth richest African American, coming in after Robert Smith, David Steward, and Oprah.

Jeffrey Jordan joined the Illinois basketball team in 2007. His father offered the support needed in following his basketball career. He played for the university team for three seasons then tried again with the University of Southern Florida, after which he retired indefinitely from the game. He later joined a management position for Nike.

Jordan’s younger son, Marcus, played for the UCF Knights for three seasons before deciding to open a dedicated basketball clothing store in Florida.

Jordan proposed to his next girlfriend, Yvette Prieto in 2011. On April 27, 2013, Michael Jordan married the Cuban model, who was only 35 at the time, in Palm Beach, Florida. Among the participants at the wedding, Spike Lee, Tiger Woods, and Patrick Ewing were present.

One year later, Yvette gave birth to a pair of twins, Victoria and Ysabel. As of 2020, Michael and Yvette are still married.

First love always remains with us. Although he is in his late 50s, Michael Jordan still works out. In 2013, he said he wants to reach his playing weight of 218 pounds.

Today, his management status is unknown. You can still see him jogging and working out. What a great example to follow!

On November 22, 2016, the NBA star was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This shows that Michael Jordan accomplished almost everything there is to accomplish and can win any title.

Jordan sat behind the president while he was telling stories about how Michael Jordan almost cut a toe-off when he was 5 years old. This proves that MJ is more than just a businessman and athlete. He is also a caring person and a friend you can joke around with.

Michael Jordan is named one of the 50 greatest NBA players in history, and this was clear even from his first play in the NBA. He received a standing ovation in his first game in Madison Square Garden with a duration of almost one minute.

This came as a shock for many people since he was playing for the opposing team, the New York Knicks. Larry Bid even claimed that God was disguised as Michael Jordan after scoring 63 points against the Celtics.

Michael enjoyed a total of 15 seasons playing in the NBA and was consistent even after returning from his retirements. He holds the world record for regular seasons scoring a mammoth score of 30.12 PPG and also the playoff record with an amazing score of 33.45 PPG.

This puts him above players like Kobe, LeBron, Iverson, or Shaq. He is a great scorer and an example for others, developing unstoppable post-game scoring.

Besides the titles of being the greatest basketball player and athlete overall, “His Airness” also has a love for business. You can see this in his income from his multiple businesses, he became the first athlete to be a billionaire.

Ranging from car dealerships, restaurants, and clothing lines in partnership with Nike, he has quite several ventures. He also is the chairman and owner of Charlotte Hornets, proving that he cannot stay away from sports.

Michael Jordan has a big heart with any charitable opportunities. He proved this many times over the years. His most recent donations were on September 18, 2018, and September 10, 2019. These were for the Hurricane Florence relief efforts and Hurricane Dorian relief efforts that hit the Bahamas.

The donations combined sum up to $3 million. The Basketball Hall of Fame owns several properties in the Bahamas. So this might have had an impact on his choices.

In 2019, the six-time NBA champion unveiled one of the two medical clinics founded by him in North Carolina. The facility offers care to residents of Charlotte with little or no health insurance available.

It was strategically placed in the neighborhood that requires more medical care. As such, it is perfect to serve community needs. The facility stands proud at 6,800 square feet. It provides patients with the best services and equipment.

Michael Jordan is a role model and inspiration to millions of people looking forward to basketball. This includes today’s generation of best stars. If you were fortunate enough to follow along with him in his career, you are the proud possessor of vivid memories and emotions of his phenomenal abilities and capabilities in sports.

Besides his main activity, sports, MJ is, without a doubt, a good businessman with dozens of areas in which he is active, making him a fascinating individual.

Without a doubt, he is a star, and, given his success all around, you would think fear is not something he experiences. While he feels no fear when playing on hardwood, Michael Jordan still proves he is human with a phobia for water stemming from a tragic accident during his young childhood.

A good friend of his drowned in front of him. Shortly after, he almost drowned at a baseball camp, resulting in a lifetime phobia of water.

After the thrill of competitive sports, many professional athletes find a hard time filling the void in retirement. Check out which ones are working 9-5 jobs just for fun, and which went to great lengths to make ends meet…

Jordy Nelson is one of the few on this list who is currently still a player. During the off-season, he goes back to his family’s farm in Kansas. In fact, he often works 12-hour days. Even though he has millions, he is a farm boy at heart.

Myron Rolle didn’t actually play in any NFL games but still counts as a professional athlete, as he was on the Titans’ roster for several seasons. Before being drafted, however, he deferred his professional football career to study in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, earning a master’s. He retired from football after a few years to become a doctor. Currently, he is doing his neurosurgeon residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospital. There’s no doubt he’s the brainiest guy on this list.

For those wrestling fans with long memories, you’ll remember Tito Santana from the late ’70s and ’80s. Since leaving the WWE (then known as the WWF), he became a Spanish teacher at Eisenhower Middle School in New Jersey as Merced Solis, his legal name. He still wrestles from time to time on the independent circuit, wrestling in at least a dozen matches a year. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.  If you get him, make sure you do your homework!

Wayne Chrebet’s story in the NFL is one of the greatest in sports history, as he is only 5’10” and was undrafted. No one could have expected him to have been as successful with the Jets as he was. Despite this, his career was cut short following a bad concussion. Since then he has made quite a career on Wall Street, lending his skills to some serious financial powerhouses. These include Morgan Stanley and Barclay’s Capital. Most recently, he was part of a team that managed some $2 billion in assets.

Although Keith Fitzhugh had a good college career at Mississippi State, he was unable to hold a position on a team. He found a spot on both the New York Jets and the Baltimore Ravens before getting cut. After two of the Jets’ safeties were injured, they offered him a place back on the team, but he declined in order to work in a profession that would provide him with more steady work to support his family. He became a railroad conductor for Atlanta Norfolk Southern Railway.

Eddie George is a Heisman Trophy winner and a four-time Pro Bowler in the NFL who can’t seem to stay away from the limelight. Since retiring, he has appeared on stage as an actor. He’s even been on Broadway, playing Billy Flynn in Chicago. One of his Chicago costars remarked that “Eddie has star power,” and looking at his nine seasons in the NFL as a running back, we’d have to agree. Besides the musical, he has also appeared in numerous Shakespeare productions.

In one of the greatest dramas in Olympic history, gymnast Kerri Strug overcame a serious ankle injury to win gold in the vault at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. She is remembered for being carried by her coach to the podium, as she was unable to walk. Later, she would go to Stanford, studying communications and social psychology. She became a second grade teacher before moving on to serving as a grant manager at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

After having a great senior season in college, Ricardo Silva lasted only 14 games in the NFL before he was cut by the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad. He had 43 tackles, one interception, and one fumble recovery. Since then, he has decided to pursue a career in teaching. He left football when he was only 26 and became a geometry teacher. He is a member of Teach For America, which seeks to improve the education in low-income communities. He teaches at Ballou High School in Washington D.C.

Swimmer Maya DiRado took home two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. She could have continued in competitive swimming as a coach, and yet she decided to be a consultant at McKinsey and Co., specializing in healthcare provider procurement and risk identification programs in banking. Since then, she has become an associate at King Philanthropies. She has a degree in management science and engineering from Stanford, so it’s no surprise that they hired her!

Mark Wohlers holds a record for the third-fastest ball ever pitched when he threw a 103 miles per hour ball in at spring training camp in 1995. Despite having a few great seasons, he seems to have caught the yips, also known as Steve Blass syndrome. This is when an athlete with years of experience suddenly loses the ability to control how they pitch or hit the ball, which also occurs in games like golf. Nowadays he runs a real estate business with his wife, Team Wohlers.

After 11 years spent as a tight end in the NFL, Tony McGee learned to never give up. This is a lesson he took with him after his football playing days were long gone and started a series of business ventures — all of which failed. He didn’t let this get to him and persevered, eventually getting into the shipping industry, which ended up being very lucrative for him. In fact, his company, HNM Global Logistics, wound up raking in over $1 million in its first year.

The great Rick Steiner, along with his younger brother, Scott, was part of one of wrestling’s all-time greatest tag teams. Since then, however, he has moved on to selling real estate. It seems that going from selling a show to selling property was an easy transition for him. In addition, he serves on his local school board. In one 2006 incident, he was automatically disqualified for running as Rick Steiner instead of under his legal name, Robert Reichsteiner. Regardless, he won unopposed as a write-in. Would you want to run against him?

One of the odder career choices for an NFL player, offensive guard Ed Newman studied law at night while playing for the Miami Dolphins. He became a litigator before he was elected county judge in Miami, Florida. You know what’s even odder? The fact that his former teammate, Tony Nathan, is his bailiff. It’s not unheard of for people who show up for trial in the courtroom to end up asking for autographs from the two former star players.

Karl Malone was the NBA’s MVP twice and is second to only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in total career points, with 36,928. In addition, he holds some other records, as well as two gold medals in the Olympics. Since then, he’s become a prolific business owner, running several at once. He now owns a Teriyaki Grill, an Eskimoes Ice Cream, and an Arby’s in Ruston, Louisiana. He also dabbles in car dealerships and owns several Jiffy Lubes, as well as having owned a trucking business, even driving trucks himself.

Adrian Dantley, another NBA legend, prefers a more relaxed retirement. After playing for 15 years, he was a coach for a bit before he left basketball behind to be a crossing guard in Silver Spring, Maryland. He makes only $14,000 a year, but that’s all right with him. He doesn’t seem to be too strapped for cash and likes to work in his community. Along with helping the kids, he is able to easy hours and the weekends off. Furthermore, he gets summer vacation off. What can be so bad about that?

After an awesome college career, LaRue Martin’s lackluster NBA career was quite a disappointment for both him and fans alike. Despite this, he refused to let it get him down. He took a job with UPS, gradually working his way to the top. We can’t imagine they had a lot of 7-foot uniforms, but he adjusted just fine. He’s now the Illinois district public affairs and community services manager, having a positive effect on the community with a stellar work ethic.

Giovanni Carmazzi is perhaps most notable for being a quarterback who was drafted ahead of Tom Brady, the GOAT (greatest of all time), a title which is pretty much undebatable at this point. After a fairly disappointing career in the NFL, he played in Europe. Eventually he left gridiron, going pretty much off the grid altogether. He’s now a farmer who doesn’t own a TV, even, practicing yoga. He also owns five goats; maybe that’s compensation for Brady turning out better than him.

While there are many current NFL players who do odd jobs on the off season, only a handful are worth mentioning. Bernard Reedy is one of them, as he makes only $11 an hour working for Car Ride as a driver. This company provides transportation for people in wheelchairs, which Reedy says inspires him. When he gets stuck in traffic, he just thinks about the people he drives around and gets inspired. Well, we’re inspired by you, Bernard Reedy!

Another current NFL player making money on the side as a driver is A.J. Francis. He drives an Uber car just to make some extra cash, which is understandable. While the top players make millions a year, less prolific players simply don’t make those astronomical salaries. He says he rakes in about $40 to $50 an hour driving around, which is something he can do right after practice. Good for him for diversifying and doing something else he likes, especially in a sport where one injury can completely destroy your career.

In addition to fathering future quarterback legends Peyton and Eli Manning, both of whom have won two Super Bowls, Archie Manning also put in 15 years in the NFL. He was great in college, and even though he was selected to the Pro Bowl twice, his teams never did that good. Although he didn’t do great things in his NFL career, his offspring did, so at least he has that. Since then, he has opened up a football-themed restaurant in New Orleans called Manning’s.

Following 10 seasons in the NFL, Brian Orakpo opened up a Gigi’s Cupcakes last December with a former Tennessee Titans teammate, Michael Griffin. The pair chose Bee Cave, Texas, as the location to open up their franchise. Not exactly what you would expect from 6 foot 4, 257-pound former NFL player, but at least it causes far fewer concussions than football. Apparently, Orakpo and Griffin both have a major sweet tooth and thought this was the next logical career move.

Randy Johnson is the oldest baseball player to pitch a perfect game, as well as one of five to have pitched no-hitters in both the American and the National leagues. Since retiring at the age of 47, though, he changed his focus from being a pitcher to taking pictures. He does fairly well, going on tour with bands like Metallica, KISS, Rush, and others. His logo on his website is of a dead bird — a reference to a 2001 game where one of his fastballs hit a bird.

New England Patriots fans owe a lot to Drew Bledsoe. Ever since he joined the team, he helped the team end a seven-season postseason drought. In addition, when he was almost killed by a life-threatening injury, rookie Tom Brady was given the opportunity to shine. The rest is history for the Patriots, who just won their six Super Bowl, but what about Bledsoe? After stints with the Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys, he founded Doubleback Winery along with close friend, which is considered one of the best in Washington state.

For 13 years, Vin Baker was an NBA player. For four years in a row he played on the NBA’s All-Star Game. Despite this, substance abuse and fiscal irresponsibility caused him to lose his fortune of about $100 million. After his spectacular career, he managed to clean himself up but was still broke. He got a job from his former boss, Howard Schultz, who used to own the Seattle SuperSonics. At the time, Schultz was the CEO of Starbucks, so he got Baker a job as a shift manager.

Dan Marino led the Dolphins to the playoffs 10 times and the Super Bowl once. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh native never won a ring. Despite this, he is widely regarded as one of the best passers to have ever played the game and broke numerous records. Since then, he is the owner of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, with over 60 locations in the northeast and Florida. He is a hard worker, apparently, and says that he doesn’t ever really get a day off.