An Athlete to Remember - Michael Jordan

Essay by nijo101Junior High, 9th gradeA-, February 2008

download word file, 6 pages 3.0

Michael Jordan has been a superstar basketball player throughout much of his life. He led the Bulls to six National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships, led the NBA in scoring five times during his career, and won two gold medals for the United States of America Olympic basketball team among other things (Pietrusza 91). Though Michael Jordan’s father was murdered, he persevered and helped transcend the game of basketball’s popularity to new heights. My National History Day project will explore the successes and tragedies in the life of Michael Jordan, including his rise to fame after being cut from his high school varsity basketball team, to the tragedy of his father’s death, and his unbelievably successful professional basketball career. Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball because he would not accept failure and disappointment.

Michael Jordan was born February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York (Biography np). Before Jordan began attending grade school, his family moved to North Carolina because James and Deloris Jordan, Jordan’s parents, wanted a safer environment for their children.

Jordan began to fall in love with basketball when his older brother, Larry used to beat him in one-on-one pickup games in the Jordan family’s driveway (Air np). Jordan went to high school in North Carolina at Laney High School. As a sophomore, Jordan tried out for Laney’s varsity basketball team but was cut. This devastated Jordan, but drove him to work harder so that he would never feel this kind of pain and disappointment again (Air np). Jordan did make the junior varsity team and he became so good that the varsity basketball team and coaches would come to all his games just to watch him play (Biography np). After his sophomore year, Jordan began to rise into the national spotlight. As a junior and senior basketball...