Michael Jordan was born three days after Valentine's Day in 1963. He brought a new level of excitement to the game of basketball, and is now retired, much to the relief of his opponents, and despite coming back several times previously. He is a marketing genius and a businessman. Michael Jordan is often called the greatest basketball player to ever live - a distinction he himself is quick to denounce. He was, however, marketed to the fullest by his team, and his shoe line from Nike, the Air Jordan, remains the top selling shoe endorsed by a sports personality. He ruled basketball through the 80's and 90's.



He began his career as a stand-out playing the Tarheels out of the University of North Carolina. Be began his professional career in the near mid 1980's when he inked a deal with the Chicago Bulls franchise. It did not take Michael Jordan long to shine on the professional level, becoming one of the greatest stars in his rookie season. He was a high scorer with a tremendous leaping ability and many of his slam dunks have become highlight reel moments - especially the backboard shattering ones of which there were plenty. All of his accolades as a leaper and a scorer gave him the moniker of "Air Jordan" and he was also sometimes referred to as "His Airness" by sassy commentators. Besides being a great offensive player, he was also a tremendous defender.

He helped take the Chicago Bulls to World Champion Chicago Bulls in 1991 and their streak continued through 1992 and 1993 securing them a much talked about "three-peat". Michael Jordan, feeling bored with basketball, took a leave during the 1993 through 1994 season in order to follow a dream of becoming a major league baseball player. That did not go as well as he would have liked and he went back to playing basketball with the Chicago Bulls in 1995. With Michael Jordan back on the wood, the Chicago Bulls pulled off another three-peat by winning back to back to back championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998 and they also set a record with winning 72 games in a regular season in 95-96. Michael Jordan again retired in 1999 but soon returned to play in the 2001 and 2002 seasons with the Washington Wizards, a team he was part owner in.

Michael Jordan is probably the most highly decorated basketball player in the game today, winning five MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team Designations, fourteen all star game appearances as well as holding the record for the highest career regular-season scoring by managing a little over 30 points a game.