On Feb. 26, 1987, Michael
Jordan's 58 points sets a new Chicago Bulls record for most points in a
single game. While not his highest point total of his career for a single game,
as he scored in the 60’s multiple times, including a 69-point game against the
Cleveland Cavaliers in 1990.
 |
| Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan in the 1987 NBA Dunk Contest. |
This was however a highlight in Jordan’s career, which had
many including winning six NBA Championships, being named the NBA Finals MVP
all six times. He would win the regular seasons MVP five times, be named an
All-Star 14-times, being named the MVP of the All-Star game three times. He was
a 10 times NBA scoring champion, and three time NBA steals champion, being
named to the All-NBA First team 10 times, NBA All-Defensive First team nine
times and All-NBA Second team once. He was nominated to the NBA All-Rookie
First Team and won the NBA Slam Dunk contest in back-to-back years in 1987 and
1988.
In 1988, Jordan was honored with the NBA's Defensive Player
of the Year Award and became the first NBA player to win both the Defensive
Player of the Year and MVP awards in a career (since equaled by Hakeem Olajuwon, David
Robinson, and Kevin
Garnett; Olajuwon is the only player other than Jordan to win both during
the same season).
In addition he set both seasonal and career records for blocked shots by
a guard, and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become
a standout defensive player.
He ranks third in NBA history in total steals with
2,514, trailing John Stockton
and Jason Kidd.
Jordan finished his career with 32,292 points, 6,672
rebounds and 5,633 assists.
The NBA selected Jordan to the NBA’s 50 Anniversary All-Time
Team, and his no. 23 jersey was retired by the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year – 1991 Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 Ranked No.1 by SLAM
Magazine's Top 50 Players of All-Time
In International play Jordan earned two Gold Medals with the
“Dream Team” in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He
also won Gold on United State’s team in the 1992 FIBA Americas Championship and
the 1983 Pan American Games.
In
a 1999 ESPN poll, Jordan was ranked the greatest U.S. athlete of the Century.
Jordan
is one of the most marketed sports figures in history. He has been a major
spokesman for such brands as Nike,
Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI. Jordan has had a
long relationship with Gatorade, appearing in over 20 commercials for the
company since 1991, including the "Like Mike" commercials in which children
wishing to be like Jordan sang a song.
Jordan’s legacy went outside of
basketball as Nike created a signature shoe for him, called the Air Jordan.
One of Jordan's more popular
commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee
playing the part of Mars
Blackmon. In the commercials Lee, as Blackmon, attempted to find the
source of Jordan's abilities and became convinced that "it's gotta be the
shoes.
The hype and demand for the shoes even
brought on a spate of "shoe-jackings" where people were robbed of
their sneakers at gunpoint. Subsequently Nike spun off the Jordan line into its
own division named the "Jordan Brand". The company features an
impressive list of athletes and celebrities as endorsers. The brand has also sponsored college
sports programs such as those of North
Carolina, Cincinnati,
Cal,
St.
John's, Georgetown,
and North
Carolina A&T.
Jordan also has been associated with
the Looney
Tunes cartoon characters.
A Nike commercial shown during the 1993
Super
Bowl XXVII featured Jordan and Bugs Bunny
playing basketball against a group of Martian characters. The Super Bowl
commercial inspired the 1996 live action/animated movie Space Jam, which starred
Jordan and Bugs in a fictional story set during his first retirement. They have subsequently appeared together
in several commercials for MCI.
In June 2010, Jordan was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 20th most powerful celebrity in the
world with $55 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010. According
to the Forbes article, Jordan Brand generates $1 billion in sales for
Nike.
