JORDAN'S PROFILE

Michael Jeffrey Jordan born 17 February 1963 is a retire American professional basketball player and active businessman. Michael Jordan was born to James R. Jordan, Sr. and Delores Jordan in Brooklyn, New York. His family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Jordan is the fourth of five children. He has two older brothers, Larry Jordan and James R. Jordan, Jr., one older sister, Deloris, and a younger sister, Roslyn. Jordan's brother James retired in 2006 as the Command Sergeant Major of the 35th Signal Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the U.S. Army.

He married Juanita Vanoy in September 1989, and they have two sons, Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James, and a daughter Jasmine. Jordan and Juanita filed for divorce on 4 January 2002, citing irreconcilable differences, but reconcile shortly thereafter. They again file for divorice and were grant a final decree of dissolution of marriage on 29 December 2006,commenting that the decision was make mutually and amicably.

It is reported that Juanita received a $168 million settlement, make it the largest celebrity divorce settlement in history on public record.

On 21 July 2006, a Cook County, Illinois judge determined that Jordan did not owe a former lover, Karla Knafel, $5 million. Jordan earlier paid Knafel $250,000 to keep their relationship a secret. Knafel claimed Jordan promise that amount for remain silent and agreei not to file a paternity suit after Knafel learned she was pregnant in 1991. A DNA test showed Jordan was not the father of the child.

As of 2007, Jordan lives in Highland Park Illinois, and both of his sons attended Loyola Academy, a private Roman Catholic high school located in Wilmette, Illinois. Jeffrey graduate as a member of the 2007 Graduating Class, and play his first collegiate basketball game on 11 November 2007 for the University of Illinois. Marcus transfer to Whitney Young High School after his sophomore year and will graduate in 2009.

First career at the University of North Carolina, Jordan join the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerge as one of the stars of the league, entertaining crowd with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustration by performing slam dunks from the free throw line at Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation as one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Though Jordan abruptly left the NBA at the begin of the 1993-94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but he returned for two more NBA seasons in 2001 as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing small forward. Jordan was known throughout his career for being a clutch performer. He decided numerous games with last-second plays and perform well under adverse circumstances. His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash-talk and solid work ethic.

Jordan had a versatile offensive game. He was capable of aggressively slashing to the basket and drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate; his 8,772 free throw attempts are the ninth highest total of all time. Jordan could also post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jumpshot, using his leaping ability to "fade away" from block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made him nearly unstoppable. Jordan's 5.3 assists per game indicate his willingness to defer to his teammates. In later years, he extended his shooting range to become a three-point threat, rising from a low 9 / 52 rate in his rookie year into a stellar 111 / 260 shooter in the 1995–96 season. For a guard, Jordan was also a good rebounder.On defense, Jordan's contributions were equally impressive. In 1988, he 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; only Olajuwon also won both during the same season. In addition he set records for blocked shots by a guard, and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become a standout defensive player. His 2,514 steals are the second highest total of all-time behind John Stockton, while his steals per game average is third all-time. Jerry West often stated that he was more impressed with Jordan's defensive contributions than his offensive ones.