Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, the fourth of five children. He was the outgoing, rambunctious one, forever testing his parents or challenging a sibling at whatever that sibling did best. In basketball, the measuring stick was Larry, his older brother by less than a year. Michael idolized him, followed him into the game, and hated losing to him.

That intensity did not always have a useful place to go. At twelve, after Michael had been getting into fights at school, a suspension left him at home. His mother, Deloris, took him to the bank where she worked and had him sit in the car reading where she could see him through the window. After lunch, she arranged for more reading at a library. Deloris later said the school trouble stopped.

Three years later, Michael tried out for the varsity basketball team at Laney High School. He did not make the varsity roster and played junior varsity instead; his taller friend LeRoy Smith made the varsity roster. Michael later said he was devastated and did not want to go to school. Deloris cried with him, then pointed to the part he could change: if he truly wanted the place, he could work over the summer.

Michael practiced with the junior varsity team and kept the ball close through the summer. He made varsity as a junior, became a high-school All-American, and earned a scholarship to the University of North Carolina. Practice was not the only change: the NBA’s account notes that he grew from five feet eleven to six feet three before his junior year.

Jordan’s competitiveness never became a gentle trait. It powered extraordinary work and, later, could make him demanding of teammates. At two turning points, Deloris neither excused the behavior nor treated disappointment as proof that he did not belong. She acknowledged the feeling, set a boundary, and returned the next move to him.