Michael Jordan

American famed basketball star, known by some as the "Best Player Alive." Over 13 seasons as pro basketball's most dynamic and influential star, a dazzling career, there seemed to be nothing he could not do. He won six world championships with the Chicago Bulls, ten scoring titles and enough Most Valuable Player awards to stock his own wing at the Hall of Fame. He may possibly be the most famous American in the world, and is certainly so in the sports world. His salary peak was $34 million in 1998 and he reputedly earned $240 million from endorsements alone in the '90s. His sole public vice is gambling, and he appears to have his addiction under control.

The son of James and Deloris Jordan, Michael was encouraged to play baseball as a kid. While a senior in high school, he was invited to go to Dean Smith's basketball camp at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 1980. Only the best players were invited. Jordan's determination to do the best he could got him on the Five-Star team.

He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in his junior year at Chapel Hill and reluctantly left school behind as it had been his mother's dream for her children to attain higher education.

After 13 seasons playing with the National Basketball Association, Jordan has won the admiration of the sports world as a flawless player. As NBC analyst Bob Costas said, "Michael Jordan was just beautiful to watch."

Trauma was a factor in Jordan's life from before he was born. His mom had to stay in bed to avoid a miscarriage and when he was born with his nose bleeding, they wondered if he was all right. As a baby, he nearly suffocated once in the bedding. At about age two, he picked up two live wires and was blown three feet away with the shock. When Jordan was in college, his girl friend died in a flood, and he himself once had a near-drowning in a riptide. In 1993, he was shattered by the murder of his father in North Carolina during a roadside robbery.