Michael Jordan is grateful to his parents, Deloris and James R. Jordan, Sr., who encouraged him to participate in sports.

Michael Jordan is regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, having guided the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships. At the time, they accomplished the remarkable distinction of becoming the only team to complete two “three-peats,” winning three straight titles from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998. Throughout Michael’s key events, his parents gave steadfast support and were the ones who encouraged him to participate in community athletics as a child. In the first episode of his 2020 ESPN documentary series The Last Dance, Michael explained how his parents “try to keep me busy” and “encourage all their children to participate in organized sports so they can learn more about life.”

“At times, we worried about the whereabouts of our five children while both my spouse and I were employed,” James stated in archive footage featured in the documentary. “As a result, we reasoned that involving children in athletics could be one solution.”Depart them at the gym or the little league field and maintain their community involvement.” Michael remarked that his NBA success was thanks to the lessons he learned throughout his early years of athletics. “As one ages, in retrospect, one comes to comprehend the process by which one formed their personal identity.

” Without the lessons I learned at such an early age, I doubt I would be where I am now. “That inner competitiveness began to develop in me when I was a young child,” he elaborated on The Last Dance. Additionally, the athlete’s parents played an important role in protecting their son’s legacy. Deloris assisted the basketball player during discussions with Nike in 1984, which resulted in the iconic Air Jordan shoe and inspired the 2023 film Air. Deloris Jordan and James R. Jordan, Sr., Michael Jordan’s late mother and father, had been through it all, from competing in a high school basketball game to mentoring Michael through his NBA career. It all started in high school.

The National Women’s History Museum reports that James and Deloris attended Charity High School in Rose Hill, North Carolina. They were romantically involved throughout their senior year of high school after meeting in 1954 during a basketball game in which James played. Deloris went to a vocational school in Alabama after graduation, while James joined the Air Force and relocated to San Antonio, Texas. 

The pair married and moved to Virginia in 1956, following James’ assignment to a military base in that state. According to the Chicago Tribune, they remained in Virginia for several years until briefly migrating to Brooklyn, New York, in 1962 so James could continue mechanics training under the GI Bill. Michael’s parents took 18 months to migrate from New York to North Carolina, where they raised their family. Deloris and James are parents of five children.