MICHAEL JORDAN

Michael Jordan was a phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, power, artistry and improvisational ability, Michael Jordan has single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar.

A summary of Jordan's basketball career inevitably fails to do it justice. The 6-6 Brooklyn native attended high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he was cut from the basketball team as a sophomore. He spent his college career at North Carolina, playing for an NCAA Championship team as a freshman and hitting the game-winning shot in the title game. He was named College Player of the Year by The Sporting News in both 1983 and 1984 and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards in 1984. After his junior year he was chosen with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls.

More than just a scoring machine, Jordan also showed that he was a leader and a winner by guiding Chicago to a trio of NBA Championships. Prior to his retirement he had averaged below 30 points per game in the postseason only once (29.3 ppg in his rookie year). In the 1985-86 postseason he poured in an astounding 43.7 points per contest. He left basketball temporarily in 1993 as a three-time Finals MVP, and he owned a career playoff average of 34.7 points per game, the best in NBA history. He also had two Olympic gold medals to show for his participation on Team USA in 1984 and 1992.

Despite not playing for three seasons from 1998-99 through 2000-01, Jordan was still probably the most recognizable athlete in the world during that time.

Some oh his career highlights are:

Five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (1987-88, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1997-98)Ten-time All-NBA First Team selection (1986-87 to 1992-93, 1995-96 to 1997-98)Selected in 1996 as one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History"A member of six Chicago Bulls NBA championship teams (1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98)Six-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Participated in 13 NBA All-Star Games (1985, 1987-1993, 1996-98, 2002-03), starting 13 times, and missed another due to injury Named the MVP of the 1988, 1996 and 1998 NBA All-Star Games.