Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308150067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB SAKAMOTO and ROBERT BLAU CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Instead, out bounded a slender, fiftyish bald man with a welcoming smile and eyes that could dance all night.
"Oh my," exclaimed James Jordan, "what have we here?"
Fifteen minutes later, Jordan excused himself, saying he had to meet his wife for dinner.
Before leaving, he added, "You all have a great time and if you know of any parties . . . "
James Jordan knew how to chase life, and he did so whenever he joined his son on the road. Making friends with every free moment was his talent and his reputation.
It is said James Jordan was the first to warn Michael about the pressures of leading a fully disclosed and dissected life.
For James Jordan, the joy of fatherhood played out in thundering, sold-out arenas, in a dream world far away from the poverty of his youth.
The son of a sharecropper who learned to drive a tractor by age 10, James Jordan became a celebrity in his own right as the father of the sports world's most cherished asset, even co-starring in an underwear commercial with him.
"As Michael Jordan's father, you lose all privacy," he said last year in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "I went from being James Jordan to `Michael's Dad.' You lose your identity and people forget your name."
It was a concession he seemed willing, even happy to make.
Courtside, James and Michael Jordan were a charismatic pair. They were brothers in spirit. They had a knack for communicating, even to an onslaught of media inquisitors. They were devoted to each other.
As Michael Jordan's career soared to unprecedented heights, his relationship with his father remained rock solid.
Celebrity also brought luxury to James Jordan. Until this year, he and his wife, Deloris, ran a sporting goods operation in Wilmington, turned over to them by Michael.
Like his son, James Jordan liked fancy cars, including the plush automobile he was last seen driving. He routinely carried large amounts of cash, according to acquaintances. Like his son, James Jordan also was said to enjoy a game of cards.
People who knew him say it was not uncommon for him to take off for a few days without letting his family know. Police speculated that is why Jordan's relatives didn't report him missing until Thursday even though he was last heard from on July 26.
Michael Jordan was born on Feb. 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Soon after, the family moved to Wilmington, and James began working for General Electric. In Wilmington, the elder Jordan poured the foundation of his son's future, building a basketball court on which his children played around the clock.
"When Michael was growing up, we'd have every kid in the neighborhood at our house because it was the only one with a basketball court," Jordan said. "There would be 20 guys over between the ages of 10 and 18. We were more like a park. That's how Michael learned to play."
In 1985, when Michael Jordan entered the NBA and began to make it his own, his father was fighting a different battle.
In March of that year, the elder Jordan pleaded guilty to accepting a $7,000 kickback from a private contractor who billed General Electric for hydraulic equipment that was never delivered.
In a plea agreement, Jordan, who was head of inventory control at GE's Wilmington plant, received a three-year suspended sentence, was placed on supervised probation for five years and fined $1,000.
Since then, the elder Jordan has tended to family business and run with the Bulls.
"In Charlotte, we became community property," Jordan said. "Just as he [Michael] belongs to everybody, the people in the community feel we belong to everybody. The bad part is, you can't get away. There are times you might get used by people. I've learned to identify situations like that."
by CNB