Known for his cocky and in-your-face style, Michael Jordan also had a tender-hearted approach when it came to his fans. Johnny Bach, the Bulls’ assistant coach from 1986 to 1994, was overwhelmed with this side of MJ. In Jordan’s 2014 memoir Michael Jordan: The Life, author Roland Lazenby brought out Bach’s testimonies on the incredible gestures performed by the phenomenal athlete.
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In one of the most touching incidents, the 6x Finals MVP went against the rules to accommodate a child with significant burns caused by his father. During the 1989-90 season, he brought the child with grizzly burns to the bench and interacted with him constantly.
To make the kid comfortable, he talked to him in the locker room, and during the game, he also made sure that the child was feeling sheltered. The former Bulls coach touched upon how Jordan would always go out of his way to gift a special day to a fan with a last wish.
“He just talked to him. You couldn’t imagine, a kid that was hideously burned. And Michael just talked to him. He put him on the bench, and during the game he would come over and ask, ‘How’d you like that jump shot?”, reminisced Johnny Bach in the book.
However, this act didn’t sit well with the officials who asked Jordan to get the kid off the bench. An official mentioned that “It’s against league rules.” A determined Jordan told him that he wouldn’t change his stance. Upon viewing these actions, the assistant coach and guard John Paxson were overcome with emotions.
“He left our team time-outs to talk to the kid. I can remember John Paxson and I having tears in our eyes, looking at that scene, because the kid was so hideously burned,” added an emotional Bach. This wasn’t a one-off incident, the great scorer indulged in such acts repeatedly, even after retiring.
Michael Jordan makes wishes come true
On February 17, 2023, during his 60th birthday, the legendary guard donated $10,000,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This is the single biggest donation in the history of the nonprofit. Jordan has been an active contributor to the foundation throughout his life. One of the foundation’s alumni, Donovan Russell, who was battling eye cancer in 2009, was also a recipient of his kind-hearted actions.
“I got to fly out to the Bahamas and go to the Atlantis resort and spend personal one-on-one time with Jordan. I went there for five years, and every time I went, he would always recognize me [and] speak to me,” disclosed Donovan Russell.
Inspired by these acts, Russell and his family also opened a foundation called the Donovan Russell Foundation. This Foundation focuses on children suffering from cancer and various other serious illnesses. Whether MJ is the on-court GOAT is up for debate, however, as per Russell, “he’s definitely, by far, the GOAT off the court when it comes to granting wishes.”
