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Billionaire Michael Jordan ate ‘clay and dirt for dessert’ in North Carolina before becoming the NBA GOAT

Ashish Priyadarshi
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Billionaire Michael Jordan ate ‘clay and dirt for dessert’ in North Carolina before becoming the NBA GOAT

Michael Jordan is perhaps the greatest NBA player of all time, and a very successful businessman with a $2.1 billion net worth. However, things weren’t always so great.

The NBA GOAT has compiled an incredible list of stories from his playing days in the NBA, from elite level trash talking, to incredible tales of how wildly competitive he was, to of course, his general basketball dominance.

All these things combined have given Jordan his GOAT status. His accolades, championships, and struggles are all remembered side by side with the stories of how he reached there.

The Bulls legend has accomplished what NBA players dream of doing in his career. Six championships, six Finals MVP’s, five NBA MVP’s, an obvious Hall of Fame induction, and much more has cemented Jordan’s legacy as the greatest NBA player of all time.

So, why was his career so confusing? Well, he retired thrice in his career, to give you some context. If that sounds weird to you, that’s because it is. His first retirement was by far the most surprising as it came only nine years into his career, and he had just started to win at the highest level, coming off of his first threepeat.

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Michael Jordan faced a tough past where he ate dirt for desert

Jordan didn’t always have the greatest of circumstances growing up. Success doesn’t come easy, and Jordan definitely had to work to gain the reputation he has now.

Jordan is a billionaire now. His net worth is $2.1 billion, and no, most of that didn’t come off of his playing days. Jordan built most of his assets as a businessman. He’s the owner of the Charlotte Hornets and with some great investments, he’s piled on the cash after retirement.

Jordan was born in New York City, and he later would grow up in North Carolina. He endured a somewhat difficult life there.

“Michael Jordan has become so public it can seem as if he were born fully formed. Of course, that’s not true,” said Wright  in a 2020 ESPN story about Jordan. “His family spent at least six generations in one small patch of swamp and cropland in the rural outskirts and farm towns near Wilmington, on and around Highway 117.”

“He remembers his grandparents still eating dirt and clay—a now little-known practice brought to the South from Africa—getting needed iron from the land. Michael used to eat the orange and red clay for dessert when he’d visit them.”

It’s an incredible story, and it shows just how much Jordan overcame to get to where he is now.

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About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi

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Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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