A gambling friend of Michael Jordan’s was asked about if he believed there was a connection between James Jordan’s murder and his son’s gambling.
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Michael Jordan was sullied with the comparisons that were made between him and the ideals that were supposed to be carried out by an ‘All American hero’. MJ’s status as the most prominent figure in North American sports in the 1990s grew to such a scale that it became impossible for fans to wrap their mind around him doing something that wasn’t ‘ideal’.
The ‘Be Like Mike’ advertisement campaign only hurt the way Michael Jordan lived his life as wanting to ‘live like Mike’ meant you lived a life with no mistakes. This however, was not the case.
Like anybody with money to spend, Jordan became infatuated with gambling. Whether it was with his security on coin-tossing or with a criminal dealing drugs while playing rounds of golf, the 6x champion was game.
‘Slim Bouler’ knew Michael would put up big bucks on the line and took advantage of his competitive drive, eventually hustling ‘His Airness’ out of $57,000 out on the green.
‘Slim’ Bouler on what he thought about James Jordan’s murder.
James Jordan, Michael’s father, was murdered on July 23rd, 1993 and a couple months later in November, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from the game of basketball. While many knew MJ was planning to retire because his love for the game had dwindled sine the previous summer’s Olympics, others had other ideas.
With him having enveloped himself in the realm of gambling, many believed James’s death was directly related to his son’s gambling escapades. His departure from the NBA was also hypothesized to be stemming from this, saying David Stern suspended him from the league secretly: two extremely absurd theories.
Regardless, ‘Slim’ Bouler, Jordan’s old gambling partner, was asked about what he thinks of the theory surrounding James Jordan’s death in relation to Michael’s gambling ways. He would go on to say that he didn’t know anything about such a theory and that he was traveling from Texas to Charlotte for his sentencing at the time all of this took place.
‘Slim’ would serve time in federal prison after he was convicted of money laundering to the tune of $194,730, making it impossible for Michael Jordan to receive his $57,000 back.
