“He’d Take $20 From Me”: When Michael Jordan ‘Hustled’ Bulls Employees to Kill his Boredom in Chicago

Michael Jordan is known for his competitive spirit and love of games on and off the basketball court. But, when he first arrived in Chicago to play for the Bulls, he felt bored and isolated in the unfamiliar city. So, to pass the time, Jordan set up an 18-hole mini-golf course in the Bulls office and challenged the employees to a game.

However, keeping in mind MJ’s competitiveness, what seemed like a friendly game began fuelling his vice. His Airness loved gambling, and while a game of mini-golf is fun by itself, he had to spice things up. As a result, betting on the games became frequent.

Joe O’Neil, the Senior Director of Premium Tickets for the Bulls recalled how this got him in trouble with his wife. Recalling in Roland Lazenby’s Michael Jordan: The Life how he once lost $20 to the six-time NBA Champion.

Michael Jordan once hustled a Bulls employee of $20 with a game of mini-golf

In 1984, the Chicago Bulls selected the greatest player in their franchise and perhaps in NBA history in Michael Jordan. The man is a legend in the city of Chicago, primarily due to his achievements as an NBA superstar. Six Championships in 13 seasons as a Bull speaks volumes.

However, when he first came to the Windy City, Jordan felt out of place. After all, Wilmington, North Carolina is in a completely different world when compared to Chicago, Illinois. So, more often than not MJ found himself starved of entertainment.

As revealed in Michael Jordan: The Life, Michael would visit the Chicago Bulls offices to relieve himself of his boredom. Here he set up a miniature golf course with two of the employees, Tim Hallam and Joe O’Neil. But, in good old-fashioned Jordan style, he had to add a gambling aspect to it. In fact, took $20 from O’Neil, who then had to go home and get a mouthful from his wife.

“In the early days, when Jordan was still figuring out what to do with himself in Chicago, he would often drop by the Bulls offices, where he, Hallam, and O’Neil had set up their own miniature golf course. ‘We’d play putt-putt,’ Joe O’Neil recalled.

‘We’d put together a little eighteen-hole golf course in the office and we’d bet. We’d walk around the office putting golf balls into waste cans, and that son of a gun, he was as competitive playing putt-putt in the office as he was on the court. He’d take twenty dollars from me, and that’s when twenty dollars was like four hundred dollars. I still remember giving him twenty dollars in the office and my wife yelling at me for gambling with him.'”

It became a regular occurrence in the Bulls offices. But, this isn’t the only bad habit Jordan brought into the organization. He also liked “pitching pennies”.

Jordan bet on a game of “pitching pennies” with his security guard and lost

Miniature golf wasn’t the only way Michael Jordan tried hustling the people. In 1998, MJ tried hustling his security guard John Michael Wozniak. The game in question? Pitching Pennies. The aim of the game was to pitch a coin, and the player who got it closest to the wall wins.

Wozniak won two rounds against Mike. But, being competitive, Jordan wanted a third try. This time he asked for one throw with $20 on the line. He then gave John four tries to best his attempt, but the security only needed one.

Just goes to show, Jordan may be a serial winner. But, even he can relate to the age-old adage, “you win some and you lose some”.