Howard White has been one of the most important individuals in Nike’s history. The longest-tenured African-American executive in the brand’s history is largely responsible for convincing Michael Jordan to join Nike in 1984. During a recent interview appearance on Footwear News, White detailed his first interaction with MJ and also explained how he’s become a part of the Jordan family over the years.
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While the entire basketball world was going gaga over Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984, Howard White recognized that Michael Jordan could be the next big thing in the NBA. Despite Jordan having offers from Adidas and Converse, White managed to convince Mike to join Nike. Since then, Howard White has helped MJ by being his manager and mentor.
The 79-year-old recently disclosed how he instantly created a special bond with MJ and was also considered a family member by the Jordans.
“What people really think that as when I met Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan that you know today. But basically he was a kid coming out of college. So that relationship, that bond, I became a part of their family it did not seem like anything out of the ordinary for me. I’m just grateful for being allowed to be a part of who he has become,” Howard said.
Back in 1998, Jordan also revealed the importance of Howard’s presence in his life. While speaking to USA Today, the Chicago Bulls legend explained how he didn’t make any major decisions before having a chat with Howard White.
“I don’t do much without at least talking to Howard White,” Jordan said, as reported by Andscape.
Considering that Howard White played a major role in making the Jordan brand a $5+ billion subdivision of Nike, he has helped make a significant contribution to MJ’s $3 billion net worth.
Howard White spoke about the competitiveness of Michael Jordan
Being extremely close to Michael Jordan, Howard White would spend a lot of time with the basketball phenom. Back in 2016, in an interview with Nick DePaula, White spoke about Jordan’s infamous competitiveness and revealed an incident on the same topic as well.
White revealed how he would often defeat Michael in ping-pong when the two would meet at the Nike executive’s house.
“We used to play ping pong at my house. I would beat Michael,” Howard said.
Unable to accept his defeat, the 6ft 6” shooting guard purchased a ping-pong table and became quite good at the game in no time.
“But when he went back home to Chicago, he bought a ping pong table, and he set it up in his basement. Everybody that came over had to play ping pong. He played ping pong every day after practice at the facility too, with the media and with the team. Michael Jordan got pretty good at ping pong.”
Usually, MJ “takes it personally” and creates a beef with the people who manage to defeat him. However, Howard White seems to be the only exception who managed to have a healthy relationship with the NBA Hall-Of-Famer despite defeating him in ping-pong.
