“Thanked Her For Lending Us Michael Jordan”: Still Reeling From James Jordan’s Death, Deloris Was Shocked to Hear About Son’s Decision

The year 1993 was beyond turbulent for the Jordan family. Granted Michael Jordan won his third championship but behind the scenes, Deloris and James struggled with their relationship. The continued failure of MJ’s father’s business along with the numerous cheating accusations only increased the turmoil.

Then, all of a sudden, they were hit by a piece of news that would crumble Michael’s world. James Jordan was murdered during an armed robbery. His body was found days later and it took another 10 days to identify him.

The trauma of it all left the Jordan household in shambles. Michael drifted apart from his family, especially from Deloris. Though the distance and issues would increase gradually, the signs were clear from the time Deloris visited Kenya and was cut off from the rest of the world. Michael Jordan took a decision that would shock the world but Deloris wouldn’t come to know about it for days.

Michael Jordan retired without telling his mother

In October of 1993, a little over two months after James’ death, Deloris was in Kenya with the then-Bulls vice president Steve Schanwald. The two were visiting the African nation along with some children. They were visiting remote places in the country and were therefore not connected to the outside world for a few days.

When the duo returned to Nairobi, Steve Schanwald saw a bus driver reading a newspaper. The back page of the Newspaper featured the news of MJ’s retirement. At first, he thought it was a bad joke. But once he was sure MJ had actually retired, Schanwald thanked Deloris for letting her son represent the Bulls for all those years.

Deloris, however, was unaware of her son’s decision. It seemed Michael had been so hasty to announce his retirement, he had not informed his mother about it. Roland Lazenby, in his book Michael Jordan: The Life, reported Shcanwald’s account.

Steve Schanwald: “I got off the plane and got on the bus that was going to take us to have lunch. The bus driver was reading a newspaper, a tabloid called the Daily Nation, Kenya’s national newspaper. On the back page, there was a picture of Michael, and the headline said, ‘Michael Jordan Retires.’ I thought it was somebody’s idea of a bad joke. But two days earlier, Michael had announced his retirement. Apparently, Michael’s mom didn’t know. I went up to her and thanked her for lending us her son for nine great years. She said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘Mrs. Jordan, your son retired two days ago.’ She said, ‘He did? I don’t believe it!’ So I went and got the newspaper and showed her. That was how we found out about Michael retiring.”

Jordan played minor league baseball after his first retirement

After his hasty retirement in 1993, MJ tried his hands at baseball. As a kid in Wilmington, he was more of a baseball player than a basketball athlete. James Jordan believed his son could play in Major Leagues. But as fate would have it, MJ quickly lost his edge in baseball, and by the time he was 14 James immediately understood his son’s career in Major League seemed impossible.

But upon James’ death, MJ retook the sport he had played as a child and began playing for the Chicago White Sox minority team. Though he would not show any exceptional skills at the sport, he was still decent. It was likely his way of fulfilling James Jordan’s wishes one last time.