Michael Jordan’s collaboration with Nike is famous through out the world. The Jordan Brand’s Chairman has recently accepted that he committed a murder.
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The West vs East rivalry is not just a format in the NBA in the United States. East Coast versus West Coast has been the gang rivalry in the streets as well. One such rivalry cost Michael Jordan‘s close confidant a lifetime regret.
Larry Miller, the Chairman of the Jordan brand, reportedly was a member of Philadelphia’s Cedar Avenue gang, when he was 16. He and the other gang members went out looking for retribution after one of their own had been killed in a fight by the 53rd and Pine gang.
Miller is guilty of murdering an 18-year old and has served jail time for it
Recently, Miller came forward to admit a crime that he committed 56 years ago, when he was a teenager. The former team president of the Portland Trail Blazers, Miller, revealed in an exclusive story at Sports Illustrated that in September of 1965, he shot and killed another teenager (18) for “no reason”. He was 16 at the time.
“I mean, there was no valid reason for this to happen. And that’s the thing that I really struggle with and that’s—you know, it’s the thing that I think about every day. It’s like, I did this, and to someone who—it was no reason to do it. And that’s the part that really bothers me.”
While committing the murder he and his friends were all drunk and were seeking retribution, which is not an excuse for any crime, let alone murder. But he did his time in jail and still regrets the murder every day.
“We were all drunk. I was in a haze. Once it kind of set in, I was like, ‘Oh, shit, what have I done?’ It took years for me to understand the real impact of what I had done.”
He goes on to describe how killing somebody, and that too for no reason, impacted his life and how his story can help several others who are talented enough but waste their time in either crime or jail.
“ I could go back and undo it, I would absolutely do that. I can’t. So all I can do is try to do what I can to help other people and try to maybe prevent this from happening to someone else.”
Why is Miller revealing his story now and risk it with the Jordan Brand?
“I was definitely nervous about sharing with him, just because I have so much respect and love for MJ.”
He told that revealing his past will free him to discuss his own experience with at-risk youth and people in prison with the hopes of steering them away from violence to have a productive life.
Miller said he wanted to release the information to the public through his forthcoming book, “Jump: My Secret Journey From the Streets to the Boardroom,” on his terms and timeline. The book is scheduled for release in early 2022.
