Michael Jordan is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players in existence. Jordan accomplished everything he could during his prestigious career in the NBA, but his mentality was different when it came to being a parent. MJ is the father of five children, and all he ever wanted for them is to be their own person.
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This was touched upon in a 2007 interview with Today host Matt Lauer, when His Airness sat down to speak about his relationship with his oldest son, Jeffrey Jordan. At the time Jeff was preparing for his freshman year at the University of Illinois, where he was going to play for the school’s basketball team.
A big point of conversation in the interview was how MJ hoped Jeffrey would set his own expectations, especially when pursuing basketball. Jeffrey agreed — and wanted to challenge himself by playing basketball on his own terms.
“The thing that we have tried to tell Jeff is that you set your own expectations. By no means in this world can you ever live up to someone else’s expectations of who you are,” added Jordan. MJ knew all eyes would be on his son, but truly only cared about one thing.
“I want him to be his own person, you know? I want him to enjoy his life, whatever he chooses to be that, you know? If you play basketball, you’re a doctor, you’re a lawyer, whatever, I’m gonna support you with the love and every effort, every inch of my body” a sincere Jordan stated.
MJ supported Jeffrey, along with the rest of his kids, with every fiber of his being. He knew the trials and tribulations of having the weight of the world’s expectations on his shoulders and did not want his own flesh and blood to go through what he did.
When taking a closer however, Jeffrey’s story did have a darker origin to it than most know.
Jordan initially didn’t believe that Jeffrey was his son
Michael Jordan is ever bit as human as everyone else despite claims of him being ‘Black Jesus’. So, it’s understandable that he’s prone to making a couple misguided judgement calls from time to time. One such was him telling his first wife Juanita Vanoy in 1988 that he didn’t believe Jeffrey was his son.
He forced Vanoy to get a paternity test, which ultimately proved the truth. Ever since then, MJ accepted Jeffrey into his life. In fact, Jeffrey began to do things that emulated his father.
During a 1990 interview on the Arsenio Hall Show, Jordan revealed that he famously began to stick his tongue out because it was something that his father used to do. Funnily enough, Jeffrey began to do the same thing.
It’s unconscious habit and I picked up from my father. Being a little kid you watch your father work. He stick his tongue out. I took it up and made a habit of my own and now I can’t stop it. I have tried…it just doesn’t work,” MJ told Hall.
While Jeffrey Jordan didn’t have the same impact on basketball that his father did, he did have an impact on the game. He co-founded Heir Inc., a company that aims to connect athletes with fans. NBA stars such as Anthony Edwards and Tyler Herro have signed up with the company to be a part of some of their initiatives.
