When Michael Jordan was 15, he tried out for the Emsley A. Laney High School’s varsity team but was snubbed and assigned to the junior varsity team. The six-time NBA champion felt like he deserved to be on the team. But he did not take it personally. Instead, he worked hard and played well to earn a promotion to the varsity team. However, when his efforts went unnoticed, he wasn’t too pleased and showcased his disdain for it in the most hilarious fashion.
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Author Roland Lazenby wrote about it in the biography ‘Michael Jordan: The Life.’ He revealed that the young guard was irked about the coaches not calling up one player from the junior varsity team to the varsity roster — specifically him — a ritual that preceded him,
“It had been customary for high school coaches at the end of a season to bring the best JV players up to varsity for the district playoffs. Jordan expected that would happen for him. He knew from feedback that people had noticed his play. But Herring and his staff mysteriously said nothing to the sophomore. Apparently the thought occurred to none of the coaches. Jordan took deep offense.”
But as fate would have it, Jordan did get a chance to be a part of the varsity team. But not as a player. One of the team’s managers fell ill before the playoffs were set to commence. So Jordan stepped in as the assistant coach, albeit temporarily.
Lazenby described how the guard would carry a player uniform to enter venues for free and sit at the end of the bench as the team’s ‘quasi-manager and statistician.’ However, he did not root for the team. According to the author, Jordan “would rather have spit than cheer for the Laney Buccaneers.” When asked why, the guard told Lazenby,
“‘They went into the playoffs and I was sitting at the end of the bench, and I couldn’t cheer them on because I felt I should have been on that team,’ he would recall.”
While he was upset about it at the time, it proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Bulls icon.
Michael Jordan’s infamous varsity snub
Jordan’s snub from his high school’s varsity team is often credited as his biggest motivator. After the team’s coach chose the guard’s friend Leroy Smith, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, over him because he was 5-foot-10, he believed they had made a mistake and was adamant about proving them wrong.
One tremendous season and a growth spurt later, a 6-foot-3 Jordan tried out for the varsity team again. He was selected and scored 35 points in his first game. He never looked back. He was named a McDonald’s All-American and led his team to the best record in North Carolina in his senior year. He couldn’t lead them to a state title but had made his point.
A year later, he won the National Championship with the University of North Carolina, and in 1984, he declared for the NBA draft, where the Bulls picked him third overall. The rest, as they say, is history.
