Michael Jordan

Sportswriters spare no superlatives on Michael Jordan, a 6'6" shooting guard whose unearthly talents took him to the heights of commercial celebrity and dominance in the sport of basketball and made him oft-labeled the player of all time. Jordan leapt onto the national stage with a last-second jump-shot to seal UNC's 1982 NCAA Championship. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1984, he lit up the National Basketball Association with gravity-defying dunks and acrobatic scoring bursts. He became the league's perennial scoring leader, but it would take the mentoring of coach Phil Jackson to add substance to Jordan's flash. He morphed into a true team player in leading the Bulls to their first-ever title in 1991. Jordan drove the Bulls to five more championships through 1998, interrupted only by Quixotic mid-career "retirement" to take a shot at big-league baseball. A true celebrity, he became a ubiquitous presence in advertising and even starred in a big-budget film alongside Bugs Bunny. After retiring and taking a front-office job with Washington Wizards, he suited up again in 2001 for a much less successful stint with that team. In 2010, he bought majority ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats, but his tenure would be much-maligned. A one-man marketing institution, 14-time All-Star, five-time NBA MVP, ten-time scoring champion, six-time Finals MVP and the only athlete to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated 47 times, Jordan left an almost superhuman legacy.