Michael Jordan: Inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame, Speech Highlights (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on September 12, 2009
For some reason, I thought Michael Jordan had already been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. During my lifetime, I’ve not ever seen a more polished, consistent, excellent athlete on any basketball court.
And now, he and four others have been given the ultimate honor in the sport. Well done and congratulations to all who were honored at the ceremony held in Springfield, Massachusetts, home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
From Bloomberg:
Michael Jordan Among Five Inducted Into Basketball Hall of Fame
By Nancy Kercheval and Mason Levinson
September 11, 2009Michael Jordan, a five-time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player and winner of a record 10 scoring titles, was among five people inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Point guard John Stockton, center David Robinson, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers University women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer also were enshrined today at the Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
“I told all my friends I was going to come up here and say ‘thank you’ and walk off. I just can’t do that,” the 46-year-old Jordan, who retired in 2003 after a two-year comeback with the Washington Wizards, said. “But is there anything you don’t know about me.”
…Jordan averaged a record 30.1 points a game during his career and was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century in voting by a 48-member panel selected by ESPN in 1999.
From NY Daily News:
Overcome with emotion before an entertaining induction speech Friday night, a teary-eyed Jordan singled out former adversaries, including Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson and George Gervin, along with ex-Knicks coaches Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy, for bringing out his competitive fires that became legendary…
Jordan achieved basketball immortality long ago. But to make it official, more than 600 national and international members of the media – about three times more than the usual turnout – flocked to the birthplace of basketball to see the NBA legend inducted with fellow 2009 class members Utah coach Jerry Sloan, former Jazz guard John Stockton, former San Antonio Spur David Robinson and Rutgers women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer.
“When people say I was the greatest to play the game, I cringe a little bit,” Jordan said earlier in the day. “That’s someone’s view of what I did for the game of basketball. But for me, personally, I never played against Jerry West. I never played against Elgin Baylor. I never played against Wilt Chamberlain. Yeah, I would have loved to. But to say that I was better than those people is not for me to decide.”
It’s safe to say that in any era, Jordan would have more than held his own against the game’s immortals, all of whom have plaques on the Hall’s basketball-shaped dome.
From ESPN:
“I don’t like being up here for the Hall of Fame because at that time your basketball career is completely over,” Jordan said. “I was hoping this day would be 20 more years, or actually go in when I’m dead and gone.”
Jordan’s Hall of Fame selection was a slam dunk after he retired as perhaps the greatest player in history. And he gave much of the credit Monday to his college coach.
“There’s no way you guys would have got a chance to see Michael Jordan play without Dean Smith,” he said.
Michael Jordan Enters Basketball Hall of Fame, Highlights of Jordan’s Speech | September 11, 2009
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Michael Jordan is indeed an awesome player. At his prime Michael Jordan was really unstoppable.
Thanks for posting Michael Jordan’s speech.
There have been a lot of reporters in the press who have criticized Jordan’s speech, because they say he was “petty” and “settled old scores” in the induction ceremony.
Your posting of the speech allowed me to listen to it.
The press is insane to begin this “anti-hype” which is adverse to his speech.
Jordan simply said, in the speech, that he did what he did on the basketball court as a result of numerous events in his live that added “wood to his competitive fire.” That’s Michael Jordan. He was honest in his speech. He’s still as competitive today as he was in his prime.
I think in your blog, you said it best in one short statement: “. . . I’ve not seen a more polished, consistent, excellent athlete on any basketball court.”
Simply said.
This stuff about Michael Jordan being “petty” is just nonsense and banter. How about just admitting that Michael Jordan was honest? He had a competitive fire to be the best ever, and anybody that got in his way made him work harder. In the end, perhaps he was the best and perhaps he was not the best. But he told us all what we wanted to know in his speech: We now know the sources of his competitive fire, in and out.
Down with sportswriters who don’t get it, and who make up stories to grab headlines.
There was nothing petty about Jordan’s speech. Unless his entire career and competitive fire were “petty” and they clearly were not. They created some great basketball for us all to watch.
I totally agree with you. I don’t know why the press can be the snarling pack of jackals it usually is… for all his faults (and crikey, he’s human, so it’s ludicrous to judge anyone who falls short of perfection), Michael Jordan has proven himself through his career to be one of the best of his time. A man with fire and desire who would have been a worthy opponent against the excellent basketball players of the 1970s. Was he the best ever? That’s subject to debate. IMHO, though, he was the best I ever watched.
I never sensed any pettiness in his speech and I reviewed a number of videos before selecting this one. I think you nailed it… perhaps because he didn’t “ooze and gooze” with feigned humility he is being demonized by sports writers who exaggerate stories to sell headlines. Michael Jordan never was a humble man, nor was he, in my opinion, ever a megla-maniac. He was extraordinarily gifted and millions enjoyed watching him display those athletic gifts on the court. The “anti-hype” as you called it of the press is indeed warped and cynical. They are imagining the “pettiness” from his speech to appear to be edgy in their writing or contrary to public opinion… hypocritical morons. You summarized it best here: Down with sportswriters…
Thanks so much for your input, Spenser. Hope to see you back again here.
