The Fax That Started a Comeback: Michael Jordan’s Iconic ‘I’m Back’ Announcement

{
“placeholderType”: “BANNER”
}

The fax that caused a hurricane

With a six-letter statement, Michael “Air” Jordan announced one of the most spectacular comebacks in sports history 29 years ago today.

Michael Jordan had a sense of how to announce a big message.

{
“placeholderType”: “MREC”
}

“The following statement was issued today by Michael Jordan, through his personal attorney and agent David B. Falk, Chairman of Falk Associates Management Enterprises, Inc. (“FAME”) in Washington DC, in response to questions about his future career plans “, probably the most famous fax in sports history was introduced with meaning.

The announced statement, which was sent to the offices of various sports editors, was exactly six letters long: “I’m back.”

On March 18, 1995, 29 years ago today, the spectacular comeback of the NBA icon began – who had retired from the sport a year and a half earlier with just as much of a bang.

{
“placeholderType”: “MREC”
}

If you click here, you will see Twitter content and agree that your data will be processed for the purposes set out in Twitter’s privacy policy. SPORT1 has no influence on this data processing. You also have the option to activate all social widgets. You can find information about revocation here.

Michael Jordan retired after a stroke of fate

At that time, in October 1993, Jordan was already a three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls, an Olympic champion with the legendary “Dream Team”, a world-famous advertising medium for basketball and the sporting goods giant Nike. But Jordan, then 30 years old, was also in the midst of a personal life crisis: his father, James, had been shot by street robbers three months earlier.

As a result of the stroke of fate – and probably also because of the physical and psychological abuse in his previous life in the glaring spotlight – son Michael decided to make a radical change: he skipped the NBA and instead devoted himself to a matter close to his late father’s heart. He tried his hand at baseball, father Jordan’s favorite sport, who also expected his son to have a great career in this field.

Jordan signed with the minor league team Birmingham Barons and attracted curious crowds. After almost a year and a half, Jordan began to think that his story in basketball had not yet been told.

Even after resignation number 2, he couldn’t let it go

What followed is well known: alongside Scottie Pippen (nowadays he is no longer spoken of well), Dennis Rodman and Co., Jordan won three more NBA titles and three more under the direction of “Zen Master” Phil Jackson Finals MVP awards, crowned by the “Last Dance” 1998, which has since been immortalized in a documentary.

{
“placeholderType”: “MREC”
}

At the beginning of the following year – amid a lockout and looming departures from Pippen and Rodman – Jordan resigned once again. And couldn’t get away from it again: between 2001 and 2003 there was another – less memorable – comeback for the Washington Wizards. (The Last Dance: This is how the Bulls squandered the legacy of the Jordan era)

It hasn’t diminished the now 61-year-old’s gigantic legacy: Jordan’s century-long career is still the benchmark for all players after him.

2024-03-18 14:16:09
#fax #NBA #icon #Michael #Jordan #caused #hurricane