Before Michael Jordan went on to gain all the fame and popularity, there was a very real possibility that the world may have never been blessed with a sporting legend. A pioneer of the game, Jordan had a close call with death while he was almost an infant, leading his parents to be more aware of him and tighten control.
A 2-year-old Michael Jordan would often wander outside to play. Once, MJ’s father was working on an auto in the backyard using a lamp that was powered by two extension cords that ran through the kitchen and damp ground. Before Jordan’s father could react and do anything, Michael ended up grabbing those very extensions at the junction. This caused him to go flying three feet away in the air, but luckily, unharmed.
“As a two-year-old, he wandered outside one late afternoon while his father worked on an auto in the family’s backyard and used a lamp powered by two extension cords stretched across the damp ground from the kitchen. Before his father could stop him, the toddler grabbed the two cords at their juncture. The ensuing shock knocked young Michael back three feet, leaving him stunned but otherwise unhurt.”
Michael’s parents were already quite strict when it came to house rules regarding their children. However, after this incident, they were forced to re-evaluate themselves on how they looked after their children.
Naturally, Jordan’s parents did the best they could by forcing a curfew and lights out at eight in the evening. Moreover, if any of the children wanted to go out of the house, they had to do so with a parent’s permission. But even after all these rules and curfews, the Jordans were not able to contain their child’s hyperactivity and MJ eventually went to find his calling.
Already strict with their children, the Jordans were prompted by the incident to tighten their control. No one was to leave the house under any circumstances without permission. And each night the children had to be in bed by eight o’clock, no matter if others in the neighborhood were still outside playing. But it soon became evident that Michael’s bountiful nature could not be contained as he grew into childhood.”: From Michael Jordan: The Life
Michael Jordan’s parents did what any parent would do when their two-year-old infant child has a close call with death. Being more strict and cautious around the household and keeping an eye on their surroundings.
But despite all that, Michael did not let that incident settle in and hold him back. And well, the rest is history.
Michael Jordan’s near-death experiences
Michael Jordan’s close brush with death when he was two should’ve been enough for a parent to be careful of them for the remainder of their lives. Yet, Jordan’s mother Deloris was still worried about her son’s nose bleeding. In 1990, his mother revealed the constant nose-bleeds he used to get till he was five.
Given how these two incidents happened when he was awfully young, Michael Jordan had no memory or recollection of his nosebleeds or when he got electrocuted. However, during an interview, Jordan did reveal how he once suffocated to death as a kid.
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“My nose still bleeds easily. That`s one story my mom never told me. The only thing my mom told me was the time when I fell behind the bed as a baby and almost suffocated,” Jordan once told The Tribune.
But Michael Jordan’s journey all the way to the top may have just been fate as despite all the odds, he went on to become an icon around the globe for decades and younger generations to come.