Michael Jordan had just one normal job before NBA career took off but lasted only one week
Sporting icons don't come much bigger than Michael Jordan but even MJ had a real job once.
Jordan is widely regarded as one of basketball's greatest of all time and won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls between 1991 and 1998, being crowned finals MVP on each occasion and overall league MVP five times.
He might be bigger than basketball now but Jordan's sporting graft didn't translate into a spotless work ethic before a life lived on the court.
Jordan's lack of appetite for chores is relatable for most people and he found his way around it, according to biographer Roland Lazenby.
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"Jordan had never held a job," Lazenby revealed in a Washington Post interview back in 2014.
"He infuriated his father – he refused to do any work."
Brooklyn-born MJ was drafted by the Bulls in 1984 and went on to be a 14-time NBA All-Star.
He was the NBA's scoring champion in ten seasons and has been immortalised by Nike's Air Jordan brand and its famous Jumpman logo as well as The Last Dance docu-series on Netflix.
It seems a long way from the kid who swerved chores in Wilmington.
"If he had to mow the lawn, he would take his allowance and pay someone else to do it," added Lazenby.
"He only had a job for one week of his life. And he quit it."
That job was cleaning swimming pools and was a bad fit from the start for Jordan, who has a profound fear of water.
In 1992, Jordan told Playboy magazine about losing his friend at the age of seven in an accident in the sea.
"I went swimming with a very good friend one day, and we were having fun catching waves," he said.
"At one point, the current was so strong that it swallowed him, and he grabbed onto me. It’s called 'the death lock' when someone can die. I practically had to break his hand, he was going to take me with him."
Four years later, Jordan was involved in another horrible incident at baseball camp and almost drowned. Later, his college girlfriend passed away from drowning.
MJ confirmed the tragedies in his 1998 autobiography.
"Everyone has a phobia about something," he said. "I stay away from water."
Topics: NBA, Basketball, Michael Jordan
Chris Nee