One of my favorite memories of my journalistic career is an early morning drive from the offices of the Kane County Chronicle in St. Charles, Illinois, to my mom’s house (where I was living as I looked for a place near St. Charles). As I made the early morning drive back to Portage after working a 4 p.m. to midnight shift on the copy desk of the Chronicle, the radio was blasting Queen‘s rock anthem We Are the Champions.
The date? The wee hours of June 14, 1997. The night before, the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 90-86 at the United Center to win the NBA Finals 4-2. (That was the series where, in Game 5, the NBA G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan, played through illness and still racked up 38 points against the Jazz.
A few weeks ago, Jordan again found himself in the news. There was no basketball court included in the North Carolina product. (Technically, he is a Brooklyn boy, having been born there before his family relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina, when he was five.)
MJ partnered again with Novant Health to open the fourth Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic in the state, this time in Jordan’s hometown of Wilmington.
It is the latest in Jordan’s philanthropic efforts since his retirement from the NBA. In my mind, it reinforces his status as the G.O.A.T. on and off the court.
To read more about this partnership, check out the media release on the Novant Health web site.
PHOTO CREDIT: Novant Health
