On the ball with Mike..
Hero Jordan’s 1999 Irish trip recalled
AFTER Michael Jordan’s retirement in 1999, the basketball star took up an old offer and travelled to Ireland for a week away from the spotlight.
The popularity of the Netflix documentary series The Last Dance has propelled the sports ace back into the limelight.
The 1999 NBA play-offs did not feature the Chicago Bulls, the first time the franchise did not make them since 1984.
In order to step out of the spotlight at home in the US, Jordan and a number of his friends travelled to Ireland.
They spent 10 days in Co Kerry playing golf, gambling and drinking Guinness.
Jordan’s trip was arranged by the late Paudie O’connor, one of Ireland’s greatest ever basketball players and a Killarney native.
When the two had been introduced years before,
O’connor invited
Jordan to visit.
The six-time
NBA champion arrived in
Shannon
Airport along with players from the NBA,
NFL and MLB on a private jet with a huge Nike swoosh in true “Air” Jordan style.
Kerry Coaches driver Dennis Carroll and owners the Buckley family met Jordan and his entourage on the runway and ferried them around during the short stay.
He told the Irish Mirror: “He was the world superstar at the time, even if you never watched basketball, you still knew who Michael Jordan was.
“He was a big impressive-looking guy, you knew you were dealing with a world-class athlete but he was still gracious. He was straight-forward, respectful and was just here to have a bit of fun, and he certainly had that.
“He wasn’t being policed or chaperoned, he was very much his own man, and I suppose when you’re the No1 athlete in the world, you can come and do as you please.
“It was a private visit, he played a lot of golf.
“Going between courses they’d be playing cards. I don’t know what the wagers were but I don’t imagine it was nickels and dimes.”