Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
A 1980 letter provides a glimpse of what the Tar Heels thought of Michael Jordan in high school.
Michael Jordan idolized North Carolina State’s David Thompson as a youth and grew up rooting for the Wolfpack, so it’s a testament to North Carolina coach Dean Smith and his staff that they still managed to wrest the Wilmington native away from their rivals.
They discovered Jordan before any other ACC program thanks to a tip from the athletic director in his county. They made landing Jordan their top priority when he dominated at Smith’s basketball camp the summer before his senior year. And they out-recruited the likes of Maryland, South Carolina, Duke and NC State after other schools became aware of Jordan’s talent when he emerged as the best player at the prestigious Five-Star Camp in Pittsburgh later that summer.
The story of Jordan’s recruitment is timely today since the Jordan Brand tweeted photos of a 1980 recruiting letter from coach Dean Smith and the 1981 letter of intent he signed with North Carolina hours before the Tar Heels hosted Duke on Wednesday night. Both those pieces of memorabilia hang in The Carolina Basketball Museum in Chapel Hill.
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The letter from Smith is typed in Carolina blue font and addressed to Jordan and his parents. Proving that coaches believed families were more naive about the business of recruiting three decades ago, it begins: “We surely enjoyed having you as our guests this past weekend in Chapel Hill. Fortunately, we were able to get to know you folks much better and count you as good friends.”
Jordan was an instant success at North Carolina during the 1981-82 season, earning ACC freshman of the year honors and famously sinking the game-winning shot in the national title game against Georgetown. In his three season with the Tar Heels, he averaged 17.7 points per game and shot 54 percent from the field, winning the Wooden and Naismith player of the year awards as a junior.
Despite all of that success in Carolina Blue, Jordan never forgot one aspect of his childhood affinity for rival NC State. The person who Jordan asked to present him at the hall of fame in 2010 was none other than David Thompson.
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WRITTEN BY  Jeff Eisenberg | The Dagger  & FULL STORY HERE
