We were 13 and if we weren’t playing basketball, we were playing football. I grew up across the street from a golf course so we would sneak onto the side of the golf course between the back yards of some rich folk and the fairway. And we would play football until the sinking sun made it too tough to see.
I think there were 5 of us that day, which is when you play 2 on 2 with an all-time QB. I don’t recall who was QB, who was winning, all I remember is that as a caddy approached us, we got nervous we were going to be in trouble for trespassing. We finally gave up avoiding eye contact and looked his way. His huge excited smile made it pretty clear nobody was going to be in any trouble.
“Yo fellas, MJ is on his way. He’ll be on the next loop. You guys have just enough time to get some things to sign, run home and run back!”
I don’t think we asked any questions. I ran and got my Michael Jordan “Air Attack” basketball. Irving grabbed his Jordans. Suby, Jay and Smackdaddy were too far from home so I grabbed them some paper and we sprinted back.
And there he was. The only black golfer on the course (ironically, African Americans were not allowed to be members, but like Smackdaddy, they could caddy [serve] or be guests [if they were MJ]). He towered over the flag in the middle of the green. I came up to his thigh, maybe, but his legs were endless. The amount of fabric draping his knees to his waist was absurd. He had to have his own seamstress.
He approached us. We were totally speechless. He smiled and said “hey guys” gently, as if he knew anything else would intimidate us and make this moment less perfect for us. It wasn’t real. But it was. And it was perfect.
He reached waaaay down and grabbed the football from Suby’s hands. He motioned for me to go out for a pass, and I did. I was jogging, looking back for the most important pass attempt of my early career. And there it fell into my hands. Again, he knew if I didn’t catch it this moment wouldn’t be perfect. But it was. It was so perfect. I just caught a football thrown by Michael Jordan.
He happily signed anything that was Nike but couldn’t sign Suby’s Reeboks. He smiled the entire time as if he was as enamored with this moment as we were. Of course, that is absolutely impossible, though I do believe he took great satisfaction in making our day, in the innocence of that moment. Who knows what craziness in MJ’s world lived outside that moment?
I can still see all the smiles. Especially that biggest, tallest, coolest, strongest, sleekest, god-like smile. Little did we know he would continue to make our lives happy and be one of our strongest influences for the next 8 years. And be our hero for the rest of our lives.
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