Michael Jordan is the first name that comes to mind when one talks about the NBA team Chicago Bulls. Jordan is considered to be the Greatest Basketball player to ever live and is also referred to as the “God of Basketball.”
Jordan was an exceptional talent who helped his team, the Chicago Bulls, win six championships. He was the main reason for the success of the Bulls dynasty. Michael Jordan kept and still keeps himself surrounded by loyal company. His security guards were some of the people who were extremely loyal to him.
Michael Jordan’s guards embraced the jumpman
After the latest episodes of The Last Dance, John Michael Wozniak, Michael Jordan’s personal security guard for a number of years had gone viral online. Wozniak was spotted giving Jordan the signature Jordan shrug after defeating the star player of the Chicago Bulls in a game of quarters.
During a 2016 interview with Complex’s Matt Welty, Wozniak disclosed that he had complied with Jordan’s request for his security team members to have Jumpman tattoos. “We went with Michael to a tattoo place in Chicago,” Wozniak had said. “He said, ‘Put them on,’ and we all ended up getting the Jumpman logo tattooed on our arms.”
For a number of years, Wozniak worked as Jordan’s security guard. In addition, he was a veteran of the United States Army and a former Chicago Police Department narcotics officer.
“I traveled with Michael to every major city in the U.S., but I also went along with his family on vacations, to events, even all the way to Paris,” Wozniak had once told Complex. “All over the world. A tremendous bond was formed, and we took it seriously. I have a special relationship with Michael that I share to this day.”
Sadly, Wozniak passed away on January 18, 2020, at the age of 69.
Where did the Jordan Jumpman logo come from?
Michael Jordan played for one more team after his stellar collegiate career before joining the Chicago Bulls which was, the Team USA for the 1984 Olympic Games. Michael Jordan first appeared in photos for Life Magazine in a pose which later came to be known as the “Jumpman.”
It wasn’t until a photoshoot with Nike to promote the Air Jordan 1 in 1985 that MJ did the Jumpman pose in a pair of Nike shoes. Wearing the “Black Toe” Air Jordan 1 and a black and red Nike Air Jordan Flight Suit with the Chicago skyline as a backdrop, Michael Jordan soared into greatness with this pose.
Michael Jordan spoke about his iconic pose in an interview with Hoop Magazine in 1997. He said, “I wasn’t even dunking on that one. People think that I was. I just stood on the floor, jumped up, and spread my legs and they took the picture. I wasn’t even running. Everyone thought I did that by running and taking off. Actually, it was a ballet move where I jumped up and spread my legs. And I was holding the ball in my left hand.”
Jordan’s Jumpman logo has permanently engraved itself in the hearts of Basketball fans all around the world.
What are your thoughts on Michael Jordan’s security guards’ loyalty towards him? Feel free to share with us in the comments below.
