Born in North Carolina in 1941, Deloris Jordan has conquered many obstacles and accomplished a great deal in her lifetime. She and her late husband, James Jordan Sr., passed their own work ethic onto their children, always encouraging them to dream big and never give up.
"They were hardworking people and they instilled that not just in me but in my brothers and sisters," Michael Jordan told Good Morning America. "It just became a part of my nature I always take a negative and turn it into a positive — that all came from my parents."
Michael may be the most famous of Deloris' children, but she sees something special in each one of her five kids. "I always told my children, 'Each one of you has special gifts, it's how you use them,'" she told ESPN in 2009. "Each one had a talent, but how they approached it was different from the others. Michael might have skills for basketball, but [older brother] Larry built things with his hands, and our oldest son was in ROTC and such a leader."
Even when Michael was a sophomore in high school desperately wishing to be taller so he could play varsity sports, his parents were unwavering in their encouragement. "We'd say, 'You have it in your heart. The tallness is within you. You can be as tall as you want to be in your thinking,'" Deloris told ESPN. Of course, Michael did grow taller after all.
