Michael Jordan classmate refused to cash $5 check after gambling debt and made 2,400 percent profit 35 years later

Michael Jordan’s love for gambling is almost as legendary as his exploits on the court.

The six-time NBA champion is renowned for his competitive spirit and as his fame rose, so did the stakes.

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From losing $900k in a 36-hour card game to an infamous $500,000 casino splurge during the playoffs, Air Jordan loved to splash the cash.

But once upon a time His Airness was just a relatively humble student at the University of North Carolina.

One famous story from that era surrounds a game of pool on the Tar Heels campus.

During his junior season, MJ already had one eye on the 1984 NBA Draft, where he went third overall, and may have been distracted.

He was up $25 on the table, but his form fell off a cliff and the future Chicago Bulls great wound up going $5 behind.

Incredibly — and this goes against everything we know of Jordan since — Money decided to quit while he was behind instead of trying to chase his losses.

His rival asked if a check was acceptable and MJ duly obliged, signing one drawn from a First Union Bank account in Pembroke, North Carolina, ‘Mike Jordan.’

Wisely, the student decided not to cash in and held onto his prize for 35 years.

It went on auction in 2019 and sold for $12,000 – a markup of 2,400 percent.

Michael Jordan’s net worth

The $5 MJ saved is unlikely to make much of a dent as the NBA star is worth $3.8 billion, per Forbes.

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He is not the only superstar athlete to try the check trick.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo — an avid golfer, who has a handicap of 1.6 — often plays against Scottie Scheffler in Texas.

“Tony always has the most risk in the game. So when he plays good he wins and when he plays bad he loses big because he’s got side games with everybody, and he never declines a hammer in wolf. He’s a crazy man,” Scheffler told the Subpar podcast.

“So when he loses, he loses big because if we are playing good we are going to make a bunch of birdies and double the bet and do all that stuff, and there’s been a couple of times where he’s played and he wrote checks to guys.

“And I never go to the bank, so I just keep it in my little pouch and whenever I have to pay him back, let’s say he owes me $1,000, so he writes me a check for $1,000. Then the next week I lose $600, I give him the check and go, ‘Alright, you owe me $400.’

“It is so much fun because he gets so mad. He’s like, ‘This isn’t real money! This isn’t fair!’

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“I’m like, ‘Tony, it has your name on the check. This is what you gave me. I’m giving it back to you now.’”

Michael Jordan’s NBC Sports role

Jordan’s massive fortune is only going to increase thanks to his new deal with NBC Sports.

The broadcaster has NBA rights in the latest $76 billion package and landed the five-time MVP as an analyst in a major coup.

He will be on air for when the 2025-26 season tips off in October.

Early in his career, Jordan tried to toe the line and take his position as a role model seriously.

But he later realised that the pressure of being perfect was taking its toll and decided to go his own way.

“It’s a heavy burden because they expect you to be the most perfect human being that you can be, and for a while, I certainly tried to do that. I tried to live that life of being the most perfect person, but I had to come to my senses, ‘Hey, I’m just as human as anyone else,'” he told Connie Chung in 1993.

MJ’s comments were echoed by current superstar Anthony Edwards, who declared that he had no intention of being the face of the NBA.

“I’m capable of being that guy, but I don’t want to be that guy; let’s put it that way,” said the Minnesota Timberwolves standout.

“I want to be that guy, just show up and hoop, or just kill dudes and go home.”