David Thompson To Present For Michael Jordan

September 7th, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

According to Yahoo Sports, Michael Thompson, a former North Carolina State and NBA player, will present for Michael Jordan during his induction into the Hall of Fame.

“I got a call from the Hall of Fame and they asked me if I was willing to be a presenter for someone,” Thompson recently told Yahoo! Sports. “I said, ‘Yeah.’ I didn’t know who it was. … They said Michael Jordan. I was like, ‘Wow.’ He told them that he was a big fan of mine and I was the one that really inspired him. Being that there was so many North Carolina people he could’ve chose, I was honored.

“I was kind of surprised, and also was really flattered that he chose me over Coach Smith. You know how important he is?”

To Jordan, Thompson’s college ties didn’t matter as much as his game. Before Jordan became Air Jordan, David Thompson owned the skies.

Thompson grew up in Shelby, N.C. Jordan was just 11 when Thompson led the Wolfpack to their first NCAA championship in 1974. Nicknamed “Skywalker,” he captured Jordan’s imagination – and that of the rest of the nation – with his 48-inch vertical leap and acrobatic dunks. Thompson went on to play for the Denver Nuggets, and was the runner-up to Julius Erving in history’s first dunk contest during the 1976 ABA All-Star weekend. He once scored 73 points on the final day of the regular season. Drug and alcohol problems shortened his career and kept him from realizing his potential, but he recovered and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.

It’s a bit of a surprise that Jordan chose Thompson over Dean Smith, but this just seems like something that Michael Jordan would do, and that is, not pick the obvious people. Thompson was one of the players that really inspired Jordan, so this was a bit of a natural selection for Jordan.