Michael Jordan was born to relatively short parents as Larry was just 5-foot-10 and Deloris 5-foot-5.
Everyone knows Michael Jordan was listed at 6-6 in the NBA. You can imagine the legendary Bulls announcer Ray Clay saying it during the iconic introductions at the United Center during home games.

But His Airness wasn’t always six feet and six inches tall. Back when he was in high school, Michael wasn’t really that tall at all. And because he wanted to excel in basketball, he wished he were much taller.

“Go put salt in your shoes and pray,” His mom, Deloris, used to tell him.

MJ was born to relatively short parents
James Jordan stood only at 5-foot-10, while Deloris was 5-foot-5. So it wasn’t a surprise that their kids weren’t that tall. At the age of 15, Mike was at his dad’s height. While he was on pace to become the tallest in the Jordan household, he wouldn’t be tall enough to be a basketball star.

While MJ was 5-foot-10, his buddy Leroy Smith was already 6-foot-4, and both were high school seniors. During this time, Jordan claimed he was ‘cut’ from the varsity while Smith made the team.

“He would tell me I was being silly, but I had to pacify him so I could finish dinner,” added Mrs Jordan. “Then his dad would walk in, and he’d tell him he wanted to be tall. 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.”

He had an incredible growth spurt
Surprisingly, Mike had an incredible five-inch growth spurt, which started during his junior year of high school. Interestingly, his mother, Deloris, told him to put salt in his shoes around the same time. He was promoted from junior varsity to the varsity team that year and finished his high school career averaging 26.8 PPG, 11.6 RPG, and 10.1 APG. The growth spurt did not stop there. Per UNC head coach Dean Smith, MJ added a couple more inches during his freshman year.

“Michael Jordan, I didn’t think would start,” said Coach Smith. “He didn’t think he would. He was told in Wilmington he wouldn’t even play at Carolina and he wanted to prove them differently. He continues to prove people differently and he also grew two inches and I can’t control that”.

Not even Dean Smith could control Jordan’s meteoric rise. After he became a consensus first-team All-American during his sophomore year, Michael became National College Player of the Year as a junior. He went on to star for the gold medal-winning 1984 Olympic team and was drafted third overall by the Chicago Bulls. At 6-6, he had the height to dominate the NBA, and that’s exactly what he did.