The Truth Sports takes a trip back in time when the NBA was a tad rougher, and some players wore shorts we now call “daisy dukes”!
February, 1990-Reggie Miller’s jersey was stolen from the Eastern Conference dressing room after the 1990 All-Star Game at Miami Arena. Then a thief pulled off the coup de grace at Orlando Arena on the following Wednesday, when he/she swiped Michael Jordan’s famous No. 23 before the Chicago-Magic game.
Someone slipped into the Bulls’ dressing room about 5:30 p.m. and stole Jordan’s jersey for the first time ever. An alert was sounded, and drastic measures taken. Orlando Arena officials sealed off the building about 6 o’clock, and departing employees were searched. The jersey was not found.
Then someone spotted a kid in the stands wearing a Jordan jersey. He had a likely story: He was a Bulls fans and bought the jersey at a sporting-goods store. The authorities apparently believed him, but they took the jersey to Jordan anyway. It was too small, so His Airness was given the a jersey with the number 12, and had the name removed off the back. Michael scored 49 points, a Bulls record for players wearing that number, but the Bulls lost in overtime. I have read that Sam Vincent gave up his jersey, but he wore the number 11, and even more interesting, Sam was traded to Orlando before the trade deadline… weird!
Jordan was none too pleased about the heist. After the jersey was stolen, he sent out word that he would not sign any autographs in Orlando, and he held true to his word. “It’s pretty irritating because you’re accustomed to certain things and you don’t like to have things misplaced,” he said.
The jersey has yet to appear to this day, and if located could be worth a small fortune. A pair of legitimately obtained Jordan game shorts sold for $15,000 at an Orlando auction back in 1990.
Peep the video of the game:
