Jordan's stature still looms large as he enters Hall of Fame

"Enshrined," a curious concept yet a somehow appropriate term for Michael Jordan's induction today in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in that it will fix his place in the sport and in fans' minds for all time.

Since retiring, Jordan's public image has undergone a subtle shift from the unbelievably driven and talented athlete who won six Bulls championships to the elder statesman who showed up regularly at his sons' games and paid homage to Johnny "Red" Kerr at a halftime ceremony shortly before Kerr's death last February. The Jordan seen today, in person or on TV, seems more relaxed, less restive. His accomplishments are complete, especially with today's induction.

"He seems so much more human now," said Tim Hallam, who was a buffer between Jordan and the media world for years as the Bulls senior director of public and media relations. "Yet he is who he is. So now he's walking among the people and it's a whole different experience. It's electric in a different way."

Yet he's also shied away from simply sitting back and soaking up the accolades as a Chicago icon. While he's maintained a Chicago presence, thanks mostly to his family still living in the area even in the wake of his divorce, Jordan moved on for a short-lived comeback with the Washington Wizards and an executive role with both the Wizards and, more recently, the Charlotte Bobcats.

It was as if Jordan were bigger than any one town, and Chicagoans seemed to recognize they were going to have to share him, especially in retirement.

"He hasn't been here," said Dan Bernstein, the WSCR 670-AM afternoon host who covered Jordan as a reporter during the second streak of three straight championships in the mid-90s.

"It's so different for a guy who stays in town," he added, citing figures like the Bears' Mike Ditka here and the Yankees' Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio in New York.

"But Jordan just left," Bernstein said. "To the extent that Chicago ever 'owned' him, he was so big, at a time of exploding mass media. Chicago always claimed him, but he's never really been 'of the city' so much as 'of the planet.'"

"I think his presence is the same as it used to be, only in a different light," Hallam added. "It's like absence makes the heart grow fonder. He's not around all the time, and when people see him all it does is bring back out all these memories of what was."

Fans seem to recognize there were ameliorating circumstances to Jordan's departure as well, such as Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause and Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf being eager to get on with rebuilding rather than keep Jordan, Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson after the last championship in 1998.

"I don't think he'd ever not call Chicago his home," said John Camardella, varsity basketball coach at Prospect High School. "I still blame Reinsdorf, and I think most people who pay attention to the Bulls and pay attention to what Reinsdorf did to that team following '98, we knew it wasn't Jordan, it wasn't Jackson choosing to leave Chicago so much as it was Reinsdorf saying it's enough."

"I know they're still good friends," Hallam insisted of Jordan and Reinsdorf. "Michael had his own wishes to do some things," he suggested, and do them on his own terms.

Meanwhile, Jordan's legacy as a player remains strong. "It's my seventh year here, and he is, at least in our basketball program, as revered as ever," Camardella added. "Even with the kids I'm working with now, 10 years later, they haven't missed a beat."

He said more than a quarter of his players wear Jordan shoes, more than those sporting Kobe Bryant paraphernalia or shoes by Nike's heir-to-the-Air apparent LeBron James.

"I don't care how many titles Kobe gets, or if LeBron ever gets his, but I still I don't think in these kids' minds they'll ever top Jordan," Camardella said. "I've tried to temper how much I do use pros as an example, but the biggest thing I remember about him is how much attention to detail he would put in.

"He had his problems with gambling and stuff," he acknowledged, "but how he carried himself on the court is how you want your kids to play."

"He's still a huge deal," Hallam said. "He's still a show stopper wherever he goes."

Camardella recalled when Jordan would routinely show up to see his sons play for Loyola in the Wheeling Hardwood Tournament. "We would have students from Prospect, who were not basketball fans, who'd never come to our games, who were going to Wheeling High School just to get a glimpse of him," he said.

That figures to remain the case for as long as Jordan continues to visit the Chicago area.

"He was so huge, and then so immediately gone," Bernstein said. "All that was left was that statue."

That and his stature as perhaps basketball's greatest player and certainly Chicago's greatest sports champion, now solidified with his enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <p class="News">• The ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. Central time Friday at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. ESPN will carry the ceremony live.</p> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=320322">Rozner: Is Hall all there is for Mike? <span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=320421">Cox: Jordan's stature still looms large <span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=320333">Michael Jordan's top 23 career highlights <span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=320337">Our Bulls writer selects his Top 5 Jordan highlights <span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=320505">A few tales of close encounters that you've never heard before <span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=320506">Jordan's baseball brethren recall his respect for the game <span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=320515">Daily Herald writers share memories of Jordan<span class="date">[09/10/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=317937">CSN to show 23 hours of Jordan before induction <span class="date">[08/31/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=311122">Hall of Fame opens Michael Jordan exhibit <span class="date">[08/02/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=284331">Now here's a shocker ... Jordan named to Basketball Hall of Fame <span class="date">[04/07/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Photo Gallery</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=318785">Images of Michael Jordan through the years </a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <li><object width="300" height="182"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hyo7aOFMirI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hyo7aOFMirI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="300" height="182"></embed></object>   </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.hoophall.com/">Basketball Hall of Fame </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>