The shoes Michael Jordan wore in the 1984 Olympic basketball final will be sold in October, Grey Flannel Auctions confirmed Friday.
Jordan averaged 17 points per game in helping the U.S. to gold in Los Angeles, two months before beginning his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls. He signed the Converse shoes and gave them to a ball boy after the U.S. beat Spain in the gold-medal game, according to ESPN.com.
Grey Flannel Auctions also held the sale of Jordan’s shoes from his famous “flu game,” Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz, for $104,765 in December.
In other recent Olympic basketball auctions, Vin Baker and Carmelo Anthony sold their Olympic gold and bronze medals from 2000 and 2004, respectively.
ESPN has the details of how Jordan’s Olympic shoes were obtained and reports the opening bid is $5,000:The shoes are white Converse, the brand Jordan wore at North Carolina, thanks to a $10,000 a year deal that was given to his coach, Dean Smith, at the time.
Grey Flannel’s Michael Russek said the auction house verified the chain of custody of the shoes by confirming that the consignor was indeed a ball boy and being presented with photos of him in the locker room in Los Angeles. He said that Jordan signed the shoes at the time before handing it to the consignor.
If the shoes were indeed worn by Jordan for the gold medal game in August 1984, it would be the last pair of shoes he wore in a competitive game as an amateur.
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