1984 Ad

Ebony, Feb, 1992

IT was a pickup team of amateurs taking on the world's best "professional" teams. And when the motley band of college stars took the floor for the first round of the men's basketball competition in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, some sports analysts said it was over before it was over.

But the team, led by "unknown" University of North Carolina senior Michael Jordan, silenced the critics by out-jumping, out-hustling and out-shooting all comers.

In a preliminary round against Uruguay, Jordan flew through the air for three slam dunks and hit a 28-foot, buzzer-beating jumper to give the Americans the lead at the half. He finished the game with 24 points, the highest individual score for any U.S. player, giving the Americans the win.

It was clear from the moment the U.S. men's team took the court in the final round against Spain that it was a force. The American all-stars opened up a huge lead over Spain, which committed 11 turnovers in the first half.

And when Jordan took off for a slam dunk, it was showtime at the Olympics, and the international audience received a foretaste of the Air Jordan who's the leader of the Chicago Bulls.

But Jordan didn't do it alone. He got help from a cast of collegiate stars (Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Wayman Tisdale, Steve Alford, Chris Mullin, Vern Fleming, Alvin Robertson, Joe Kleine and Leon Wood), all of whom went on to the NBA.

The Americans stopped Spain with a 96-65 rout, giving the United States its first gold medal in basketball since a 51-50 heartbreaker against the Soviet Union in 1972.

The players' only regret was the Soviets' boycott of the Los Angeles games. But Jordan and the other U.S. stars could get a rematch with the Soviet Union this summer at the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain, and perhaps ascend the winner's platform once again.