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A signed and inscribed pair of Michael Jordan’s game-worn Tar Heel blue Converse from North Carolina’s 1982 National Championship season are currently up for auction at Lelands.com. So if you’ve got some extra cash lying around, a lot of extra cash, and want to own a piece of basketball history then today is your lucky day.
As of this writing there has so far been only one bid of $15,000 so these Jordan-worn Converse might actually turn out to be a steal. Last year a game-worn pair of Air Jordan 1s from 1986 that were modified because of Jordan’s foot injury that year sold for $55,000. Also last year, a pair of Jordan’s 1984 Olympics Converse sold for more than $190,000. That pair broke the record for a shoe auction which was previously set by, you guessed it, Michael Jordan and his “Flu Game” Air Jordan 12s worn by in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, which went for over $104,000.
Your chance at owning a piece of Jordan history https://t.co/GBoqSyJVcK pic.twitter.com/zX4crrvAQE
— Sneaker News (@SneakerNews) March 2, 2018
Another pair of Converse shoes, said to be worn by MJ in 1981-82 UNC season, hits market from @Lelandsdotcom, features early Jordan signature. pic.twitter.com/B4VXQNMy4B
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 27, 2018
The groundbreaking Converse All-Star shoes presented here were game-worn by Michael Jordan during the regular season of the Tar Heels’ 1981-82 NCAA Championship season. They are style-matched to games leading up to the 1982 NCAA Tournament, and their provenance ties them to the local community surrounding Chapel Hill that Jordan frequented as a student-athlete.
In addition, Jordan has uniquely signed and inscribed them as being from that special season. The rarity of a pair of Michael Jordan UNC game-worn sneakers to hit the hobby cannot be understated. A pair featured at auction recently by a different auction house proved to be inaccurately documented thanks to a former UNC student manager/statistician. By all accounts, these are the earliest of MJ’s game-worn shoes ever to surface in the market.
According to the consignor’s detailed letter of provenance, the shoes have had three owners since leaving Jordan’s feet in 1982. MJ gifted them to a Burlington, NC, store owner shortly after his freshmen year, who in turn handed them over to a friend in town. The second owner used to be the consignor’s neighbor, and in 2006 gave them to the consignor after learning that he was an even bigger fan of UNC basketball.
Photo research shows Jordan wore this exact pair of Converse white-with-blue colorway All-Stars during the entire regular season before switching to a slightly different style for the NCAA Tournament and Final Four.
So? Are you going to drop a bid on these?