Look: UNC Coach Dean Smith’s Recruiting Letters To Jordan For Sale

Just before Christmas, an autographed pair of Air Jordans worn by Mike during his now famous “flu game” during the 1997 NBA Finals, sold for an estimated $104,765 at an auction.

Just last month, someone also reportedly paid more than $31,000 for a pair of Jordans that MJ wore at some point during his rookie season back in 1984.

Back in 1999, Michael apparently donated several personal items from his time at the University of North Carolina, amazingly including his initial recruiting letter from Hall of Fame UNC coach Dean Smith, to a restaurant called “Michael Jordan’s 23”, to be hung on the walls of the establishment.

But upon the restaurant’s closing in 2003, much of the content of the failed venture was put into storage until a future date.

Apparently the restaurant never reopened and the owners failed to pay their storage bill, which then in turn went up for sale to the highest bidder just like the television show “Storage Wars.”

The documents changed hands multiple times but has now popped up in the hands of New Jersey based auction house Goldin Auctions.  The letters, as well as Smith’s handwriting on his letter, has been deemed legitimate by authentication company PSA/DNA.

Among the contents were a signed letter from Smith, another from then assistant coach Bill Guthridge, an original copy of the diploma Jordan received when he graduated from UNC in December 1986 while playing in the NBA, and an original copy of his transcript with his UNC course load.

The auction began on Friday with opening bids starting at $5,000 for the Dean Smith letter, $2,500 for a letter from Guthridge, $7,500 for Jordan’s UNC diploma, while the transcript is going for $1,000.