Anything associated with Michael Jordan's name has value, and his mother is calling foul on some items being auctioned.
These days Deloris Jordan guides resources for scholarships and programs for young people in our area and in East Africa. She chairs the James R. Jordan Foundation with her well-known son Michael Jordan, and over the years she has kept many items tracking MJ's career.
Mrs. Jordan says some items recently put up for auction are not the originals, including recruitment letters allegedly sent from coaches at North Carolina.
"His college years, the recruiting. Those things mean something. Mothers just don't do that, you hold on to those things because they are precious," said Deloris Jordan.
Goldin Auctions claims to have four Michael Jordan items. The founder and owner of the online auction company Ken Goldin says he thought the letters might be duplicates at first, but the two recruiting letters have since been authenticated.
"I'm sure Deloris Jordan has hundreds of recruiting letters, including dozens from the University of North Carolina, but she doesn't have these two," said Ken Goldin.
Goldin says if Mrs. Jordan produces the originals he will pull the items. But Mrs. Jordan says they are secure in a vault, and that is where they will stay unless they are displayed in a Michael Jordan museum.
"Those things came to my address, so at my address, I'm going to give them to you to auction? Come on! You have a choice. You having an auction going here that says they have the authentic, I say I have the authentic. So you make your choice," said Deloris Jordan.
Mrs. Jordan says she's saved many mementos from Michael Jordan's life, as well as her other children's lives. The auction in ongoing and is open until February.
