NBA's 'Air' Jordan in rare company in Hall of Fame

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (AFP) - – Michael JordanMichael Jordan, perhaps basketball's greatest player, was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, thanking those who fueled his competitive fire.

"I'd do anything to win," Jordan said, defining the key trait that led him to six National Basketball Association titles, five NBA Most Valuable Player Awards and two Olympic gold medals.

Along the way Jordan supplied enduring images - from determined defensive moves to gravity-defying dunks - that raised the NBA's profile around the world.

In his enshrinement speech, Jordan recalled the high school coach who snubbed him - and the last player to try to defend him in the NBA finals.

He thanked his own coaches and rival coaches, his teammates and his opponents for continually prodding him to greater heights of achievement.

To that high school coach who passed him over:

"I wanted to make sure you understood: You made a mistake, dude," Jordan said with a sly smile.

He took a poke at onetime Knicks coach Jeff Van GundyJeff Van Gundy, who once claimed Jordan "conned" players by acting friendly off the court, then attacking them in games.

"I just so happen to be a friendly guy," Jordan said. "I get along with everybody, but at the same time, when the light comes on, I'm as competitive as anybody you know."

Pundits who predicted that Jordan, though a great player, would never win like Larry BirdLarry Bird or Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson, were particularly motivating.

"I had to listen to all that, and that put so much wood on that fire that it kept me each and every day trying to get better as a basketball player," Jordan said.

Jordan was temporarily retired in 1994 when young Utah forward Bryon Russell told him he would have been able to guard the great man.

When Jordan came out of retirement, Russell got two chances at him in the NBA finals. Russell was the well-beaten defender when Jordan hit the clinching shot to win the 1998 crown.

"From this day forward, if I ever see him in shorts, I'm coming at him," Jordan said.

Taking the stage to an extended ovation, Jordan had to fight to get tears under control.

Jordan was elected to the hall in his first year of eligibility, and certainly his arrival there had never been in doubt.

But prior to the ceremony, the 46-year-old shied away from the wave of "greatest ever" praise.

"It's a privilege, but I would never give myself that type of accolade because I never competed against everybody in this Hall of Fame," he said. "So it's too much for me to ask, and too much for me to accept."

But Jordan, whose amazing aerial acrobatics, fierce competitive streak and marketing savvy transformed both his sport and sports business around the world, was the undisputed superstar of a stellar class of 2009 inductees.

The group also included Jordan's 1992 Olympic Dream Team colleague and San Antonio Spurs standout David RobinsonDavid Robinson, Utah Jazz stalwart and '92 Dream Teamer John Stockton, longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers University women's coach C. Vivian StringerC. Vivian Stringer.

"It's truly a pleasure for me to be a part of this and contrary to what you guys believe, it's not just me going into the Hall of Fame, it's a group of us," Jordan said.

Robinson won two NBA championships with San Antonio and was NBA Rookie of the year in 1990 and Most Valuable Player in 1995.

Stockton is the NBA's all-time leader in assists and steals. But Stockton caught the mood when he joked that some of his invited guests were really there to see Jordan.

"He makes one big shot and everybody thinks he's kind of cool," Stockton quipped. "I don't get it."

"Everybody's here to see Michael," Charles BarkleyCharles Barkley said before the festivities. "He's the greatest player of all-time."

"I think this is a greater honor for the Hall of Fame than it is for Michael," Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said Thursday.

"It's really incredible that this many years after he retired he's still probably only behind Tiger (Woods) as the second-most popular athlete in the world. That's a wonderful tribute to him."

In fact, Jordan blazed the path that golfer Woods now treads as a global star whose popularity transcends his sport.

Shoes bearing his nickname, "Air", helped Jordan make more than 100 million dollars a year from endorsements and salaries above 30 million dollars. Children all over the world sported replicas of his jersey number 23 as they tried to be like Mike.

Jordan's drawing power remains so huge that Friday evening's ceremony was moved from the Hall of Fame to Springfield's Symphony Hall, where the capacity of 2,600 is more than double that of the Hall of Fame facilities.

His fellow inductee Sloan said it was no more than Jordan's due.

"To see what Michael has done not only for the Chicago Bulls but throughout the whole world of basketball is really mind-boggling," Sloan said.