Michael Jordan Surprises His High School Teacher In Hospice Care
After six championships, running one of the most successful sneaker brands, and now leading a title-winning NASCAR team, Michael Jordan still has time for an old high school teacher, Ms. Etta.
Back on May 11, Ms. Etta entered end-of-life care at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare in North Carolina. While in hospice, she mentioned that her dying wish would be to reconnect with Jordan, her former student, and “hug Michael’s neck one more time.”
Those around her tried several times to get in touch with Jordan but weren’t successful. That was until one day, a social worker named Wendy at the facility got a call from an unknown number.
It turned out to be Jordan, who asked, “Is this Ms. Etta?”
Wendy, who was at home at the time, immediately drove to Etta’s home so she could speak to Jordan on FaceTime.
“They laughed, reminisced, picked at each other, and shared a moment that brought tears to everyone in the room. A memory her family will carry with them forever,” said staff with Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, according to WECT 6.
Photos show Ms. Etta gripping the phone while in bed, with a smiling Jordan on FaceTime.
Although Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1963, his family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1968, where he later attended Emsley A. Laney High School.
That’s where he first started cultivating his basketball skills, while also starring on the baseball and football teams. He was on the junior varsity team at first, but after a growth spurt, he joined the varsity team for his junior and senior seasons before graduating in 1981.
Averaging more than 25 points per game and dropping 30 points in the 1981 McDonald’s All-American Game only intensified the recruiting hype, with offers from the likes of Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina, Syracuse, and Virginia.
But he stuck around town for college and became a UNC Tar Heel, which was just a two-hour drive from Laney and Ms. Etta, who taught there for 40 years.
He went on to become one of the most successful basketball players and pop culture figures in sports history.
Still, he stayed close to North Carolina, and Wilmington was even one of the first towns where he opened a fourth Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic in partnership with Novant Health in 2025.
“Visiting Wilmington last year for the opening of our first clinic was incredibly moving, and it reinforced just how important access to quality health care is for the community,” he said in the press release.
Michael Jordan Surprises His High School Teacher In Hospice Care was originally published on cassiuslife.com
