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There are a lot of iconic moments in Michael Jordan's career. There's the flu game, the shrug, and the shot over Ehlo just to name a few. However, you'd be hard-pressed to believe that one of Jordan's most iconic memories in basketball actually transpired outside the NBA just a few months after his rookie season when he shattered a backboard on a transition dunk.
It was in the summer of 1985, Jordan embarked on a European tour to promote his soon-to-be-released Air Jordan 1 sneakers. One of the stops of his tour included a visit to Trieste, a city in northeastern Italy where Jordan was slated to participate in an exhibition game between Stefanel Trieste and Juve Caserta.
Michael Jordan was better than advertised
In a packed stadium of 7,000 fans, Jordan put on a show wearing his Jordan 1 high top sneakers. By the end of the third quarter, he already scored 30 points. Fans were already in awe, but what happened in the 4th quarter was something they never expected. During the prime of his athleticism, Jordan rose for a dunk that was basically him jumping over a defender. As he took flight for a single-hand tomahawk dunk, Jordan shattered the backboard into countless pieces. The game had to end abruptly and two of the players reportedly had to get stitches from the broken glass pieces that struck their bodies.
Jordan made sure this moment would live forever
As the only time Jordan allegedly shattered a backboard during a live game, he signed the sneakers and gave them to the captain Stefanel Trieste. Decades later, in 2020, the very same sneakers which still contained shards of glass from the backboard, were sold at auction for a staggering $615,000.
This milestone was so impressive to Jordan that in 2015 he made a limited-edition shoe to commemorate the event. The release of the Air Jordan 1 “Shattered Backboard” was inspired by the colors of the jersey Jordan wore during that fateful game in Trieste – orange, black, and white. To nobody's surprise, the shoes sold out in minutes and have only been made available to the public three times.
It's crazy how what began as a simple promotional event became a legendary chapter that sneakerheads and Jordan will never forget.
