The shoes were autographed, but they were not from an important game. In 2013 the pair of shoes from Jordan's playoff "Flu" game brought $104,000.
The Chicago Tribune reports on the recent sale of Jordan shoes
Source: Chicago TribuneA pair of Nike Air Ships that Michael Jordan wore during his rookie season have sold for $71,553, according to an auction house.
It's the second biggest haul for a pair of Jordan or NBA shoes, coming in second to the Bulls legend's "flu game" sneakers that fetched more than $104,000. The buyer for Jordan's rookie shoes wished to remain anonymous, said SCP Auctions spokesman Terry Melia. The shoes were part of more than 1,300 sports memorabilia that brought in $4.1 million.
"It went for pretty much what we were expecting. We knew it would clear $50,000," Melia said.
Jordan autographed the shoes then gave them to former Los Angeles Lakers ball boy Khalid Ali when the Bulls played at the Forum on Dec. 2, 1984.
Ali said he plans to donate money from the proceeds to various youth ministries and give some to relatives, but as far as an emotional connection to the shoes, there wasn't any. "Someone else can chersih them more than I did, they were just sitting in (my parents') closet. I'm not the type of person to sit and stare at them all day," said Ali, a project coordinator for a city of Los Angeles economic and workforce development program.
Ali remembers carrying the shoes in a brown paper bag like groceries to get them authenticated. He understood their value, he said, but friends thought more about them than he did.
For him, meeting Jordan is bigger prize.
"That part right there, you can't sell that. You can't sell that experience," said Ali, who lived in Chicago and Oak Park before his family moved to California when he was 8.
Ali wasn't always a big fan of Jordan -- he capped Ali's most painful period as sports fan between 1981 and 1982: Thomas Hearns' loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, Dwight Clark's catch against his Dallas Cowboys and Jordan's North Carolina Tar Heels taking down his Georgetown Hoyas in the NCAA tournament.
"Then I saw him in '84," Ali said. "I forgot about the fact he caused me a lot of pain as a seventh-grader."
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