'The Last Dance' director recalls story about Michael Jordan's generous gift to Roy Williams left on the cutting room floor
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' award-winning docu-series, 'The Last Dance', featured interviews with many people. These are people who made an impact on Jordan and the Bulls' journey to six NBA championships in the 1990s.
One of these was former North Carolina Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who coached MJ in college under Dean Smith, winning the 1982 national championship.
Director Jason Hehir shared an anecdote of the retired coach that he wishes would have stayed in the documentary's final cut. The story includes Williams and Michael's late father, James Jordan, who was killed in 1993.
Speaking on the 'Will Cain Show' in 2020, Hehir called Williams' interviews one of the most fun before talking about his gratitude to James.
"He was the guy who recruited Michael to UNC, so he knew the Jordan family really well, he knew the parents really well. And in the course of Michael’s recruitment to UNC, Michael’s dad built him a wood-burning stove with his bare hands.
"Roy told the story of how Mr. Jordan shows up with this wood stove on a truck. Out of nowhere, rings his doorbell. And this is in the process of Michael being recruited.
"It’s one thing for a coach to be giving you something, but for the recruit to be giving a coach something, that’s just how generous a guy James was, and how much he appreciated how kind Roy Williams was. And Roy was a part-time coach at that point, I think he was earning like $8,000 a year to be a coach at UNC," Hehir said. [4:37 mark]
Revisiting Michael Jordan's North Carolina career
Michael Jordan spent three seasons with the Tar Heels, from 1981 through to 1984. He became the fourth player in the program's history to start his first game as a freshman.
Under Dean Smith, he showed glimpses of what was coming to the NBA. He won the 1981-82 ACC Rookie of the Year award, the 1983-84 ACC Player of the Year award and was named the 1983-84 AP Player of the Year.
He won the NCAA championship in his third and final season before heading to the association as part of one of the greatest draft classes of all time.
His Airness played 101 games, scoring 17.7 points, grabbing 5.0 rebounds and dishing 1.8 assists while shooting 54.0% from the field and 74.8% from the free-throw line. He would become Michael Jordan after that game-winning shot in the NCAA tournament final, and the rest is history.