Michael Jordan’s 1985 Heartbreak Led to ‘Holy Grail’ of His Brand’s Collection

The go-to brand for your vintage sneaker fix has added the ‘holy grail’ of sneakers to its collection. A rare pair of Air Jordans designed and modified for Air Jordan himself is now featured on Curated Van. The first sneaker in Nike’s Jordan Brand has seen different incarnations over the years. But the one adapted to Michael Jordan’s early career injury was as iconic as His Airness himself.

Curated Van eagerly flaunted the addition of these rare AJ1s to their collection. “Curated Van recently received a sneaker collection banger: You have before your eyes a Jordan 1 High ‘Chicago/Player Exclusive’ modified for Michael Jordan himself…The pair has an upper in changed colors and shapes with a Jordan 2 sole… It was created in a few copies on the occasion of MJ’s fracture in 1985… Literally a holy grail!” the post translated.

Air Jordans debuted in 1985, the same year Jordan suffered a setback in his career. On October 29, 1985, the Chicago Bulls were playing against the Golden State Warriors, which was Jordan’s third game of the year. MJ landed wrong and broke his left foot in the game.

The 1985-86 season was a downer for young Jordan. He missed 64 games to rehab the injury. The Bulls made the playoffs without him but didn’t win the series.

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On The Last Dance, Jordan revealed that he defied team orders while rehabbing at UNC. He kept playing 5-on-5 and when he got back, his previously injured left calf muscles were stronger than his uninjured calf. After some arguments, the Bulls allowed Jordan to play with limited minutes.

In his first game since the injury, Jordan played in a modified version of the Air Jordan 1. It came with an ankle strap to keep his injured foot stable. Nike created very few pairs of this modified version that are only available through some vintage sneaker dealers.

Curated Van is one of them. It deals in vintage Nikes and Air Jordans, and now it has these rare modified AJ1s. They’re a testament of Jordan going up against odds stacked against him and not letting a season-ending injury get to him. Interestingly, this injury nearly made him reconsider his relationship with Nike.

MJ wanted to make the Air Jordan better

The most serious injury into his sophomore career got Jordan thinking about sneakers that need to protect the player. He was close to going to Adidas or Converse, terrifying Nike. So, they enlisted Tinker Hatfield to keep Jordan.

Hatfield took a last-minute flight to meet MJ and impressed him with an improved design for the Air Jordan 3. It kept Jordan with Nike for three decades and counting.

Hatfield was not involved in the AJ1s and ‘broken foot’ modification. That was Peter Moore. Therefore, Curated Van is not shy of flaunting this rare addition to their collection.

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