Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
November 28, 1983 is an early and significant date in the documentary record of Michael Jordan. He was twenty years old, in his junior year at the University of North Carolina, and already being written about in the most widely read sports magazine in America as one half of "the best one-two punch in the game." The cover image — Jordan alongside teammate Sam Perkins — predates his NBA debut by nearly a year. For collectors tracing Jordan's rise from collegiate phenomenon to global icon, this issue sits at a specific and well-defined point on that arc: after the 1982 national championship shot that made him famous, but before the 1984 draft that made him a professional. That window is narrow, and the published record from inside it is finite. Anyone building a serious Michael Jordan magazine collection treats pre-draft coverage like this as foundational material.
The feature, written by Curry Kirkpatrick — one of Sports Illustrated's most respected college basketball writers of the era — appears as part of the magazine's annual college basketball preview package. That context matters. The SI college basketball preview was the most authoritative season preview in American sports journalism at the time, and being named the centerpiece of that package, as Jordan and Perkins were, carried genuine weight in how the sport understood itself heading into a new season. The piece also arrives at a moment when UNC under Dean Smith was one of the dominant programs in the country, which makes the coverage doubly grounded in historical fact rather than retroactive hype. For anyone focused on 1983 sports magazines as primary sources, this issue belongs in the same conversation as the most important Jordan collectibles from his pre-professional years.
The issue also includes an early major feature on Akeem Olajuwon — then a sophomore at Houston, still a year away from the NBA draft — by the same writer. That pairing, entirely coincidental from an editorial standpoint, makes this a remarkable snapshot of two future Hall of Famers covered in depth during their college careers, before either had played a single professional game. That is not something a collector can manufacture after the fact.
About the Publication
Sports Illustrated, launched by Time Inc. in 1954, was by the early 1980s the dominant sports periodical in the United States, with a weekly circulation measured in the millions and a reputation for long-form sports journalism that set the standard for the genre. Its college basketball preview issues were annual landmarks on the sports calendar, combining national rankings, program profiles, and featured writing from staff writers who covered their beats with genuine expertise. The magazine's covers from this era have become among the most collected sports periodicals in the hobby, and issues featuring athletes at major biographical turning points — first covers, pre-draft profiles, championship seasons — carry the strongest long-term collector interest.
Key Highlights Inside
- Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins cover feature by Curry Kirkpatrick (p. 48): The centerpiece of SI's 1983–84 college basketball preview, naming the UNC duo the best forward-guard combination in college basketball — one of the most significant pre-draft Jordan features in the magazine's archive.
- Early Akeem Olajuwon profile by Curry Kirkpatrick (p. 106): An in-depth feature on Houston's 7-foot center during his sophomore season, written before his NBA career began — an early major-press document on one of the greatest centers in basketball history.
- SI's 1983–84 College Basketball Top 20 rankings: The magazine's full preseason national rankings, including Division II and NAIA women's picks, representing the definitive mainstream preseason assessment of that season's landscape.
- "It Rained on SMU's Parade" by Douglas S. Looney (p. 32): Coverage of the SMU Mustangs' bowl exclusion despite shutting out Arkansas — a piece that documents the politics of college football bowl selection in the early 1980s.
- "Better Luck Next Time, Celtics" by Anthony Cotton (p. 38): A game report on Andrew Toney and the Philadelphia 76ers defeating the Boston Celtics, with Dennis Johnson featured in his early days with Boston — a snapshot of one of the great rivalries of the NBA's 1980s golden era.
- "Less Pizzazz, but More Pizzas" by Paul Zimmerman (p. 40): A profile of Cleveland Browns coach Sam Rutigliano capturing the NFL's defensive evolution in the 1983 season.
Condition & Rarity
Surviving copies of this issue in collectible condition present the typical challenges of a newsstand weekly from 1983 — a publication printed on mid-grade coated stock, distributed for immediate reading rather than long-term preservation, and rarely stored with collectors in mind at the time of original sale. What distinguishes a collector-grade example is completeness: all pages present and legible, with the cover — carrying the Jordan and Perkins image — intact and structurally sound. Corner creases and light surface wear are the expected condition markers for a complete, unrestored copy that has spent four decades outside archival storage. Moderate age and wear of this kind, when the interior remains dry and the cover image is undamaged, represents an honest and stable condition for serious reference and display use. Protective plastic sleeve housing preserves current condition and prevents further atmospheric exposure. Given the sustained and well-documented collector demand for Jordan-related print material from his pre-professional years, complete copies of this issue with covers in readable condition are meaningfully harder to locate than their original print run might suggest.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Pre-draft Jordan coverage at this depth is genuinely difficult to find in collectible condition, and this particular issue is one of the more sought-after entries in the pre-professional record. If it's no longer available, the Michael Jordan magazine collection at OriginalMagazines.com is the best place to continue the search — it spans his full career arc from college through the championship years. The broader Sports Illustrated archive is also worth exploring for anyone building a complete run of the magazine's college basketball preview issues or its 1980s NBA coverage, and the full 1983 magazine collection brings together surviving issues from across major publications for collectors working through that specific year.