When Michael Jordan made his professional basketball debut in Peoria

Feb. 17 is the birthday of one Michael Jeffrey Jordan, otherwise known as the greatest basketball player of all time. At least according to his NBA biography.

But it's difficult to argue against the hyperbole, particularly for those who saw him lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.

Those who saw him in 1984 at the Peoria Civic Center might have seen a glimpse of what was to come from M.J. Although there weren't that many witnesses.

Jordan made his professional debut Oct. 5, 1984, at what now is called Carver Arena. He had a team-high 18 points as the Bulls defeated the Indiana Pacers 102-98 in an NBA preseason game.

The attendance that night was estimated at 2,100, according to a Journal Star story by Dave Reynolds, who in the ensuing years has become the longtime Bradley University basketball reporter for the newspaper.

Reynolds' story that night was hard to find. It and a small photograph were positioned at the bottom of Page 2 of the Oct. 6 sports section.

Oct. 5 was a Friday, and at that time of year, high school football is king. The major-league baseball playoffs are, too.

The story atop the Journal Star front sports page Oct. 6 was a column by late reporter Gary Childs, live from San Diego, about the Chicago Cubs' playoff series against the Padres.

Also making the front-page cut were three high school football stories: Richwoods' 40-0 romp over Spalding, by legendary, retired prep sports reporter Bob Leavitt; Washington's 14-13 nail-biter over arch-rival and host Metamora, by former sports reporter John Hillburg; and Princeville's 22-6 home beating of Dunlap, by an extremely wet-behind-the-ears Nick in the Morning.

(If you think our prose is bad now, you should have seen it back then. Cringe inducing.)

Regarding Jordan that Friday night, he was the postgame object of autograph seekers and others. "Teenage girls shrieked and reached to touch his blue-jean jacket," Reynolds wrote.

Bulls coach Kevin Loughery (who?) wasn't quite that starry-eyed, but he wasn't far from it.

"He's actually better than I thought he'd be because of his ball-handling skills and his jump-shooting," Loughery told Reynolds. "And I'll bet he had seven defensive rebounds (he did). That's some big plus out of a guard."

Jordan didn't enter the game until almost four minutes remained in the first quarter, and he missed his first two shots. The record shows his first basket was a 17-footer at 2:01, the front end of a traditional three-point play. He also made the free throw.

Jordan played at point guard, an unfamiliar position, in the second half.

"I need to practice more at seeing the whole court while I'm playing the point," he said afterward. "But I'm very happy with my first professional game. I had a lot of butterflies, but once I got up and down the court, I felt better."

It all seems so innocent now, doesn't it? So does the then-astronomical sum the Bulls were paying Jordan: $6 million, if all bonus incentives were met, over seven years.

Jordan didn't have to worry about walking-around money, however. Nike also was paying him $300,000 annually for the new, "Air Jordan" shoes the company manufactured for him.

Who knew what was to transpire, both for athletic-shoe marketing and the NBA. Some of the first steps were taken at 201 SW Jefferson Ave.

More steps ensued 11 years later, when Jordan returned to the Bulls after a brief basketball hiatus, and he and the team returned to Peoria for another exhibition. Although Dennis Rodman was a bigger deal than Jordan by then, evidently.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: When Michael Jordan made his professional basketball debut in Peoria