 On October 6 , 1993 , Jordan announced his retirement , citing a loss of desire to play the game . Jordan later stated that the murder of his father earlier in the year also shaped his decision . Jordan 's father was murdered on July 23 , 1993 , at a highway rest area in <unk> , North Carolina , by two teenagers , Daniel Green and Larry Martin <unk> . The <unk> were traced from calls they made on James Jordan 's cellular phone , caught , convicted , and sentenced to life in prison . Jordan was close to his father ; as a child he had imitated his father 's <unk> to stick out his tongue while absorbed in work . He later adopted it as his own signature , displaying it each time he drove to the basket . In 1996 , he founded a Chicago area Boys & Girls Club and dedicated it to his father . 
