Richard Esquinas: the man who played high stakes golf with Michael Jordan

A controversial bit of news involving Michael Jordan took the focus away from his supreme success on the court with the Chicago Bulls. Richard Esquinas was a primary figure in this storyline in 1993, and continues to be linked with the basketball legend to this day.

Esquinas didn’t just appear in the spotlight in the mid-1990s. He had a passion for the game of basketball, and had relationships with many notable figures. One of his close friends, according to UPI's website, was Mannie Jackson, who owns the Harlem Globetrotters. Esquinas hoped to promote the game in conjunction with the achievements he was experiencing in the business world.

Photo Credit: San Diego Union Tribune

Esquinas became a high-profile sports business executive in the 1980s. He was the President and General Manager of the San Diego Sports Arena, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was involved in organizing charity events and offseason All-Star games for some of the NBA’s greatest players. The scrimmages would receive a lot of attention.

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It was around this time that Esquinas would meet Jordan. The two shared a competitive nature, and a love of golf. This interaction began in 1989, and would last a few years.

The men would play at golf courses all over the country, as it appeared like both parties legitimately enjoyed the recreation.

These one-on-one matches between Esquinas and Jordan were a little different from the type most people might play. The executive and NBA star would wager large sums of money on the result of their games, in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars. At one point, Esquinas claimed that Jordan owed him more than $1 million, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

That’s when things started to change. Esquinas wrote and released a book in June 1993 called 'Michael and Me', where he detailed the extent of the pair’s gambling addiction, and told the world about the money he believed Jordan was in debt for. He told NBC that he wrote the book as a way to break free from the wagering demons he had, and wanted to help Jordan shake them too.

News of the book’s release coincided with the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, which the Bulls were participating in. NBC decided to interview Esquinas during coverage of that series, and he went on national television to defend his decision to write the tell-all novel. Many wondered why he elected to unveil the book during the NBA season.

Photo Credit: Screenshot YouTube @AShotOnEhlobyJackSilverstein

The Bulls star was caught in a difficult position, as he was trying to focus on Chicago’s postseason aspirations. Jordan stated in interviews that he did not owe Esquinas anything, and that the amount that was communicated in the book was fabricated.

Jordan said that the debt was actually much lower, and that he made payment for that reduced amount in full.

Depending on who you ask, the Esquinas scandal may or may not be believable depending on the source. However, this was not the first time that Jordan had been connected to gambling off of the court.

The high-profile nature of the story caused the NBA to probe his activity in this regard. The league claims they found nothing conclusive to discipline the superstar, according to CBS Sports.

With a cloud of controversy hanging over his head, Jordan decided to step away from the NBA to play baseball. The shooting guard told the media that he was fulfilling a lifelong dream that he and his recently deceased father had for him.

Jordan would miss nearly two full NBA seasons playing on the diamond.

Since the 1990s, the story had faded into a footnote without any more focus being paid to it. It was revived in 'The Last Dance', the documentary that was released in 2020. In the film, Jordan would once again reiterate that Esquinas’ contentions were exaggerated, and that there was nothing he owed the former sports executive.

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Esquinas’ life took a reclusive turn after the deluge of attention he received in 1993. He opted to remove himself from the public eye, and found inner peace by dedicating himself to yoga. After The Last Dance was released, Esquinas posted a video on YouTube where he once again refuted Jordan’s dismissal of his narrative.

Photo Credit: YouTube @Richard Esquinas