The game was the stuff of legend. A flu-sickened Michael Jordan, battling fatigue and a 103-degree fever, played spectacularly in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals, going for 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a game-clinching three-pointer to push his Chicago Bulls past the Utah Jazz. But it was a ball boy, who fetched the superstar applesauce during halftime of the game, who has also scored big.
Preston Truman, now 35, was gifted the signed kicks by the superstar before he would leave the arena.
According to ESPN.com, Truman kept the shoes in a safety-deposit box for 16 years. He said he looked at them maybe four times, and in the end didn't think a piece of NBA history was meant to be kept at his bank. He decided to put the shoes up for auction, and on Thursday, the "flu-game" shoes fetched $104,765 at auction, "shattering the record price paid for a pair of game-worn shoes in any sport," according to ESPN.com reports.
The identity of the winning bidder was not immediately made public, ESPN.com reports. The previous record for a pair of sneakers worn in a game was set last month, when a collector paid $31,070 for a pair of sneakers that Jordan wore in his rookie season.
"I think my photo that Jordan's bodyguard took with me standing there drove up the price because buyers didn't have to worry if they were real," Truman told ESPN.com.
Read more at ESPN.com.