Nobody would go to Michael Jordan's NBA debut with him. 37 years later, it paid off

On a chilly Friday evening in late October 1984, a freshman from Northwestern University, Mike Cole, tried his best to convince his dorm mates to tag along to the Chicago stadium to watch the Chicago Bulls vs. the Washington Bullets game. He did so because he had a free ticket from his father's friend and Bullets executive Jerry Sachs. But not a single friend showed interest. With no other option, Cole headed to the game alone, one where Michael Jordan was making his debut, and slid the other ticket in his back pocket. Thirty-seven years later, that casual souvenir became a historic fortune, according to ESPN's report on 7 March 2023. 

A forgotten fortune 

The game wasn't anything special, with Jordan just scoring 16 points, that too, from 5-of-16 shooting. So, Cole returned to his dorm after the game, placed the unused ticket in his box alongside his other baseball cards, and forgot about it. It wasn't until decades later, while trying to check the score of a football game, that he read about a creased stub from that game selling for a whopping $264,000. This immediately reminded him of his own fully intact ticket, which he had kept safely in a folder inside a box. 

"I knew I went to Michael Jordan’s first game," Cole told the Chicago Tribune. “And I also knew that I had a full unused ticket, because I couldn’t find anyone else to go with me.” Despite being half asleep, he ran downstairs to check whether he still had the ticket. Sure enough, he had it. In that exact moment, Cole knew that if a stub was worth around a quarter of a million dollars, his ticket would fetch a lot more at an auction, and surprisingly, he was right. 

Cole first verified his ticket, and once it was done, an armored car pulled up to his house to collect the item for auction, as he decided to sell this historic ticket through an auction house called Heritage Auctions in Dallas. As soon as two guys in bulletproof vests came down from the truck, Cole handed them the ticket.

Thinking like the rich

Finally, Cole's ticket was sold for a staggering $468,000, making it one of the most expensive tickets at an auction. It was after this, at night, that he did something Cole wouldn't normally do and checked the price of a Lamborghini Urus because, according to him, that's what the rich people drive.

However, he didn't make that impulsive purchase. "I’m incredibly excited by the outcome and in some ways relieved that it’s over," he said. Cole then revealed that he planned to spend the money to support his two children and use some on practical things and a trip to the Italian Alps this fall. Nonetheless, it's worth noting that even though this was the first piece of memorabilia Cole sold, he is an avid collector and likes to keep such tickets and other items as memories. So, this isn't a one-off stroke of luck thing. If anything, he might be sitting on something similar. 

A billion-dollar hobby

According to Market Decipher's latest release, the global sports memorabilia market is expected to shoot up to about $227.2 billion by 2032. Out of all the items being sold in this market, sports cards remain the most collected ones, with about 98% of collectors collecting them. The data suggest that, just like Cole, many people worldwide find joy in collecting sports items. And who knows? A simple hobby like that could one day turn into a fortune. 

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