When Eric Barber beat Michael Jordan... in a wheelchair

When pitted against another player in a one-on-one match, Michael Jordan always seems to come out on top. Six consecutive NBA championships as well as a plethora of other achievements seemed to support this claim.

That wasn't the case, though, when he faced off against young star Eric Barber, who was born with scoliosis and lost both of his legs at the age of three.

Eric Barber had the makings of a future Paralympian at the age of 16 in 1987. He first began the game in his home city of Chicago.

Barber continued to play basketball in a wheelchair despite losing his functional legs after his mentor Bob Trotter introduced him to the sport while he was receiving treatment at age 13.

So, when Barber asked MJ to play one-on-one with him on an 80s television program, the Chicago Bulls legend was a total gentleman and agreed. They both had to play in the wheelchair, which was the only catch. MJ was willing to play, though, and did not withdraw.

Eric Barber went against Michael Jordan and won

Before the game began, Barber exuded confidence and discussed his plan of attack. Basically just to get away from him. Make him unbalanced. Shoot from about 15 feet away.

Jordan, who is obviously not one to back down, had to comment. I'm not scared at all by him. He can say whatever he wants on television, but when we're on the court, we're going to fight," he retorted. But as soon as the game started, MJ was evidently having trouble. Barber took advantage of this and eventually outscored him 16-4.

But we're talking about Jordan here. When he missed five shots in a row, he finally started to get the hang of it and displayed some toughness. The final score of the game, however, was 20-14 in favor of Eric.

Although MJ's movements were clumsy at first, it was clear that he eventually picked up the sport. Of course, not as good as Eric, who had spent so much time in a wheelchair perfecting the game.

However, you can still see Jordan's competitive nature in this, and when he congratulated the player at the game's conclusion, it showed good sportsmanship.

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