Air Jordan junkie unveils classic collection

VIDEO - Jon Hill may look like your everyday P.E. instructor. But the Denver, Colorado man's knack for collecting Michael Jordan memorabilia is anything but ordinary...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

Jon Hill may look like your everyday P.E. instructor. But the Denver, Colorado man’s knack for collecting Michael Jordan memorabilia is anything but ordinary.

Hill, 28, teaches at Denver Academy. His students may not know, but his passion for collecting Jordan-branded items stems about two decades.

“It just happened so fast and then became such a big part of my life,” Hill said.

It all started with just a few basketball cards, beginning in middle school.

“I started getting more and more Jordan cards and this is what it turned into,” he said.

What it turned into is everything and anything Michael Jordan. Cards, posters, plates, magazines and cereal boxes are just a fraction of the collection. Eighteen-year-old fruit snacks with Jordan’s iconic image and a phone that plays Jordan’s pre-game introduction when someone calls are part of his prized possessions.

“I just started going to stores and whatever I saw I would just buy,” Hill explained.

His collection of jerseys basically follows a complete history of Jordan’s career: from college, to the pros, to his stint in baseball, to his participation in the Olympics. But what’s even more special, is the jerseys are in the same size Jordan would wear.

“That’s just something I did just to be more personal, I guess, to…his collection and who he is,” he said.

Fifty pairs of shoes are part of his collection, but they have never been worn.

“I used to buy them about…about five pairs a year, they would come out with five different colors. So I’d get about five pairs a year and I only buy the Air Jordan shoes, the ones he would wear if he was playing in the game,” he said.

While Hill can travel on his personalized Jordan scooter, there’s one part of his collection that is permanent and goes everywhere he does. In the exact same spot as a Jordan shirt, Hill has a tattoo of the Air Jordan logo on his chest.

Despite all his affections for Jordan-branded goods, Hill says meeting Jordan himself is not really important to him.

“In some ways, I feel like I know him. I read about him, I collect his stuff, I look at him every single day. You know, I probably see him more than anyone else. So I feel like I know him in some form,” he explained.

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