Bob Sura was a star at Florida State. He remains the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Sura was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers and quickly found another reality on the court with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc in his first preseason game.
“We’re playing with Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Steve Kerr, the whole team,” Sura said. GOLF subparagraph co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stooltz. “I wasn’t the starter. I was the sixth man. We’re five, six minutes into the game, coach says, ‘Bobby, you’re in.’ … I check the game. Not even 30 seconds later, here he comes. Three-on-one break (with) Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc. Pass, pass, pass. Scottie Pippen jumps over my head, to the basket. His feet were on my head. I said, ‘Wow, these guys are moving at a speed. which I had never seen before.’ After the game, I called my mom. I said, ‘This NBA stuff is going to be fun, but it’s not going to last long.’
Sura locked horns with Jordan in a regular season game soon after and got a taste of the competitive edge that made Jordan the goat on the hardwood and a force on the golf course.
“We’re at the United Center a few months later during the regular season,” Sura said of Knost and Stoltz. “I’m guarding Jordan. I’m athletic, good defender. I’m in his face. I’m behind him. He throws elbows at me. We’re doing it. Finally, we face off. He’s spitting at me, yelling at me. That’s a line he probably wouldn’t remember, but I do.
“He says, ‘I’m not inviting you little white boy how famous I am, I’m going to punch you in the face right here.’ I said, ‘Well then do it. Let’s go.’ He just left. He didn’t expect this answer.”
Sura has become an avid golfer since retiring, and the former point guard even made an absurd bet that he would qualify for a PGA Tour Champions event by age 65.
To hear more from Sura, watch the entire episode in the video below.
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