During The Last Dance, fans get a glimpse of Michael Jordan’s close relationship with security guard Gus Lett. He is just one of the behind-the-scenes figures that played a pivotal role during the Bulls title runs. Jordan called Lett a “father figure” during one of The Last Dance interviews and admitted the two became even closer after his father James Jordan’s death.
“When people [were] around, they think they’re entitled to certain things, Gus would put them straight,” Jordan explained in The Last Dance. “That was Gus. He’s a protector but he was more than that, and I saw him for being more than that. …When my father got killed, he became like a father-figure to me, and I had to have him next to me everywhere I went.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, Lett died in 2000 after a long battle with cancer. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1998 that Lett had a malignant lesion surgically removed from his brain and a chest tumor treated through radiation. Lett had lost 20 pounds as he continued to battle the disease.
Jordan Hired Lett & 2 Other Chicago Stadium Security Guards When He Began His Baseball Career
Jordan became close with several members of the Chicago Stadium security team during his Bulls career. When Jordan transitioned to baseball, he hired Lett, John Michael Wozniak and Clarence Travis to be his security guards, per the Chicago Tribune.
Wozniak also became a public figure after The Last Dance captured the guard pulling off the “Jordan shrug” after beating the NBA star in a game of quarters. The three guards were re-hired by the Bulls when Jordan ended his basketball retirement in 1995.
As Lett fought cancer, Jordan encouraged him to “keep fighting” and the guard noted in 1998 that he talked to the Bulls legend “all the time.”
“Michael and I talk all the time,” Lett explained to the Chicago Tribune. “Probably twice a week we will talk. We talk about my health. He is encouraging me to keep fighting. And he keeps telling me that it’s going to be all right, which I know it will be. The doctors tell me I’m on the good side of (cancer prognosis). The tumors are gone. And I am going through chemotherapy now.”
Lett Was a Former Narcotics Agent Whose Experience Included Working the Riots After Martin Luther King’s Assassination
Lett transitioned into being a security guard with the Bulls after retiring as a narcotics agent. Former Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly described Lett’s prior experience noting he “worked the riots in Marquette Park after Martin Luther King’s assassination.”
“Gus never asks anything of Jordan, not even an autograph,” Reilly noted in 1998. “When you’ve taken a bullet, worked the riots in Marquette Park after Martin Luther King’s assassination, worked the riots at the ’68 Democratic Convention, made some of the biggest narcotics busts in Chicago in the ’70s, sat in a room full of drug dealers with your cover blown, you do not worry about some scratchings on a napkin.”
During his career with the Bulls, Jordan called Lett as a “very positive inspiration.”
“Gus is a very positive inspiration to me,” Jordan told the Chicago Tribune. “He means a lot to me. When you look at Gus, the game really doesn’t mean as much. He is struggling through something that means a little bit more than playing a basketball game. He is certainly a positive influence for me. I enjoy him being around.”
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Gus Lett, Michael Jordan’s Security Guard, Tragically Died of Cancer