Carolina fans visiting Chapel Hill will have a new way to express their loyalty to the Tar Heels.
The Graduate Chapel Hill — formerly the Franklin Hotel — is remodeling and will offer a detailed recreation of Michael Jordan’s UNC dorm room, as featured in a 1983 Sports Illustrated photo shoot.
The photo was featured in Sports Illustrated’s November 28, 1983 issue that explored Jordan and Sam Perkins’ careers at UNC.
“The room is an identical replica,” Graduate Hotels CEO Ben Weprin told ESPN. “From the ceiling, to the brick wall, to the record player and records, the posters, the pennants — every single piece in that room, we have it.”
The hotel offers many other relics of UNC basketball history — including game-worn sneakers from 1983, a $5 check Jordan cashed after winning a game of pool and Jordan’s actual student ID card.
But the Jordan Suite — Room No. 23 — is one of the biggest attractions.
“We thought it would be a fun way to pay homage to him,” Weprin said of the Jordan Suite. “It is like going back in time, trying to get in the head of Michael Jordan. He was a normal kid — even though he is an icon now.”
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