The Retiring of Jordan, Gretzky, and Elway in 1999 The year of 1999 took three great athletes from the sports they dominated. Michael Jordan retired from the game of basketball, Wayne Gretzky retired from the game of hockey, and John Elway retired from the game of football. All three gave much to their sports, and the sports world was sad to see them leave. Michael Jordan was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA draft. He was selected third. He was the rookie of the year that year, and also went to the Olympic games to play for the United states. Amazingly his career stats are so impressive and elongated that they