Michael Jordan donates to Portland medical center named after Nike exec

Basketball icon Michael Jordan has donated $1 million to a Portland medical center with ties to Nike.

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, Providence Health and Services announced the creation of Howard “H” White Center for Cardiac Amyloidosis, a new medical facility in Portland aimed at diagnosing and treating the rare heart disease.

White, a Nike executive, was treated was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cardiac amyloidosis in 2017, according to the Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation .

Part of Providence Heart Institute's Center for Advanced Heart Failure, the new center will work to diagnose cardiac amyloidosis earlier. The rare disease racial disproportionately impacts the Black community.

“If you believe anything is possible, you owe it to the world to help someone else believe," White said in a statement. "I believe this new center will help save more lives, help people avoid needing a heart transplant like I did. And I’m both humbled and inspired by the friends who are joining in to help Providence make this belief a reality.”

White came to Nike in the 1970s and is serves as a vice president at the company overseeing Nike's Jordan brand.

Celebrities Chris Tucker — who protrayed White in the 2023 drama "Air" — also donaetd to the center, alongside rapper Ludacris and Nike CEO John Donahoe and Executive Chairman Mark Parker.

KOIN 6 News, a news partner of this newspaper, contributed to this report.