As a sophomore in high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team and was left off the roster, placed instead on the junior varsity squad, a decision his coach later explained was largely due to his height at the time rather than any lack of talent, since taller sophomores were prioritized for varsity that season.
Rather than accepting it as a verdict on his ability, Jordan has said he used the disappointment as direct fuel, training obsessively over the following year — arriving early, staying late, working on specific weaknesses in his game — determined to make sure the decision would never be repeated the following season.
He made the varsity team the next year, grew significantly taller, and went on to a standout high school and college career at the University of North Carolina, where he hit the winning shot in the 1982 national championship game as a freshman, before entering the NBA in 1984.
He went on to win six NBA championships and is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history, and has spoken repeatedly throughout his career about how the sting of that early setback stayed with him as motivation, long after it had any practical relevance to his actual ability.