Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Pete Sampras among sport’s all-time stingiest stars

CHEAP champions. Sport has seen a bunch of them. They make millions and millions of dollars. Sometimes hundreds of millions. But don’t expect them to spend a cent of it if they don’t have to. Below, we list the tightest of the tight. Two of them are apparently billionaires. MICHAEL JORDAN THE Chicago Bulls legend still features at the pointy end of Forbes’ annual rich lists more than a decade after his playing career came to an end. Jordan’s one of the billionaires we mentioned, but according to his old friend and now foe Charles Barkley, His Airness is “as cheap as they come”. “I always give homeless people money and [MJ will] always slap my hand and say, ‘If they can ask you for spare change they can say, ‘Welcome to McDonalds, can I help you please?’ PETE SAMPRAS IN his book, “Open”, Andre Agassi recalled a time when he went to a restaurant with long-time rival Pistol Pete. As they were leaving, Agassi claims he asked the valet how much 14-time grand slam champion Sampras (career prize money: $43.28 million) had left as a tip. “One dollar,” was the reply. Agassi also famously called out Sampras over his tightness during a charity tennis match. TIGER WOODS IT’S 1996 and Tiger Woods has just won his first pro tournament, the Las Vegas Invitational. He walks into the press room and leans over, looking at a story being written by a journalist, who asks, “Like it?” “I like this,” Woods responds, pointing to the mention of the $297,000 winner’s cheque. Eighteen years later, Woods is a billionaire. And he didn’t get there by spending money, according to his late father Earl Woods. “That’s one of the first things to know about Tiger — he’s tight. Very tight,’’ Earl Woods said. Tiger also once topped a list of the Top 10 Cheapest Celebrity Tippers. Once he allegedly took back $5 after realising he’d already made a tip earlier in the evening. KIEREN JACK ADDING a bit of Aussie flavour to the list is Sydney Swans star Kieren Jack. Just last week, coach John Longmire embarrassed the Swans co-captain in a press conference. Jack was in danger of missing last weekend’s Grand Final loss against Hawthorn for rough conduct, but was hit with an $1800 fine instead. “He’s extremely disappointed it’s cost him $1800,” Longmire joked. “He’s very careful with his money. He might have taken the game (suspension), he ummed and aahed about it. “He’s copped $1800 and is disappointed but I’m sure he’ll get on with it.” Jack admitted the stories of him being tight were true and says he got it from his dad, rugby league great Garry Jack, who is also a tight-arse. “The thing is, most of it is all true, but a lot of it is all old,” Jack told mX. “As a first-year rookie player I was not on a lot of money and living out of home, so I had to find ways to save a dollar. It’s escalated from there and they’ve made up a lot of stories along the way and I’ve got an old man who is a notorious tight-arse, so it hasn’t helped my cause.”