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Magic Johnson's Birth
Earvin Johnson Jr. was born on August 14, 1959, in Lansing, Michigan. His dad worked two jobs to support his family. Growing up, Magic was in love with the game of basketball, in fact, his high school team won the state championship in 1977. His passing skills (most specifically the "no-look" pass) earned him the nickname of "Magic". -
Magic Johnson and Michigan State win the NCAA championship
1979 was Magic's sophomore year of college, and the hype around his Michigan State Spartans was unmatched, unluckily for him, his soon-to-be best friend, Larry Bird was playing just as well down at Indiana State. At the end of the season, the Michigan State would ultimately top Indiana State in the finals, with Magic winning his team the MVP. This particular image was posted on the front page of the issue of Sports Illustrated for that time (Stewart). Magic's electric personality is clearly -
Magic Johnson and Michigan State win the NCAA Championship
caputred as he has that iconic ear-to-ear smile on his face. In addition to that, the magician's outfit is clearly a sign that he likes to joke around and clearly likes his nickname. Nonetheless, being chosen to headline "The Super Sophs" is a tremendous recognition of his basketball skills especially because of the other amazing players in his class, like Larry Bird. -
Magic Johnson Retires From Basketball (1991)
After a tremendous career (winning five championships and three MVP awards) Magic Johnson tragically contracted the HIV virus in 1991. This news devastated the world as Magic admitted to having unprotected sex with a prostitute (Announcement). This event tore his reputation apart and would change his life forever. This displays that Magic is a human being, just like any other, that he is not perfect. He wasn't smart and that ruined his life. Many have ripped on Magic because of the poor choice -
Magic Johnson Retires from Basketball (1991)
that he made but he has since stepped up and been an advocate for men and women with HIV. He faced people who have hated on him, which shows a tremendous amount of courage. And coming out on national television and admitting to such a horrible thing has definitely shows his bravery. -
Magic Johnson Plays on the Dream Team
After being selected in 1991 (before Johnson had retired from the NBA), he agreed to join the USA National Men's Basketball Team. After the horrific news about his HIV virus, Magic participated on the Dream Team and played in the 1992 Summer Olympics, perhaps the greatest basketball team to ever be assembled (Leifer). This again shows a lot of courage from Magic as many people were afraid of him, or that he'd get cut and they would get HIV, but he played despite this. The strength that he -
Magic Johnson Plays on the Dream Team
displayed over the course of those olympics was unmatched and to the other players' credit, they accepted him just fine. This particular photograph shows the amazing friendship that Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic had. While it's a posed picture, it demonstrates the amount of fun that these three all had together and the hand signals (with the 1, 2, and 3) that prove that these three held each other so dear. As can clearly be seen, all three of these men were so happy to be apart of that. -
Magic Johnson Participates in 24 Hours of Happy
To promote his new song, "Happy" Pharrell Williams asked celebrities to make a youtube video lip-sinking his song. Magic was more than happy to send in his video, during the 5am slot. Magic dances and sings all around in Los Angeles mansion and shows off his LA Dodgers shirt (the Baseball team he owns) and his Lakers memorabilia alike (Happy). While an interesting sight, Magic's over-confidence shines through as he has a wall of SI covers with only him on the covers, five championship trophies, -
Magic Johnson Participates in 24 Hours of Happy
Three MVP trophies, and five championship rings. He is clearly trying to show off that he has done well and is very proud of himself for his tremendous accomplishments. More importantly, however, Magic displays his happy personality as he sings the song that so perfectly describes him. The million-dollar smile that Magic has shines again and again as it always has throughout his life. Magic is clearly very happy. -
Magic Johnson Gets Promoted to the President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers
With the Lakers struggling recently, the ownership decided that it was time for a change. Magic has been involved in the Lakers organization in one way or another since the beginning of his career. On February 21st, he was promoted to the President of Basketball Operations, which is a tremendous position to hold (Plaschke). The ownership clearly finds Magic's basketball mindset and intelligence to be desirable and his loyalty is unmatched. He has stayed with the same organization for decades.
