Magic Johnson | Lifestyle

by DeniseISmithson

One of the greatest players to ever walk onto the court, "Magic" Johnson was born Earvin Johnson in Lansing, MI in 1959. Born into a large family of a GM worker, a school custodian and nine other children, Johnson discovered basketball early. Johnson has said that he used to walk to the store dribbling with one hand and dribbling with the other as he walked back.

He got his nickname as the star of Everett High School. A local sportswriter, who had watch the amazing 15-year-old play and scoring 36 points, 16 rebounds, and 16 assists, felt no other word would describe Earvin other than "Magic!" After excelling at Everett High School, Magic wanted to stay close to home for college, so Michigan State was the obvious choice. Even as a freshman, he was impressive with numbers like 17 points per game and led his college teammates, The Spartans, to a 25.5 record and The Big Ten Conference title. As a sophomore, Johnson and his teammates won the national title in 1979 and beat out Larry Birds' Indiana State in what is thought of as one of the most watched NCAA Championship Game-ever.

Opting the pro route, Johnson joined the 1979 draft, where the Lakers picked him up. With a new coach in hand in Jack McKinney and a new owner (Dr. Jerry Buss), the fans couldn't wait to see one of the best college players in their Lakers uniform. Players from all teams saw the Magic of Johnson and although the NBA rookie of the year went to Larry Bird, the Lakers won the NBA Championship in 1979 with a 60-22 record. When coach McKinney was replaced by Paul Westhead the following year, Magic's numbers matched his college efforts at 18 ppg, 7.7 rpg, and 73 apg. Proudly, he was the first rookie to start in an NBA All-Star Game-something that hadn't been done in eleven years!

In the 1980 NBA finals, Johnson scored an incredible 42 points, 15 board, 7 assists and three steals against the Philadelphia 76ers. Johnson was the first rookie to win the MVP award in the NBA finals. Magic Johnson is a modest sort, saying only of his achievement: "I just wanted to do whatever the (Lakers) needed to do to win. I was having fun." Sadly, torn cartilage in his knee would keep him on the sidelines for 45 games in the following season.

Johnson recovered from his injury and the Lakers came back in a big way for the 1981-1982 season. The Lakers handily won their division title and again took on the 76ers in the finals, with another win for the Lakers and another MVP award for Johnson. While Johnson took some heat for the comments he made about Lakers coach Paul Westhead (who was replaced by the now legendary Pat Riley and left himself for the Chicago Bulls), he never let the criticism get to him and his performance in the game was never less than astounding.

In 1984, Magic signed a $25 million dollar contract with the Lakers and they won three NBA titles in the following four years. In the 1986-87 season, he scored an astounding 38 points against Houston and 46 points against the Sacramento Kings-a career high. During this season, he also achieved a career-high average of 23.9 points per game- and Johnson was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player of the Year. He would win this award again in 1989 and 1990.

Before the beginning of the 1991-1992 season, Johnson announced that he has been diagnosed with HIV and would retire from the game. He didn't leave the game without making his exit in style, however - Johnson played in the 1991 All-Star game, winning the MVP award. However, he had found a new focus: outreach and educating the public about HIV/AIDS. Johnson received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award from the NBA for his work in this field. Johnson also played on the US Olympic Basketball team in the 1992 Olympics, wrote a book on safe sex and started up philanthropic foundations. He also was an NBC sports commentator and served as head coach of the Lakers for part of the 1993-1994 season. And all of this was before he returned to the Lakers in 1996 where he played 32 more games before retiring from the game for good - unless he elects to make another comeback.

Magic Johnson made some incredible achievements in his 13 season career in the NBA. He scored 17, 707 points, 6.559 rebounds, 10,141 assists and 1,724 steals. Johnson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hal of Fame in 2002. He remains focused on his charitable work and his own companies; but even after years off the court he is still one of the biggest names in basketball. As his longtime rival and admirer Larry Byrd says of him: : Magic is head-and-shoulders above everybody else. I've never seen anybody as good as him.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.

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