Magic Johnson is a legendary, without exaggeration, basketball player, a former point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers. It was with this club that he became a five-time NBA champion (the last time - in 1988). In the early nineties, it became known that Magic Johnson was sick with HIV. However, this did not break him: for more than 25 years he has been able to successfully cope with the disease.
Johnson's early years and early athletic successes
Irwin Johnson (this is the real name of the basketball player) was born in August 1959 into a poor family: his father was a worker at the General Motors plant, and his mother was the manager of the school. His birthplace is Lansing, Michigan.
His father instilled in Irwin a love of basketball. And by the age of eleven, the boy firmly decided that he would be a basketball player. He literally spent all his free time with a ball on basketball courts.
For the first time, the word "Magic" (that is, "Wizard") in relation to a talented young man was used after Johnson in one of the matches managed to earn 36 points for the school team and make more than 15 rebounds. This nickname was given to him by Fred Stems, a local journalist. In the future, it was firmly entrenched in the player.
When Johnson was in his senior year, he earned an average of 28.8 points per game and made 16.8 rebounds. His confident play allowed the team to become the best in the state in its age category.
Student Basketball Achievements
Then Johnson became a student at Michigan State University and at the same time a member of his basketball club, which was called "Spartans". Jude Hescott, the coach of Spartans, suggested that Magic (despite his not very suitable size for this) become a point guard, and this turned out to be a good decision. Johnson averaged 17 points in his first season for Spartans.
As a result, the team became the winner of the Western Conference, and this gave it the right to participate in the championship of the most prestigious US student league - the NCAA. The debut in the new league turned out to be quite successful for Johnson and the entire Spartans - the team made it to the quarterfinals, where they suffered an unfortunate defeat from the club from Kentucky.
In the 1978/1979 season, Johnson again entered the NCAA championship. This time the guys from Spartans reached the final. Here, their opponent was a team from Indiana. Another famous basketball player in the future, Larry Bird, shone in it at that time. The result of the match was as follows - Michigan defeated Indiana with a score of 75: 64. As for Johnson, after this meeting, he was named the most outstanding player of the NCAA tournament.
By the way, in the future Bird and Johnson clashed many times in the NBA, their confrontation in the eighties was closely watched by American television viewers and journalists. From 1984 to 1987, their clubs met three times in the final series. And in these series, the rivalry between Bird and Johnson was especially pronounced. It is interesting that in life these two athletes were friends.
Magic Johnson in the NBA in the eighties
After winning the NCAA, Magic was drafted by the NBA Los Angeles Lakers. In a new place, he immediately loudly declared himself. His amazing performance helped the Lakers win the 1979/1980 Association championship. Not only that, Johnson was the only debut in NBA history to win the MVP title in the final match.
And in subsequent seasons, Magic consistently demonstrated a good game. Traditionally, the years from 1987 to 1990 are considered the peak of his career. At this time, another great Lakers player, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, was no longer in perfect shape (this was due to both his age and some other factors), and Magic became virtually the undisputed leader in the club. In four seasons, Johnson managed to take the title of the most valuable player in the NBA three times, although then the notorious Michael Jordan already played in the Association.
Declaration of illness and attempts to return to sports
On November 7, 1991, the entire basketball community was shocked by Magic's admission at a press conference that he was HIV-positive. In addition, then Johnson said that he wanted to leave the big sport.
But this was a premature announcement. After him, he was called up to the US national team, and again took to the floor. As a result, the American team, where, in addition to Magic, there were many other NBA superstars, won gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
And in the same 1992, he took part in the NBA All-Star Game and played just brilliantly - he brought his team 25 points.
A few years later, in the 1995/1996 NBA season, Johnson donned the Lakers' uniform and took to the floor. His return brought tangible benefits to the team: under him, the Lakers won 29 meetings out of 40 and got into the playoff stage. But there Magic and his club lost to the Houston Rockets. After this defeat, Johnson announced his retirement from basketball for good.
Overall, Johnson played over 900 games in the NBA and scored 17,707 points. On top of that, he has 10,141 assists and 6,559 rebounds.
In 1996, Johnson was named one of the fifty greatest NBA players of all time, and in 2002, his name (quite deservedly) was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Magic Johnson after retirement
It is known that in the early 2000s, the former basketball player was a regular TV commentator for NBA games on Turner Network Television. And in 2008 he switched to the ESPN channel, where he worked as a sports analyst for some time. He also occasionally performed in front of the public as a motivational speaker.
Magic Johnson, unlike many other athletes, was able not only to preserve, but also to increase the capital earned in sports. Today he is a successful businessman, his business empire "Magic Johnson Enterprises" is estimated at 700 million dollars. It includes, among other things, an advertising agency, a network of cinemas and its own film studio.
Fighting HIV
Magic Johnson, from the moment he found out that he had HIV, did everything necessary to defeat the disease. In order to prevent the development of the virus to the terminal stage (to the stage of AIDS), Johnson began to take expensive drugs and special antiviral cocktails on a constant basis. And this ultimately brought about a positive result: in September 2002, doctors reported that Johnson had no symptoms of AIDS. Of course, this does not mean a complete cure (a complete cure, due to the complex nature of the virus, cannot be achieved), but in any case, the basketball player's story gives hope to many people suffering from HIV.
It is also worth noting that Johnson is the founder of a foundation that specializes in charitable projects related, in particular, to the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS around the world.
Personal life
In 1981, the then beloved athlete Melissa Mitchell became pregnant with him and soon gave birth to a boy named Andre. As a child, the child lived mainly with his mother, but in the summer, in the offseason, Magic Johnson took him to his place. Growing up in 2005, André was appointed Director of Marketing for his father's business empire.
In 1991, a girl named Erlisa Kelly became the wife of Magic. Their wedding celebration took place in the athlete's hometown - Lansing. Later, the couple had a son (they named him Irwin) and a daughter (her name was Eliza).
