"Earvin Magic Johnson was head and shoulders above everybody else. I've never seen anybody as good as him." Significant praise being voiced, regardless of the speaker. When it comes straight from the mouth of basketball legend and three-time NBA MVP Larry Bird, however, it bears slightly more credibility than if proclaimed by Magic's fan club president.
The awesome power of Bird's statement is that it's as accurate in describing Magic off the court as on it. A decade after retirement, Earvin is still one of the most charismatic and inspirational faces ever associated with the NBA. He had the rare ability to connect with fans, teammates, and even opposition because of his radiant smile, unbreakable spirit, and positive demeanor. It is that same demeanor that has helped him win his battle with the deadly HIV infection, establish businesses in ghettos that no other enterprise would go near, and become a five-time basketball champion.
Those championships weren't due to chance — Magic's productivity is indisputable. He was a three-time league MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP, 12-time all-star, Olympic gold medalist, and Hall of Fame inductee. His 20 point per game career scoring average would be impressive on its own, but is even more amazing when considered with the almost unanimous concession that scoring was not his strength. In high school, his all-around game was what earned him the nickname "Magic," when a local journalist marveled at the 15-year-old Johnson's 36-point, 16-rebound, 16-assist effort against competition several years his senior. Magic's productivity would prove itself well beyond high school, however.
He was a collegiate champion at Michigan State, shattered the NBA's career assist record (since surpassed by John Stockton), and averaged over seven rebounds a contest throughout his career — astonishing numbers for a point guard. If one thumbed through Encyclopedia Brown to "leadership by example," Magic's contagious smile would be spread open right between lead poisoning and leafhopper. (On an aside, leafhoppers can populate farmland at densities up to 137 per square foot! Hey, that's what you get when the author actually uses an encyclopedia for research.)
It doesn't take an encyclopedia, however, to know that Magic was much more than just a stellar performer for 13 years on the NBA hardwood. Instead, he always saved his very best performances for the very biggest games. When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the most prolific scorer in NBA history, went down with an injury before Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals, most experts believed the Lakers were in trouble. What they hadn't counted on was a rookie point guard filling it at Abdul-Jabbar's center spot in the clinching game, and playing the best game of his basketball career. Magic recorded 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals that celebrated night. In terms of clutch heroics, his Paul Bunyan-esque effort is too unique, and too grand, to ever be matched.
Even heroes have their imperfections, however, and Magic was no exception. Fame seems to have the dangerous effect of magnifying the best and the worst of people. For Magic, the worst was his retirement prior to the 1991 season due to his acquisition of the HIV virus. A promiscuous and unprotected lifestyle prematurely ended the playing career of one of the greatest players basketball had ever seen. Some people might have been shocked into submission because of such a deadly disease. Some people might run from blame for such a public mistake. But Magic was a leader — he did neither.
Taking full responsibility for his actions, he immediately began a public crusade against HIV. Besides taking the most advisable steps to protect his own health, Magic placed the entire cause of HIV awareness squarely on his broad shoulders. He penned a book about safe sex. He joined a government-commissioned committee on how to raise public awareness about the disease. He almost single-handedly changed the way HIV was viewed in America, transforming it from a taboo topic that only affected gays and blacks into what it really was — a deadly disease that could strike anyone, whether they were straight, gay, white, black, Hispanic, young, or old. His vision and urgency towards the cause educated millions, earned him the J. Walter Kennedy award from the NBA for Good Citizenship, and saved more lives than can ever be known.
Magic was a leader, and leaders don't rest on their laurels. He formed a chain of movie theatres in sections of Los Angeles that other businesses wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, and was so successful with them that he expanded his business to other cities, and other industries (Johnson has been stupendously successful with many Starbucks coffee shops in inner cities areas).
The lore of Magic's unmatched talent was what first attracted fans to his persona. We were only endeared to him, however, after we got to know the story behind the jersey; the tenacious leader who displayed even more bravado, charisma, courage, and strength off the court than on it. And although there are those who doubt how much longer Magic can thrive with such large challenges facing him, they must remember one true thing about his character, best stated simply by his friend and rival Larry Bird, "Earvin Magic Johnson was head and shoulders above everybody else. I've never seen anybody as good as him." Neither have the rest of us, Larry.
February 9, 2005
Eric Poole:
Right on, Tyson, if you don’t mind me dredging up some 70s lingo. I’m not a devotee of the cult of Jordan. Magic wasn’t just the best point guard ever, he was one of the best shooting guards, forwards and centers when he took on those duties. Nobody, with the possible exception of Chamberlain, could do as much on the court as Magic.