duncan228
08-13-2009, 09:33 PM
Long, but worth it. And the videos are great.
Magic at 50: Educator, businessman, symbol of hope (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/08/13/magic50/index.html)
By Steve Dilbeck, for NBA.com
LOS ANGELES -- He stood behind the small Forum Club podium full of life ... and absolutely dead. We were sure of it. Dead Man Standing.
The Lakers' Magic Johnson was making perhaps the most shocking announcement in NBA history on that day almost 18 years ago. He had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Bathed in the ignorance of the time, we looked at him and envisioned a horrific, imminent end.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson didn't envision anything like it, though. He was not through with an amazing life that has defied expectations and continues to break barriers. Magic, 32 years old then, was just getting started.
On Friday, Magic turns 50, and if he's been somewhat rounded by age, he appears healthy and beaming with life. Just as he was a unique 6-foot-9 point guard, he has, since that November day in 1991, become an unlikely educator of millions, teaching us that becoming infected with the HIV virus is not the same as a rapid descent into AIDS.
And for anyone who scoffed at his forays into the business world, who saw Johnson as an athlete and little else, his tremendous entrepreneurial skills have turned him into the poster boy for post-athletic success.
"It's a great story to see him so vibrant and healthy and successful with another endeavor in his life," said Jerry West, the Lakers' former general manager.
Back on Nov. 7, 1991, when Magic stood at the podium, little was understood about HIV and AIDS. Fear was rampant, the worst most often visualized.
Magic was fresh off a season in which he had led the Lakers back to the NBA Finals despite the retirement of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he had come home early from a lengthy preseason trip. Word was that he was ill, though no one could imagine how ill.
Mike Dunleavy, then the Lakers' coach, received a call in Utah from assistant general manager Mitch Kupchak, telling him that Magic needed to return to Los Angeles. Dunleavy joked that if Magic was trying to get out of the last game on the trip, he had only to ask.
"It's not that at all," Kupchak told him. "I'm scared to death."
Magic had failed part of a routine insurance physical. More tests were run. He missed the opening three games of the season.
Then the Lakers called a 3 p.m. press conference. Rumors began to swirl.
John Nadel, the veteran sports writer for The Associated Press in Los Angeles, broke the story. He was in his office that Thursday morning when the phones began to ring with various reports of Magic's illness.
"Then somebody calls John Horn, our entertainment writer, and he's hearing that Magic has AIDS," Nadel said. "It's getting real crazy. Everybody in my office is going nuts. I'm talking to the news honchos, the bureau chief, and I'm just the sports guy and people are yelling at me to make calls."
By about 11 a.m., Nadel reached a team source that gave him the stunning news, asking him not to send it over the AP wire until the press conference began. But when CNN reported Magic was going to announce his retirement, Nadel called him back and was given the OK to run the story as long as he wasn't quoted.
"I immediately bang out the story, with a whole bunch of people in my office just surrounding my computer," Nadel said.
The team was practicing at Loyola Marymount University when Dunleavy received a call from the Lakers.
"They said, 'This thing's breaking and we need to get the team down to the Forum like right now. Don't do anything, just end practice and get everyone down there,'" Dunleavy said.
"We got in there and Earvin told everyone in the locker room. It was pretty emotional. It was actually one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. You go from such an emotional locker room scene up to doing a nationally televised press conference and the amazing composure, the strength he had through it all."
Nadel's story electrified the country and ignited the media. Dave Strege, then a sports writer for the Orange County Register, was camped outside the team locker room assigned to gather player reaction.
"It was like trying to get an interview with someone who had just learned their brother had died," Strege said. "It really was like a morgue around there. Understandably, not many stopped to talk to the media."
In those days, the public was so ill-informed about HIV and AIDS that many thought they were one and the same.
"I think everybody looked at him like he was a dead man," Nadel said. "Everybody thought it was a death sentence."
Said Dunleavy: "I think in terms of what we were told at that time, it was probably three to four years."
Mychal Thompson had been with Magic on the Lakers for the past four seasons. He was playing in Italy when he got the news. An American teammate mistakenly told him Magic had AIDS.
"This was the early '90s and everybody thought automatically if you got the virus, it was just going to be a matter of time," Thompson said.
At the somber press conference, Magic remained as upbeat as he could. He said the virus would not beat him. He vowed that he would find a way to overcome it. He sounded like a lot of people unwilling to face disease and death.
By the time evening arrived, he was all anyone was talking about. Nadel left his AP office about 8 p.m. after several rewrites to have dinner and play gin with a friend.
"I was like in a daze," he said. "It was one of the weirdest days of my life. While working it, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. It never did occur to me to kinda feel excited about breaking a big story. The story was so overwhelming. Everybody was just shocked. It was just beyond belief."
A team, a league, a city and a nation were trying to put into perspective the news that one of the greatest players in NBA history was now in an unexpected battle for his life.
"It was one of the most distraught periods of my life," West said. "Forget his basketball ability -- his career was cut short. More importantly, I just felt the unknown. It took me two weeks to get to the point where I even wanted to think about the job that lay ahead of all of us in trying to regroup and rebuild the team."
Yet Magic was hardly ready to go quietly. He had the financial means to receive the best medical treatment possible. He had the willpower to do everything he could to educate himself. He was about to become an HIV expert. His legendary work ethic and competitive desire now had new focus.
As the years wore on and Magic remained healty, he became a symbol of hope for those with HIV. He championed education, safe sex and the advancement of medical research.
"With his attitude and workout regimen and change of diet, he was definitely able to stave off the advancement of the disease," said Thompson, now a team broadcaster. "He's a walking testament to willpower and trying to live your life the right way, that you can overcome almost anything."
While securing his health, Magic also was building a financial empire outside of basketball. He saw opportunity in depressed minority urban areas. He knew powerful people from his playing career and used both their expertise and financial assistance.
He began with a movie theater in South Central Los Angeles. Then came partnerships with major corporations. Soon his Magic Johnson Enterprises was succeeding in inner city areas long ignored by most of corporate America.
Last year, his businesses were estimated to be worth more than $700 million. He has more than 100 Starbucks, 30 Burger Kings, a dozen 24-hour Fitness centers, a TGIF Fridays and partnerships with health and food-service companies. In 2008 he released a book, 32 Ways to be a Champion in Business.
"He's the envy of every retired player, the way he's built an empire and made such a success of himself off the court, much more off the court than he was on," Thompson said.
On the court, of course, he was one of the best to ever play. He and Larry Bird were credited with reviving the NBA, leading it to new heights. He won five NBA championships and three MVP awards.
And he was the ultimate team player, one who played with an almost infectious zeal.
"He was one of the most unique players I've ever seen, maybe the most unique," West said. "Here's a guy who was 6-8 ½, who had more skill, more size, and it was just a horrible matchup for anyone you played against. On top of that, the determination and the passion he played with was so uplifting for his teammates and the people who loved to watch him play."
Thompson said if you put the greatest players in the game's history on the floor when they were 21 years old and gave him the first pick, it would be an easy choice.
"I'm taking Magic Johnson over any player who's ever played the game," he said, "because Magic was the ultimate winner, a great teammate and friend."
It's been almost 18 years since that dark press conference. There was an All-Star appearance, an Olympic Gold medal and a brief comeback as a point-forward afterward, but his greatest success has been leading a crusade on HIV/AIDS education and building his business empire.
"Here we are all these years later, and not only is he here, but he's healthy and will hopefully live for many more years," Nadel said. "Pretty amazing."
MAGIC JOHNSON VIDEOS:
Top 10 Clutch Moments (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/13/nba_090813_magic_top10_clutch.nba/) | Top 10 Assists (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/13/nba_090813_magic_top10_ast.nba/) | 1980 Finals (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_80finals.nba/)
'92 All-Star Game (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_92allstar.nba/) | First Game (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_1stgame.nba/) | Clutch Shot in '87 Finals (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_87skyhook.nba/)
Showtime at the Forum (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/10/nba_090810_magic_showtime.nba/) | Bird on Magic (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/10/nba_090810_bird_on_magic.nba/) | '80 Finals MVP (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/10/nba_090810_magic_80finals_mvp2.nba/)
Magic at 50: Educator, businessman, symbol of hope (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/08/13/magic50/index.html)
By Steve Dilbeck, for NBA.com
LOS ANGELES -- He stood behind the small Forum Club podium full of life ... and absolutely dead. We were sure of it. Dead Man Standing.
The Lakers' Magic Johnson was making perhaps the most shocking announcement in NBA history on that day almost 18 years ago. He had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Bathed in the ignorance of the time, we looked at him and envisioned a horrific, imminent end.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson didn't envision anything like it, though. He was not through with an amazing life that has defied expectations and continues to break barriers. Magic, 32 years old then, was just getting started.
On Friday, Magic turns 50, and if he's been somewhat rounded by age, he appears healthy and beaming with life. Just as he was a unique 6-foot-9 point guard, he has, since that November day in 1991, become an unlikely educator of millions, teaching us that becoming infected with the HIV virus is not the same as a rapid descent into AIDS.
And for anyone who scoffed at his forays into the business world, who saw Johnson as an athlete and little else, his tremendous entrepreneurial skills have turned him into the poster boy for post-athletic success.
"It's a great story to see him so vibrant and healthy and successful with another endeavor in his life," said Jerry West, the Lakers' former general manager.
Back on Nov. 7, 1991, when Magic stood at the podium, little was understood about HIV and AIDS. Fear was rampant, the worst most often visualized.
Magic was fresh off a season in which he had led the Lakers back to the NBA Finals despite the retirement of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he had come home early from a lengthy preseason trip. Word was that he was ill, though no one could imagine how ill.
Mike Dunleavy, then the Lakers' coach, received a call in Utah from assistant general manager Mitch Kupchak, telling him that Magic needed to return to Los Angeles. Dunleavy joked that if Magic was trying to get out of the last game on the trip, he had only to ask.
"It's not that at all," Kupchak told him. "I'm scared to death."
Magic had failed part of a routine insurance physical. More tests were run. He missed the opening three games of the season.
Then the Lakers called a 3 p.m. press conference. Rumors began to swirl.
John Nadel, the veteran sports writer for The Associated Press in Los Angeles, broke the story. He was in his office that Thursday morning when the phones began to ring with various reports of Magic's illness.
"Then somebody calls John Horn, our entertainment writer, and he's hearing that Magic has AIDS," Nadel said. "It's getting real crazy. Everybody in my office is going nuts. I'm talking to the news honchos, the bureau chief, and I'm just the sports guy and people are yelling at me to make calls."
By about 11 a.m., Nadel reached a team source that gave him the stunning news, asking him not to send it over the AP wire until the press conference began. But when CNN reported Magic was going to announce his retirement, Nadel called him back and was given the OK to run the story as long as he wasn't quoted.
"I immediately bang out the story, with a whole bunch of people in my office just surrounding my computer," Nadel said.
The team was practicing at Loyola Marymount University when Dunleavy received a call from the Lakers.
"They said, 'This thing's breaking and we need to get the team down to the Forum like right now. Don't do anything, just end practice and get everyone down there,'" Dunleavy said.
"We got in there and Earvin told everyone in the locker room. It was pretty emotional. It was actually one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. You go from such an emotional locker room scene up to doing a nationally televised press conference and the amazing composure, the strength he had through it all."
Nadel's story electrified the country and ignited the media. Dave Strege, then a sports writer for the Orange County Register, was camped outside the team locker room assigned to gather player reaction.
"It was like trying to get an interview with someone who had just learned their brother had died," Strege said. "It really was like a morgue around there. Understandably, not many stopped to talk to the media."
In those days, the public was so ill-informed about HIV and AIDS that many thought they were one and the same.
"I think everybody looked at him like he was a dead man," Nadel said. "Everybody thought it was a death sentence."
Said Dunleavy: "I think in terms of what we were told at that time, it was probably three to four years."
Mychal Thompson had been with Magic on the Lakers for the past four seasons. He was playing in Italy when he got the news. An American teammate mistakenly told him Magic had AIDS.
"This was the early '90s and everybody thought automatically if you got the virus, it was just going to be a matter of time," Thompson said.
At the somber press conference, Magic remained as upbeat as he could. He said the virus would not beat him. He vowed that he would find a way to overcome it. He sounded like a lot of people unwilling to face disease and death.
By the time evening arrived, he was all anyone was talking about. Nadel left his AP office about 8 p.m. after several rewrites to have dinner and play gin with a friend.
"I was like in a daze," he said. "It was one of the weirdest days of my life. While working it, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. It never did occur to me to kinda feel excited about breaking a big story. The story was so overwhelming. Everybody was just shocked. It was just beyond belief."
A team, a league, a city and a nation were trying to put into perspective the news that one of the greatest players in NBA history was now in an unexpected battle for his life.
"It was one of the most distraught periods of my life," West said. "Forget his basketball ability -- his career was cut short. More importantly, I just felt the unknown. It took me two weeks to get to the point where I even wanted to think about the job that lay ahead of all of us in trying to regroup and rebuild the team."
Yet Magic was hardly ready to go quietly. He had the financial means to receive the best medical treatment possible. He had the willpower to do everything he could to educate himself. He was about to become an HIV expert. His legendary work ethic and competitive desire now had new focus.
As the years wore on and Magic remained healty, he became a symbol of hope for those with HIV. He championed education, safe sex and the advancement of medical research.
"With his attitude and workout regimen and change of diet, he was definitely able to stave off the advancement of the disease," said Thompson, now a team broadcaster. "He's a walking testament to willpower and trying to live your life the right way, that you can overcome almost anything."
While securing his health, Magic also was building a financial empire outside of basketball. He saw opportunity in depressed minority urban areas. He knew powerful people from his playing career and used both their expertise and financial assistance.
He began with a movie theater in South Central Los Angeles. Then came partnerships with major corporations. Soon his Magic Johnson Enterprises was succeeding in inner city areas long ignored by most of corporate America.
Last year, his businesses were estimated to be worth more than $700 million. He has more than 100 Starbucks, 30 Burger Kings, a dozen 24-hour Fitness centers, a TGIF Fridays and partnerships with health and food-service companies. In 2008 he released a book, 32 Ways to be a Champion in Business.
"He's the envy of every retired player, the way he's built an empire and made such a success of himself off the court, much more off the court than he was on," Thompson said.
On the court, of course, he was one of the best to ever play. He and Larry Bird were credited with reviving the NBA, leading it to new heights. He won five NBA championships and three MVP awards.
And he was the ultimate team player, one who played with an almost infectious zeal.
"He was one of the most unique players I've ever seen, maybe the most unique," West said. "Here's a guy who was 6-8 ½, who had more skill, more size, and it was just a horrible matchup for anyone you played against. On top of that, the determination and the passion he played with was so uplifting for his teammates and the people who loved to watch him play."
Thompson said if you put the greatest players in the game's history on the floor when they were 21 years old and gave him the first pick, it would be an easy choice.
"I'm taking Magic Johnson over any player who's ever played the game," he said, "because Magic was the ultimate winner, a great teammate and friend."
It's been almost 18 years since that dark press conference. There was an All-Star appearance, an Olympic Gold medal and a brief comeback as a point-forward afterward, but his greatest success has been leading a crusade on HIV/AIDS education and building his business empire.
"Here we are all these years later, and not only is he here, but he's healthy and will hopefully live for many more years," Nadel said. "Pretty amazing."
MAGIC JOHNSON VIDEOS:
Top 10 Clutch Moments (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/13/nba_090813_magic_top10_clutch.nba/) | Top 10 Assists (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/13/nba_090813_magic_top10_ast.nba/) | 1980 Finals (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_80finals.nba/)
'92 All-Star Game (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_92allstar.nba/) | First Game (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_1stgame.nba/) | Clutch Shot in '87 Finals (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/11/nba_20090811_magic_johnson_87skyhook.nba/)
Showtime at the Forum (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/10/nba_090810_magic_showtime.nba/) | Bird on Magic (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/10/nba_090810_bird_on_magic.nba/) | '80 Finals MVP (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/08/10/nba_090810_magic_80finals_mvp2.nba/)