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Earvin "Magic" Johnson 
Magic is a good man and a role model. He is
a great basketball player. He thinks about
other people more than himself. He is a survivor
because he’s had AIDS for a long time
and he is still surviving with it. Magic is
also a hero. He talked to younger children
about his problem with AIDS and told them
to try not to get it.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson is famous
for his amazing passing skills in basketball
and his all-around great personality. At
6 feet, 9 inches, he was the tallest point
guard in the league’s history. He is
also one of the most admired basketball
players of all time.
Johnson was so successful that he became
really famous. He played on the Los Angeles
Lakers and everywhere they went there were
fans waiting for his autograph. Women found
Johnson attractive and he was never at a
loss for a female companion. In 1991, Johnson
married his longtime girlfriend, Cookie.
Only weeks later he found out he was HIV
positive. So Johnson did one of the hardest
things he says he has ever done—he
told Cookie. He then decided that he wanted
to tell the world. “There was never
any question that I would go public,”
he said. “I’ve always lived straight
up and faced up to whatever happens.”
That year Johnson told the world and retired
from basketball. He started to speak out
about HIV/AIDS and educate youth about the
disease. He created the Magic Johnson Foundation
so he could raise money to fund AIDS research,
care and education. Johnson’s popularity
resulted in his being voted as a starter
in the 1992 All-Star Game and, later, chosen
for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team.
Since being diagnosed, Johnson has shown
the world that being HIV positive is not
a reason to stop living. He has appeared
on lots of different television programs,
such as Sixty Minutes, Today, Late Night
with David Letterman, Entertainment Tonight,
The Rosie O’Donnell Show and
The Tonight Show, and has been the cover
story for magazines such as Black Enterprise,
People, GQ, Entrepreneur, TV Guide and
Ebony. He has also been featured in
publications such as Entertainment Weekly,
Variety, Los Angeles Magazine, In-Style,
VIBE and Newsweek. About living
with HIV, Johnson says, “When your
back is to the wall, I think you just have
to come out swinging. And I’m swinging…I’m
going to go on, going to be there, going
to have fun.”
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