Magic Johnson


Johnson, Magic

(Earvin Johnson, Jr.), 1959–, African-American basketball player, b. Lansing, Mich. After winning the national championship with Michigan State Univ. (1979), he joined the Los Angeles Lakers and with them won five National Basketball Association championships (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987–88). Respected as a consummate team player and leader, he was named most valuable player three times (1987, 1989–90). In 1991 he announced that he had tested positive for HIVHIV,
human immunodeficiency virus, either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States.
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 and retired from professional basketball. He subsequently worked to promote AIDSAIDS
or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome,
fatal disease caused by a rapidly mutating retrovirus that attacks the immune system and leaves the victim vulnerable to infections, malignancies, and neurological disorders. It was first recognized as a disease in 1981.
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 awareness, played on the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team," made brief comebacks with Los Angeles in 1992 and 1996, and coached the Lakers in 1994. Since his official retirement Johnson has become a successful entrepeneur, overseeing a multimillion dollar business empire based in inner-city minority neighborhoods throughout the country as well as investments in sports teams, and is a vocal proponent of African-American economic empowerment. He also has worked as a sports commentator and was (2017–19) president of basketball operations for the Lakers.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1992).