Do You Believe In Magic?
Earvin Johnson Jr. earned his nickname on the team of Everett High School in Lansing, Mich. And ever since – whether it’s in basketball, in business, or in battling HIV – he has played to win.

1979: Johnson is selected first overall in the NBA draft by the Lakers and leads them to the championship in his rookie season.

1988: The Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons to claim their fifth NBA championship since Johnson joined the team.

1991: At 32, Johnson discovers he has HIV and announces his retirement. His wife and unborn son test negative.

1992: Back on the court, he wins the All-Star MVP, but retires again after protests from fellow players.

1994: Dr. David Ho puts Johnson on an experimental cocktail of antiretroviral drugs to help fight his HIV.

1995: Opens his first Magic Johnson movie theater in L.A.’s Crenshaw district, part of an effort to revive inner-city neighborhoods.

2011: He acquires a stake in the company that owns Vibe magazine and is rumored as a possible buyer for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson isn’t the reflective type. He tends not to dwell on the past or even second-guess the decision he made 10 minutes ago. So when asked if he often thinks about that chilly November morning in 1991 when he stood onstage at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles and announced to the world that he’d contracted HIV, the former point guard flashes his signature smile and shakes his head: no. “I don’t look back that much at all, and I don’t spend a lot of time on regrets,” says Johnson. “I do regret putting my family and my wife, Cookie, through that entire experience and having to deal with certain things. But that’s really the only regret I have.”

Instead, the basketball legend turned business executive keeps his mind focused on one, profound thought: living. To the fame he earned as a Los Angeles Laker has been added the triumph of the survivor who beat the odds, and it may be the greater legacy of the two.

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