Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. was born August 14, 1959, in Lansing, Michigan. He earned his nickname at fifteen after a sportswriter watched him score 36 points, grab 18 rebounds, and dish 16 assists in a single high school game.
At Michigan State, he led the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA championship, defeating Larry Bird's Indiana State in a game that drew the largest television audience in college basketball history. That rivalry would define a decade.
The Los Angeles Lakers selected him first overall in the 1979 draft. In his rookie season, he started at center in Game 6 of the Finals—replacing an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—and scored 42 points. The Lakers won the championship. He was twenty years old.
Five NBA championships followed. Three MVP awards. Twelve All-Star appearances. He played point guard at 6'9", seeing passing angles that didn't exist for anyone else. The Showtime Lakers weren't just a team; they were a style of play he invented in real time.
On November 7, 1991, he announced he was HIV-positive and would retire immediately. He was thirty-two. At a time when the diagnosis was considered a death sentence, he became one of the most visible faces of HIV awareness. He is still alive today.
He returned briefly in 1992, playing in the All-Star Game and winning MVP. That summer, he won Olympic gold with the Dream Team in Barcelona. He attempted another comeback in 1996, then retired for good.
After basketball, he built a business empire—movie theaters, Starbucks franchises, ownership stakes in the Lakers and Dodgers. His net worth exceeds $600 million.
Career averages: 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 11.2 assists.