20 Things You Didn't Know About Magic Johnson

Image via Complex Original

Magic has been a champion on every level possible. He won an NCAA national title with Michigan State in 1979, his first NBA championship as a rookie with the Lakers in 1980, and a gold medal with the the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The only other NBA players in this exclusive club are Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner, and Clyde Lovellette.

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As longtime Lakers fans, the Red Hot Chili Peppers paid homage to Magic with the song "Magic Johnson" off their 1989 album Mother's Milk. And while the song is mostly about Johnson, RHCP does shout out his teammates, like Byron Scott ("Scott stops pops and drops it in/On his way back, gets a little skin"), A.C. Green ("From the hand of a man named A.C. Green/Slam so hard, break your TV screen"), James Worthy ("Worthy's hot with his tomahawk/Take it to the hole, make your mamma talk") and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ("The one and only know if his kind sits in a throne/Not for the records that he holds but for being bald and bold/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all-time great super superstar").

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Video games named after individual players were all the rage back in the '80s. One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird dropped in 1983, then Jordan vs. Bird: One on One and Magic Johnson's Fast Break followed a few years later. The game only featured two generic teams. Super Nintendo released Magic Johnson's Super Slam Dunk in 1993 and featured 28 teams.

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One of the most shocking moments in sports history came as the result of what was supposed to be a routine physical. Lakers owner Jerry Buss took out a life insurance policy on his All-Star guard prior to the 1991-92 season. When the results came back to Lakers physician, Dr. Michael Mellman, it revealed that Magic was HIV positive. Days later on Nov. 7, at the Forum, he told the world the bad news and announced his retirement. The diagnosis was considered a death at the time.

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Great players don't always make for great head coaches. Towards the end of the 1993-94 season, Magic took over as head coach of the Lakers after receiving some pressure from owner Jerry Buss to take the job. At the press conference announcing Johnson's hiring, he admitted, "I've always had the desire (to coach) in the back of my mind." Here was his chance to see what it was all about.

Initially, things went well, the Lakers won five of six games. But then the ship sank. L.A. lost the next five games and Magic said he was resigning at the end of the season. The Lakers ended up losing their last 10 games.

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In Jerry West's autobiography, West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life, the former Laker claims that Magic admitted to having sex with 300 to 500 people each year before his HIV diagnosis. West went on to say that the Lake Show's locker room in the '80s was every bit as debaucherous as anyone could imagine. He said Magic would take women back to the sauna and have sex with them regularly right after games before he did interviews with the press. 

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Magic signed a 25-year, $25 million contract before the 1981-1982 season, making it the richest contract in sports at the time. Remember, we're talking about the early '80s here. He eventually restructured his deal around '88 to catch up with the times and when he came out of retirement in '95-'96, Jerry Buss took care of his boy and signed him to a multi-year, $14 million deal.

Johnson turned his career earnings of approximately $46 million into $500 million by revitalizing urban neighborhoods. Magic invested in Starbucks before it was cool and put Best Buys and AMC Magic Johnson Theaters in urban areas in order to create jobs. Almost forgot, he owned a piece of the Lakers. And now he owns a hefty piece of the Los Angeles Dodgers. If that ain't a hustla, whatchu call that?

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While promoting the Broadway play Magic/Bird, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird made an appearance on Late Show With David Letterman where they reminisced on the moment they actually became friends. Prior to filming a Converse commercial in 1986, Johnson initially protested because he didn't want to travel to Bird's stomping grounds of Indiana where the commercial was being filmed. Eventually, Earvin caved.

After filming the first half of the Converse commercial, they took a break and that's when Bird invited Magic to have lunch with him and his mother, who greeted Earvin with a hug. "His mom greeted me on the porch," Johnson said. "It was a 'Mom Bird' hug, like my mom would hug me. I got to know Larry the man that day, and he got to know Earvin."

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Could you imagine if the Bulls won that coin toss? What would've become of the Magic/Bird rivalry? Would it have been the Trail Blazers or Mavericks, who selected Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft? History could've been so drastically altered if Chicago chose heads instead of tails.

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Magic may have been a rookie at the time, but the guy showed the demeanor of a poised veteran when he reassured his Lakers teammates that they were in good hands with Allstate, er, Earvin.

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With teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out with a sprained ankle for a title-clinching Game 6 contest against the 76ers in Philadelphia in the 1980 NBA Finals, Magic stepped up in a big way as the big man for the Los Angeles Lakers. The end result being one of the most badass perfomances in NBA Playoffs history, scoring 42 points with 15 rebounds and seven assists. After posting such an incredible statline, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Johnson considers that game the greatest of his career.

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In his first year with the Lakers, Magic Johnson averaged 18 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. And while those numbers are below his points (19.5) and assists (11.2) career averages, Magic was undoubtedly deserving of, at least, an All-Star Game appearance. Other members of the exclusive rookies to start in an All-Star game club inlcude Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, and Shaquille O'Neal.

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Magic accomplished plenty in his first year as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. The icing on the cake came when Johnson took the reins and helped lead the L.A. to an NBA title as a rookie. He averaged 21 PPG in the Lakers' 4-2 series victory over the 76ers.

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Usually, a person of Magic's height would play the forward, or maybe even center, position. However, at 6'9", Earvin was a rare breed who possessed the ball handling and dishing skills of a point guard while also being able to play the big man in a pinch.

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Before he was given the nickname "Magic," neighbors used to refer to Earvin as "June Bug" because of the way he would always bounce around the local court, trying out the moves he saw on TV.

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As a sophomore at Everett High School, Johnson filled up the stat sheet, scoring 36 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and dishing out 16 assists. After such a, well, magical performance, Lansing State Journal sportswriter Fred Stably, Jr. anointed him the nickname "Magic."

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Magic's mother, Christine Johnson, is a devout Christian, so anything associated with the dark arts doesn't fly in her book. You know, the Bible.

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In addition to dreaming about playing in the NBA in his early teens, Magic Johnson envisioned himself becoming a businessman. On June 27, 1994, Magic saw his second dream become a reality when he became a five percent owner and vice president of the Los Angeles Lakers. As we all know, he didn't just stop there.

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While many people would consider Oscar Robertson to be the originator of the triple-double considering his propensity to rack up double-digit totals in rebounds, assists, and points nearly every game, as NBA.com puts it, "nobody had thought of the term triple-double back in the 1960s."

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When he was 15 years old, Dwight Howard met the guy who inspired him as a kid to play basketball: Magic Johnson. After their meeting, Howard left even more inspired after Magic told a then-10th grade Dwight that he would never make it in the NBA because he was "too little" and "too skinny." Even though DH did turn into a legit talent in the league, the criticisms have never left.

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