Magic Johnson Comeback

On January thirtieth, nineteen ninety six, Magic Johnson came back to the NBA out of retirement after retiring due to contracting HIV had been nearly five years since he played an NBA game. Here's the story behind his comeback. Welcome to Daily Sports History, I Meet the Breeze, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Magic Johnson, better known as Irving Johnson Junior, is from Lansing, Michigan, and he actually got the name Magic Johnson due to his abilities on the court in a high school game where a reporter had nothing more to say than his play being magical, and he adopted the name Magic Johnson that has still sticks to this day. Then he continued to play for his hometown team, Michigan State, where he led his college team, Michigan State to a win in the National Championship versus his rival Larry Bird at Indiana State. This rivalry continued on into the NBA. In the NBA, he had a lot of success, some that only people could dream about, winning three MVPs, multiple championships, setting records for assist But in nineteen ninety one, still at the height of his abilities, he retired early due to contracting HIV. In the early nineties, HIV was still relatively unknown. If you heard about it, you knew it was deadly to many people, and there was no cure, and athletes, especially worried about the disease, being in contact with each other and not completely knowing how the disease spread. Despite his retirement, Johnson was actually voted by the fans to be a starter in the nineteen ninety two NBA All Star Game, Although many players such as Karl Alone and even teammates Brian and Scott, thought Johnson should not play as there was a risk of contamination while Johnson was on the court, we now know that the risk was very, very unlikely that at the time there was still so much unknown about the disease, But Johnson participated in the game and led the West to a win and was crowned All Star MVP, scoring twenty five points and assist in five rebounds. That same year, Johnson also participated to be part of the Dream Team in Barcelona with fellow Harvell famers Matt Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Larry Byrd, among many many others. Before the nineteen ninety two ninety three season, Johnson announced his intentions for an NBA comeback after participating in the Olympics in several preseason games, but again he retired. During his retirement, he wrote a book about safe sex and worked as a commentator for NBC and started a foundation to help aid the research of HIV and AIDS. Then during the ninety three season, Johnson actually returned to the NBA as a coach for the Lakers, but he still had a contract with them if he ever wanted to play as a player. The age of thirty six, He finally rejoined the team in nineteen eighty six mid season and helped them and he helped them lead. He helped lead them to the playoffs, losing to the Rockets in the first round. Initially wanted to return for the next season. After a few days, he changed his mind said that he's going to go back to retirement permanent. But this was a major win for many athletes, especially many non athletes who also have HIV or AIDS, showing that you can still be a part of the world and compete in sports. It's very hard at the time for many people that did have the disease to even talk about it, but Johnson was open about it and then allowed to be someone of a spokesperson or a light people to look for, people to look at for hope, as even years after he contracted the disease, he was able to compete at the highest level, which many thought was impossible. And Johnson is still a guide as he's still around over thirty years after contracting the disease, which many thought was impossible to live that long, and he's a hope for many out there, even if it's not on the basketball court. Thank you for listening to the Days Daily Sports History. If you like this, give us a follow on our socials Daily Sports History on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and we'd love to hear from you and we want to beat you to be part of our Daily Sports History community and come back to Morrow for more sports history.