Magic Johnson

Earvin Magic Johnson is my hero. Magic Johnson was a professional basketball player but when he retired he became a businessman and philanthropist. Magic Johnson was known for his fancy assist passes, steals, and jumpshot which led his teams to five championships. Magic Johnson was inducted into the hall of fame and is now known to be in the same category as the greatest of all time. Magic was known most for his heart he played with on the court and his heart he had off the court dealing with illness. The stunning great basketball player shocked the world when he announced he was HIV positive but Magic Johnson never let that slow him down on life.

Magic Johnson made an early retirement after thirteen years with the Los Angeles Lakers after finding out the stunning news of being HIV positive. Magic then started Foundation for AIDS education, prevention and research. The foundations have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build state-of-the-art clinics and provide grants to community-based organizations. Johnson also wrote What You Can Do To Avoid AIDS, a book explaining and promoting safe sex. Which then led to his being an unofficial spokesperson for people living with HIV/AIDS, giving a human face to the disease and significantly lifting the stigma and discrimination that too often accompanies it.

Magic foundation also focused on how to identify and support community-based organizations that address the education, health, and social needs of children, young adults and inner-city communities throughout the nation. Magic gives out scholarships, organizes mentoring and internship programs and works to close the digital divide by building technology centers that give people in low-income areas access to technology. But recently the Foundation partnered with drugstores and supermarkets to fill prescriptions and provide groceries for people evacuated from Hurricane Katrina, and Johnson has pledged to find jobs for many of the displaced.

Magic Johnson was stunned about having to retire because of his illness, so not only has he started his own foundation but he's also siezed his retirement as an opportunity to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a successful businessman. This led Fortune Magazine to vote him one of their Most Powerful Black Executives. In 1991, Johnson founded a development company to bring entertainment and services to underserved inner-city communities, which also include housing, fitness centers, movie theatres, restaurants and coffee shops, in neighborhoods previously characterized by blight and crime.

Magic Johson is a hero in our generation's eyes and multiple ways because everything he does comes from the heart. He didn't only use his intelligence and heart on the court but off the court and influenced kids and adults, not only African Americans but everyone. Magic's success story proves his belief that anyone and everyone can achieve if they’re given the opportunity and the skills.