The new legacy of the biggest name in LA Sports — Magic Johnson

The most revolutionary name in LA Sports has become Magic Johnson. After a successful playing career, his post-NBA career has earned Johnson a new legacy.

Twenty-six years ago Los Angeles’ most popular and visible professional athlete made a public announcement that shocked and saddened a city. On November 7, 1991. Magic Johnson — point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers — held a press conference to tell the world he had acquired the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

To the public at the time of Magic’s pronouncement HIV was tantamount to a death sentence, the virus that caused Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) had taken the lives of thousands around the world in 1991. There was no cure (there still isn’t), medicine at the time was in its experimental stage and had harsh side effects that did little to stop the disease.

Many people who watched the press conference at the Fabulous Forum saw a dead man walking, Lakers owner Jerry Buss and Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were so overcome by their emotions they embraced Magic with tears in their eyes.

Fast forward to the present on October 19 at the Staples Center and you see a giant of a man in a suit and tie with a wide smile, jumping up and down as he watches the jumbotron video screen. It’s Magic clapping and cheering.

The virus that has defined his post-playing career did not take him to an early grave, thanks to his advocacy and that of others the fight against AIDS continues. Thanks to modern medicine and the discovery of combination drugs that prevent the HIV virus from becoming active AIDS, Magic along with thousand others are still with us today.

Given a second lease on life, it’s hard not argue that the person who continues to have the biggest impact on the sports landscape today is Magic Johnson. Thanks to a successful career in the private sector Magic’s return to sports has created a footprint throughout sports in Los Angeles.

Magic is part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Sparks, and expansion MLS club Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC). After many years as a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, last year Magic returned to his first team in an active front office role as President of basketball operations.

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Since his ownership group saved the Sparks from bankruptcy the team has become one of the WNBA’s most successful brands on and off the court. They played in back to back WNBA Finals while winning the 2016 title.

LAFC is already changing the landscape in LA, building the first stadium within the Los Angeles city limits in well over fifty years. Banc of California Stadium will open in 2018 and is part of a revitalization project for South Los Angeles.

Back to October 19, the reason Magic was at Staples Center that night watching the video screens in the arena, was because he was there to root for the Lakers opening night game of the 2017-18 season. His mind was in Chicago though as he watched the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Chicago Cubs to return the Dodgers to their first World Series in 29 years.

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This time unlike Nov 7, 1991, the microphones in his face where there to greet a smiling Magic. His glory days on the basketball court may have ended 26 years ago but thankfully what we lost then is renewed today as Magic continues to carve out his legacy.