Magic's HIV Announcement: 20 Years Later

Magic Johnson Reflects On His Retirement Announcement

(Paul Bersebach, The Orange Country Register)

Twenty years ago today, Earvin "Magic" Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers announced that he would be retiring after contracting HIV.

At the time, for a professional athlete to have contracted this disease was so shocking that many people remember where they were when the heard the news.

Johnson is the most well-known Laker in the team’s history, and not for a painful chapter in his life. Johnson was known for his great stature (at 6 feet 9 inches) and “superior passing skills,” which helped his team earn nine NBA conference titles and five championships.

Johnson had inspiration to walk a road lasting nearly twice as long as his professional career: Elizabeth Glaser, a woman who “contracted HIV through a blood transfusion”.

“The thing she asked me to do before she died was to become the face of the disease,” Johnson reflected, “so I told her I would and I have.”


-Al K