Everyone thought I was going to die like a year later, they didn't know. So I helped educate sports, and then the world, that a man living with HIV can play basketball. He's not going to give it to anybody by playing basketball.

HIV had been associated with drug addicts and homosexuals but Johnson's campaigns sought to show that the risk of infection was not limited to those groups. He was rated the greatest NBA point guard of all time by ESPN in 2007. 8 rebounds per game and took his team to an overtime victory in the state championship game.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird whom he faced in the 1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series were well documented.