The LA Lakers in the 1980s were a basketball powerhouse with household names like James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kurt Rambis doubting them. They had class and they showed it on the pitch. Kareem might pull up his patented sky hook, they might need Worthy for the dunk and Rambis might pull down a rebound, but without a certain Magic there would be no show in L.A. A certain young player who had it all, a flashy smile and a fantastic no-look pass. That certain player was a true point guard, Earvin Johnson Jr. There are five magical parts to the life of Earvin Johnson Jr.. On August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan, Christine and Earvin Johnson gave birth to their third child, a beautiful boy of name Earvin Jr. Earvin Jr. was born into the middle of a family of seven children. Quincy, Larry and Pearl were older and Kim and the twins, Evelyn and Yvonne were younger. The whole family was crammed into three small bedrooms and one bathroom. "Every morning before school the place turned into a real madhouse when we all queued to go to the bathroom. You learned to be quick." Earvin once said. (Johnson, p.4) Both of Earvin's parents played basketball in high school. Earvin played a lot of basketball with his older brother Larry. (Brenner, p.44) Earvin would wake up early and play basketball before school started. “People thought I was crazy,” Earvin recalled. “It would be seven-thirty and they would go to work and say, 'There's that crazy June Bug, shooting hoops.'” (Lovitt, p.5) June bug was what many people called him, but his parents called him Junior and his friends called him EJ (Johnson, p.4) When it snowed Earvin would go out and shovel the field. Earvin meets Jay Vincent, a boy the same age as Earvin, who showed the same love for basketball. The two became best friends. (Brenner, p.44) Earvin was supposed to go to Sexton High, but because of the busing Earvin was forced to go to Everett, a predominantly white school. The Lansing school board had to bus some kids to Everett to mix races and stop the growth in Sexton. Earvin lived a half mile from Sexton and a mile and a half from Everett. Pearl and Larry hated Everett and Larry was always arguing. The only Johnson who didn't have to go to Everett was Quincy who was already in high school when the board did... mid-paper... talk about safe sex. Earvin Johnson Jr. had five magical parts in his life. Earvin is and always will be a great role model. He is so elegant on and off the court. His fun-loving attitude is a great example of what we should all be. His courage to speak out and help others facing AIDS and HIV is astonishing. From June Bug to Magic, Earvin Johnson Jr. will always be a great man. BibliographyBrenner, Richard J. Jordan*Johnson. New York: East End Publishing, 1989Haskins, James. Sports Great Magic Johnson revised and expanded. Springfield:Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1992Lovitt, Chip. Magic Johnson. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1991Johnson, Earvin "Magic." My life. New York: Random House, Inc., 1992The Fifty Greatest Players in NBA History: Magic Johnson. www.nba.com/. NBA Properties, Inc., 1996 *Reader These next two documents were not used in the product, but are good resources of information."Johnson, Magic." Standard edition of the multimedia world book encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1997"Magic Johnson". www.caphis.usc.edu/~yungkail/magic.html