Magic Johnson

Earvin Johnson Jr. was born on August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan, the middle of seven children. His father, Earvin Sr. worked on an assembly line at General

Earvin "Magic" Johnson

Motors and held a second job hauling garbage; his mother Christine worked as a janitor and cafeteria worker at a local school while taking primary responsibility for rearing the children. Johnson was expected to adopt the same tireless work ethic as his parents. "'You want five dollars Junior?'" his father would ask, as Johnson recalled in his autobiography. "'Here, take the lawn mower. There's a lot of grass in this town, and I bet you could earn that money real quick.'" When Earvin Sr. did relax, he often did so by watching basketball and critiquing the players' moves. Johnson took keen note and then hit all the courts in the neighborhood to try out what he learned. This is when his older neighbors began to call him "June Bug." All the practice paid off, and by the time he joined the team at Lansing Everett high school he was clearly destined for greatness. It was during his sensational freshman year where, in one game, he scored thirty-six points and grabbed eighteen rebounds, that Fred Stabley, Jr., a sportswriter for the Lansing State Journal decided the rising star needed a nickname. Reasoning that "Dr. J" and "Big E" were already taken, he opted for "Magic." Johnson recalls that, while the nickname gave opposing teams, and their fans, additional heckling fodder, this only fueled his drive. "The name became a challenge, and I love challenges," Johnson recalled. "The signs and the slogans only served to fire me up." Johnson was named an All-State player three times and, during his senior year, led his team to the state championship.