Magic Johnson, the suave, adept basketball player who led Michigan State University and the Los Angeles Lakers to several championships, is now just as well-known and famous for having contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) as he is for his athletic abilities. Charles Leerhsen, in a Newsweek article covering Johnson's stunning 1991 announcement, quoted activists who termed Johnson's revelation "the biggest thing to happen to AIDS since Rock Hudson."

But it was Johnson's extraordinary skills as a player for the Los Angeles Lakers, starting with a spectacular 1979-80 season (his first pro season) during which he drove his team to the National Basketball Association title, that originally garnered the athlete world-wide fame and recognition. Alex Ward, in a New York Times Magazine profile, gave this description of the basketball star's astonishing ability to pass and handle a basketball: "Johnson is a point guard, the basketball...