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CNN Saturday Morning News

Magic Johnson Continues to Amaze

Aired July 21, 2001 - 08:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Magic Johnson, if you don't know, is one of the greatest names in professional basketball.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Having retired in the last decade, he's now defying the odds and defying his age, as CNN's John Rinaldi reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN RINALDI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who do you see? NCAA champion, NBA champion and Hall of Famer, minority team owner, business tycoon or a famous man with an infamous disease?

MAGIC JOHNSON: A lot of people, you know, thought I'd probably be dead. A lot of people thought that I would go away, you know. Nobody probably ever in their wildest dreams think I would be playing right now.

RINALDI: This was just an exhibition basketball game played in Long Beach, California. Right -- and that's just a basketball player. Magic Johnson recorded a triple double, 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists playing for the summer league team he sponsors. Pretty good for 41. pretty astounding for 10 years since.

JOHNSON: I really never thought about it until you just said it, you know, because it's something for me because I don't think about HIV every day, you know?

RINALDI (on camera): Really?

JOHNSON: No, no.

RINALDI (voice-over): In the decade since telling the world he had HIV, Johnson in some sense has become more magical. Theater chain owner, inner city developer, captain of a business empire estimated at $300 million, also failed talk show host, frustrated NBA coach and ambassador to much more than a game. He has not lived in the aging flicker of a highlight reel.

JOHNSON: Some kids were at my theater. And this kid says oh, like, come running, "Magic! Magic!" And so when they went away he looked at me, he said, "Man, that is so amazing." And I said, "Why?" He said, "Because none of them kids have ever seen you play." RINALDI: For a decade, he seems to have defied AIDS while at the same time providing its very face. He is the exception and he is the example. A disease is not supposed to smile. And Magic Johnson, he was not supposed to play on.

JOHNSON: It's sleeping, gone, sleeping in my body. I wouldn't say it's gone. I'd just say it's gone to sleep and it remains asleep and we gonna see you in another 20 or 30 years.

RINALDI: Who would have believed that 10 years ago?

In Los Angeles, I'm Tom Rinaldi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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