On August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan, Christine and Earvin Johnson gave birth to their third child, a beautiful baby boy named 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. This whole family squeezed into three small bedrooms and one bathroom. "The place turned into a real madhouse before school every morning, when we all lined up to use the bathroom. You learned to be quick." said Earvin once. (Johnson, p.4) Both of Earvin's parents played high school basketball. Earvin played basketball a bunch with his older b

Earvin Johnson Jr. has had five magic parts in his life. Earvin is and always be a great role model. He is so classy on and off the court. His fun loving attitude is a great example of what we all should be. His courage to speak out and help others deal with AIDS and HIV is amazing. From June Bug to Magic, Earvin Johnson Jr. will always be a great man.

Haskins, James. Sports Great Magic Johnson Revised and Expanded. Springfield:Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1992

Lovitt, Chip. Magic Johnson. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1991

rother Larry. (Brenner, p.44) Earvin would wake up early and play basketball before school started. "People thought I was crazy," Earvin remembered. "It would be seven-thirty and they'd be going to work and say, 'There's that crazy June Bug, hoopin'." (Lovitt, p.5) June bug was what many people called him, but his parents called him Junior and his friends called him E.J. (Johnson, p.4) When it snowed Earvin would go out and shovel the court. Earvin meet Jay Vincent, a child the same age of Earvin, who displayed the same love for basketball. The two became best friends. (Brenner, p.44)

In basketball, he was Everett's top-scorer and rebounder in all most every game. Earvin had became close friends with Reggie Chastine, Everett's point guard. Reggie was one year ahead of Earvin and he was five foot six. (Haskins, p.11) Coach George Fox was a good coach and an excellent teacher. He taught Earvin to always work on his fundamentals. Earvin's freshman year they were picked to finish last. After a game, Fred Stabley Jr., a sportswriter for the Lansing State Journal, called Earvin, Magic and the nickname stuck. That year, Everett only lost one game and they went all the way to the state quarterfinals.(Johnson, p.27-29) The next season, in a game against Sexton, Earvin scored fifty-four points and set a high school record for most points in a game. Later, the record was broke by Evelyn (Earvin's sister). The next game, Earvin's shooting was off and he ended up with sixteen assists. The Everett Vikings again did not pass quarterfinals. In Earvin's junior year, the Vikings got on a roll and made it to the state semi-finals, but were knocked out in a sixty-eight to sixty loss to Detroit Catholic Central. Earvin fouled out with 1:29 left in the game. He had scored thirty points and nine rebounds and he blamed himself for the loss. He had let Reggie down since he was to short to play college ball. Reggie made All-Capital Area Conference and Metro-All Conference first teams. Earvin was named All-Conference Most Valuable Player And United Press International's "Prep Player of the Year" in Michigan. That summer, Reggie was killed in an auto accident. Earvin was devastated by the death of one of his closest friends. Earvin started to receive five to six letters a day. In his senior year, Earvin started off the season averaging forty points a game, but Coach Fox told him to remember his teammates and Earvin started concentrated more in assists. The Vikings beat the Birmingham's Brother Rice High School in the the Championship game. It was an exciting game that Everett won in overtime, sixty-two to fifty-six. Earvin was named United Press International's "Prep Player on the Year" of the whole country. Earvin narrowed down his decision to two colleges. He decided to go to either the University of Michigan or Michigan State University. He decided to attend MSU. Jay Vincent his longtime playground basketball friend was also attending.

"Magic Johnson." www.caphis.usc.edu/~yungkail/magic.html

"Johnson, Magic." World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia Standard Edition. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1997

Some common words found in the essay are:
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