Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

Please welcome your old rival and now your good friend, Hall of Famer, Larry Bird. Thank you so much. It is an honor to be here tonight and be part of the celebration of all the new members. I would like to call all the new English only in Boston. fans across the country, it's time to lay down your arms, the battle is finally over and it's time to move on. I can remember the first time I saw Magic Johnson. We played on the all-star team in college. I couldn't believe what I was seeing in practice. I actually thought he was a bad judge of talent because none of us could play in the games, but I remember going home and telling my older brother that I just saw the best

basketball

player I've probably ever been around. to see in my life and he started interrogating me, he asked me questions, well how good is he, I said wait 690, he handles the ball like a five nine guard and he shoots the ball, he can pass like you wouldn't believe, he says, Oh, come on, okay later. 1979 at the ncaa tournament, my brother came up to me and said yes, he is much better than you, so that made me work harder knowing that male

magic

was going to be linked since '79 through our professional careers and I have to admit that I work tirelessly every day practicing. for a reason, he's trying to beat the damn lakers.

I'll tell you a little story. In one game we played the Lakers in good shape and we were lucky to win in the end and I was coming out of the tunnel. They had a tunnel where you went down. came by bus there were a lot of fans around and when we win games on the road we tend to stay a little longer and celebrate and especially at the forum we got to the top of the tunnel we had to wait because there was a lot of traffic. There and the fans were throwing things at us and I was very quiet and very humble that day and I was looking out the window and I saw Irvin walking across the parking lot towards his car, of course, he had several people around him. and I just looked at him, I could see the pain on his face, the look in his eyes, that he was a beaten man that day, so if my thoughts in my head, my other teammates were talking doing their thing, I'm just looking, I said. suffer baby suffer I looked and saw him get into his nice car knowing he wasn't going out to eat that night even though he's probably going to go home turn off all the lights, pull down the blinds and sit in that dark room for hours I know I've been there , but what a pleasure it was all those years to play against, in my opinion, one of the two best players to have probably ever played this game, not me, I'm talking about Michael Jordan of course, but I've always said that if you put the Michael Jordan's name on a cap, Magic Johnson's name on a cap and you pick one of them, you won't be disappointed at all because they're both fantastic

basketball

players, but this is Irving's night.

I feel very honored to be here, man, I want to beat that guy. I was going to write a big

speech

, but I wanted to speak from my heart, but I said, damn, it broke my heart. How many times do I have something left? Ladies and gentlemen. Could you welcome the newest member of the basketball

hall

of

fame

? Irving Magic Johnson Magic is accompanied by his wife Cookie Johnson and his mother Christine Johnson. Come here, well, I know this is supposed to be a formal thing, but being here between the two of us. guys, after that and knowing what's to come, I'm going to make it a little less formal and just say this from the bottom of my heart, urban

magic

johnson

, one of the greatest to ever play this game, you guys made mates team and better opponents, you improved the game, you are very special and by the unanimous vote of the honors committee and with the privilege and pleasure of that power invested in the board of directors, how happy I am under my command to be able to incorporate you as a player in the naismith memorial basketball hmm thank you first of all I have to thank God because 11 years ago I didn't know if he would be here to accept this award so it is truly a blessing as everyone has mentioned before.

I got here, you don't get into this

hall

of

fame

and win this honor on your own, Larry, you know exactly what a basketball player should be. The main reason I'm here is because you make me go to that gym every summer. Not only did I stay four hours, but I thought it would be better to stay six because I knew that you were there for five or six years, so it was tremendous to play against you and I am happy and I thank God that I knew you not so well. just larry bird, the basketball player, but larry bird, the man, and I appreciate you coming here doing this.

There have been many people who have touched my life and made it possible for me to be who I was on the basketball court. I start. with uh first of all I want to thank all my friends for shoveling the snow off that basketball court with me and throwing that ball back. I know you didn't want to be there but you knew I did, that's why you stayed with me. give kenny dino james to all of you and all my coaches mr rose cran mr brockhouse but first of all mr dark for teaching me the fundamentals of basketball and you are like a second father to me and I thank your wife for always cooking those fantastic tacos afterwards After we finished playing, I think my high school coach, Mr.

Fox, for teaching me that improving your players would win championships. I remember when you, my senior year, and I was averaging over 40 points and you said, Irvin, we'd never win if you averaged. with more than 40 points you have to average around 20 25 and improve all the other players and you are the first one who made me learn that no and I thank you for that and my teammate Heathcote, I thank you for challenging the basketball guys when He said hey boy six nine but I'm gonna let him play point guard anyway and uh you taught me to be a perfectionist you always said irvin if you're going to make those shots in the game you have to practice them in practice and then like eric snow and the rest of you guys always yell be a guard not a trash and i hope i was a guard and not a trash and tom izzo thank you for bringing you both here to be here with me and then i moved on to coach mckinney who got hurt on a bicycle accident I wish I could have played with him, but he taught me a lot, coach westhead and then probably one of my best friends in life, you are a special man, pat riley and uh, you taught me that preparation is the key, you continued to motivate me and pushing me and you told me on several occasions that you know, buck, um, you're down, you're playing around 750 and michael and larry are up around 800, what's wrong with you?

You kept pushing me to get up around 800 and you taught me that basketball and the team are like a family and that you had to come to the game every night to play and win but play hard and play together and then the last thing you did was incredible. I never forget that you showed me what a friend is really like in 1991 when you were coach of the Knicks and you had that night for me and that prayer and I thank you, thank you, lon, charles tucker and michael ovitz, who helped me. with my career and helped shape it and I appreciate Joe Smith for introducing me to many of those people.

I want to thank the best owner in all of sports, Dr. Jerry Buss, for not only being my owner but also a friend, a guy who comes out. at 19 years old knowing that he was away from a big family and that you really became a father figure in Los Angeles for me, for you and for the whole family. I also want to thank all the great players I played with along the way, especially the Lakers. because without players you can't make it I didn't make it alone here when you talk about degree kelsey j vinson you talk about kareem james worthy you talk about mitch kupchak and uh kurt rambis and then two of my two best friends in the world were Byron Scott and Michael Cooper and then two guys who not only shaped my career but helped me, Jerry West and then Bill Sharman.

Bill Sharman taught me that he had a lot of work to do. He was thought to be a hot shooting rookie coming out of college and I went to my first training camp. Coach Brown and Bill Sharman then came up to me and said, "You know, I used to be pretty good at shooting free throws, you want to shoot free throws at me." He said oh yeah, okay, I'm going to take this old man, you know we did. We shot 30. Coach. Bill Brown. Bill let me go first and I was about 23 out of 30. Bill Sharman was 30 out of 30.

I felt so small. but I knew I had a lot of work to do and I thank you for that lesson of humility, coach sherman um howard schultz and ken lombard, thank you for the business and Mr. Warren Grant. I always told them I wanted to be a businessman after basketball. and you put me in a position to do that and I thank you and angie and sean and nicole thank you too and then comes my big family because I come from a family of 10. and first of all I want to thank my uncle for taking me all parts to play basketball playing against men when I was little and get physical and I thank my sister evelyn for showing me how to shoot a jump shot because you hit me all the time my sister yvonne learned to protect your family and you were always the first to fight if someone said something bad against the

johnson

s my sister kim for helping me with my homework all the time and you are an intelligent young woman my sister pearl for always being my protector always protecting me and hating all the girls that I brought home, but with whom I I married my brother Larry for being there and working on the Earl Monroe spin every time we went out after watching the Knicks play you, he was the biggest Earl Monroe fan, so we had to do the Pearl Spin move and the Pearl Double Pump move before I could practice shooting anyone else and to my brother Quincy for telling me that I always had to have common sense if I wanted to achieve it and you gave it to me, my sister Lois. who was always by my side, probably my biggest cheerleader, my brother michael, who taught me that toughness was going to be the key, so he hit me every day and my sister mary, who had passed away, but i know she's there up saying what a wonderful day and I know she's proud as always and then mom for your beautiful smile you gave me my personality that I have and you gave me the gift of giving back and I think that's what you gave me, that's what I know most stay with me to help other people and people always ask me when I go to speak who my role model is and dad I always say it's you.

I have only wanted to be like you all my life you gave me my work ethic that is worth it and you taught me that anything in life I was going to achieve and achieve I had to work forward and I thank you for that my three babies my son Andre me you made me proud every day you went out and got your job like the young people say I have been quitting and you are the best son a father could have and then to my two babies, Elisa and ej, you have made dad smile every day and you make him It's worth coming home to see you and read that story. to you two every night and the only reason I'm alive after 11 years, honey, is because of you and one of the only reasons I'm here and married you is because you used to throw the basketball at me when I was photographing jumpers at Michigan State.

I thank you for being the best wife, the best mother, and my best friend all at the same time, David Stern and Russ Granick. Thank you, you allowed me for 12 13 years to be a little boy. Playing this sport I love trying to go out and be the best player I can be to try to win games and also excite the fans and I hope they had as much fun as I did. I mean, basketball is the Ultimate and I think Coach Brown said it best. You know, this game is great, but we should all play it the way it is supposed to be played and we should also think for young people to learn how to play it, not the other. things, but learning to play, we have to go back to the basics of basketball, so maybe with that Larry again we will meet again, you know, I was waiting until you know that your back was a little better because you would have I had an excuse when I took you to the garage or the park, but now I look at you, you're tanned, you're ready to go, so let's do it, now we can play checkers, we can play, we better probably play pig. because the horse is too long for both of us and we have to have it where you know I have to go first because if you go first I know it's over for me, but thank you for this great prize, I tell you, God bless you. all of you