Magic Johnson

Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American basketball player who played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning a championship at both the high school and college level, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. Johnson won a championship and a Finals MVP award in his first season, and the Lakers went on to win a total of five championships during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had HIV, but he returned to win the MVP of the 1992 All-Star Game. He retired again for four years after protests from his fellow players, but he returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers, before retiring for the third and final time.

Johnson’s career achievements include five NBA championships, three Most Valuable Player Awards, and three Finals Most Valuable Player Awards. He also played in nine NBA Finals series, 12 All-Star games, and was voted into 10 All-NBA First and Second Teams. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and he is the NBA’s all-time leader in assists per game with an average of 11.2. Johnson was also a member of the “Dream Team” U.S. basketball team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1992.

Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. He was also rated the greatest NBA point guard of all time by ESPN in 2007. His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, based on regular games at championship level between the Lakers and Celtics, were well-documented. Since his retirement he has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as a philanthropist. Read more ->

George Mikan

George Lawrence Mikan, Jr. (June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed Mr. Basketball, was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Invariably playing with thick, round spectacles, the 6 ft 10 in 245 lb. Mikan is seen as one of the pioneers of professional basketball, redefining it as a game of so-called big men with his prolific rebounding, shot blocking and his talent to shoot over smaller defenders with his ambidextrous hook shot, result of his own Mikan Drill.

Mikan had a successful player career, winning seven NBL, BAA and NBA championships, an All-Star MVP trophy, three scoring titles and being member of the first four NBA All-Star and the first six All-BAA and All-NBA Teams. Mikan was so dominant that he caused several rule changes in the NBA, among them widening the foul lane-known as the “Mikan Rule”-and introducing the shot clock.

After his player career, Mikan became one of the founding fathers of the American Basketball Association (ABA), serving as commissioner of that league, and was also vital for the forming of the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his later years, Mikan was involved in a long-standing legal battle against the NBA, fighting against the meager pensions for players who had retired before the league became lucrative. Mikan died after a long battle against diabetes. Read more ->

Larry Bird

Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a retired American NBA basketball player, widely considered one of the best players of all time and one of the top clutch performers in the history of sports. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1979, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, teaming with legendary center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale. Due to back problems, he retired as a player from the NBA in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently still holds.

Biography

Larry Bird was born in West Baden, Indiana, the son of Georgia Kerns and Claude Joseph “Joe” Bird. He grew up in both West Baden and the adjacent town French Lick, which earned him the nickname “the Hick from French Lick” in his later basketball career. Financial troubles would plague the Bird family for most of Larry’s childhood. In a 1988 interview with Sports Illustrated, Bird recalled how his mother would make do on the family’s meager earnings: “If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she’d get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don’t mean she wouldn’t pay the bank, but the children always came first.” Bird sometimes was sent to live with his grandmother due to the family’s struggles. Bird told Sports Illustrated that being poor as a child “motivates me to this day”. Read more ->

Kresimir Cosic

Krešimir Ćosić (November 26, 1948 – May 25, 1995) was a Croatian professional basketball player, member of FIBA Hall of Fame and Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also a notable church leader and missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Basketball career

He was born in Zagreb and raised in Zadar, where he started his basketball career in 1965, playing for KK Zadar. He came to the United States to play college basketball at Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1973. He was the first foreign player to earn All-American honors from the United Press International, garnering them in 1972 and 1973. After his college career, he rejected several professional offers and returned home to Yugoslavia.

Cosic played in four Olympic Games: 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980 in Moscow when he led his team to the gold medal. He previously led Yugoslavia to a pair of World Championship gold medals in 1970 and 1978. Read more ->

Jerry West

Jerry Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included “Mr. Clutch” for his ability to make a shot in a clutch situation, and “Zeke from Cabin Creek” after the Cabin Creek river near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. Playing the small forward position early in his career, West was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, leading them to the 1959 NCAA championship game, earning Most Valuable Player honors despite the loss. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team in Rome.

West’s NBA career was highly successful. Playing the guard position as a professional, he was voted 12 times into the All-NBA First and Second Teams, was elected into the NBA All-Star Team 14 times, and was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star game in 1972, the same year he won his single NBA championship ring. He is the all-time NBA record holder of points averaged during a playoffs series (46.3), and as a testament to his two-way play, member of the first four NBA All-Defensive Teams which were introduced when he was 32 years old. Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to have won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award despite being on the losing team (1969). West was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history in 1996, and his left-handed dribbling silhouette has long been used in the NBA’s official logo. Read more ->