Magic

Earvin Johnson called a press conference to announce his college choice. Today every high school player with a decent jump shot and 40-inch vertical leap does that. In 1977, however, such grand gestures were reserved for the truly grand. Looking back, though, maybe Johnson should have announced his choice of college on the top of the Lansing state capitol building. That would have better symbolized his standing in the history of Michigan State sports.

The first thing to know about Johnson: His contributions cannot be described by scanning the stat sheets. Johnson's name is mostly absent among the all-time record holders at Michigan State. The second thing: He is the single greatest athlete to ever wear a Michigan State jersey.

And he almost said no to the Green and White, his boyhood favorite. Johnson starred at Lansing Everett High School, and the chatter about him started his freshman year and only grew exponentially as he matured. After a 36-point, 18-rebound performance during his sophomore year against favored Jackson Parkside, Johnson earned a new moniker — "Magic." The nickname given to him by local media personality Fred Stabley Jr. stuck because the skills Johnson exhibited on the basketball court defied a better description. He could handle the ball as well as or better than any guard. He commanded the floor, directing, cajoling, and encouraging his teammates and demoralizing his opponents with game-changing assists, scores, steals, and rebounds. As a passer he had few equals, possessing a preternatural vision of the court that enabled him to make the impossible pass possible. (MSU coach Jud Heathcote said he played as though he had a "big eye in the back of his head.") Magic could also shoot and finish with either hand, once dominating an AAU game with his left hand because of an injury to the middle fingers of his dominant right hand. But what really caused scouts and basketball junkies to salivate, besides the delicious package of skills, was Johnson's size. He stood 6'9". No frame of reference existed for a kid like Johnson. The combination of skills and size was unprecedented. It was in a word — magical.

Magic won a state title at Everett, and Michigan State recruited him hard. So did Michigan and every other major college. At the end, though, it came down to MSU and UM, which at the time owned infinitely more cachet. Johnson appeared to be leaning toward the Spartans until MSU fired its coach, Gus Ganakas. Magic adored Ganakas and had deep reservations about his replacement, Jud Heathcote. "I didn't really know him," Johnson wrote in his autobiography. "I saw the way he yelled at his players and I didn't like it." Despite having recently accepted the head coaching position at Wayne State, former MSU assistant Vernon Payne persuaded Johnson that underneath Heathcote's rough exterior resided a "terrific coach and excellent teacher."

A week before Johnson's decision, Jay Vincent, Magic's prep school rival and a blue chipper himself, committed to MSU. Johnson mulled over his decision, weighing the numerous plusses of Michigan against the strong tug of his childhood favorite. At his press conference, he started by asking the throng of reporters — some from as far away as New York — if they had any questions. Then he blurted out that he had decided to attend Michigan. He paused just briefly — long enough for MSU fans to gulp hard — then finished his sentence with "State." "The Wolverines were on national TV and this and that," he said. "But I like the underdog school."

Magic helped turn the tables, and UM receded into the background while MSU bolted into the headlines. It had been more than a decade since Michigan State had upstaged the Wolverines in anything. Now all the talk among Michigan sports fans, especially starting in January, listed in the direction of Earvin Johnson and his MSU...