Magic Johnson More Than an Average Athlete In my life, I have had many people that I truly admire from Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Sean Carter (Jay-z), and Robert Johnson. Others who influenced me in my development as a person were my parents; my mother and father were there for everything I did in my life. The person who inspires me is Earvin Johnson jr. also known as Magic Johnson. There are many reasons why, but they all really point to him being defeated in adversity in many aspects of life. From my perspective, my life and his have some similarities and differences. Beyond athletics, he has much more to offer than the average retired player. I also liked how she showed strength in the face of sadness and problems. Johnson was born in Lansing, Michigan and had many siblings (2). Furthermore, he lived with his mother and father, his mother was a school custodian, and his father was a worker at General Motors (2). Like many young children named after their parents, he had earned the nickname “Junior” or “June bug” (2). In my similarities to him I must have many brothers, though not a total of nine but it was a number of three and I was the eldest. Another thing that is a real similarity is Junior, also my nickname because; I have my father's name. Unlike Johnson, I didn't have his basketball ability. As a child, he practiced every day at half past seven and dribbled the basketball using opposite hands just to have great control of the ball(2). While I don't have Johnson's talent, I take my knowledge of the sport seriously, modeling many player statistics, strategies, and skills. His rise to fame came during his high school years. As a sophomore he had a great game scoring thirty-six points, 16 assists and sixteen rebounds (2). After that game sportscaster, “Fred Stably Jr.” gave him the magical nickname (1). In his senior year of high school his team won the state championship with a record of 25-1, averaging twenty-eight points and sixteen rebounds per game(2). He later said he wanted to stay close to home when choosing colleges. His choice was Michigan State University because it was East Lansing, Michigan (2). My high school career didn't look like his, but I accomplished many things that modeled my life after his.