A curtain falls on one act and rises on another. Such has been the continuous narrative for Magic Johnson, who 20-plus years after receiving what was feared to be an immutable death sentence is not only alive but seemingly larger than life.  For the past few weeks Johnson has been featured bicoastally as the face of the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group in the land of celluloid heroes and the driving force of a famous friendship with Larry Bird that was acted out in the flesh on the Broadway stage.  “Magic/Bird” ended a monthlong run on May 12, but the play as well as his move into baseball were reminders that Johnson has not only remained in the spotlight after contracting the virus that causes AIDS; he has grown far beyond his legacy as a Hall of Fame basketball player.  Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers’ point guard legend, was universally praised during his career as someone who — in the vernacular of the game — made teammates better. But it is also fair to say that Johnson has earned a place on the mythical Mount Rushmore of his generation’s athletes, whose social contributions have significantly built on competitive triumphs.  Can we dare speak of him across generational lines and with the same hushed reverence afforded Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali and others from a more iconoclastic past? What sounds questionable at best becomes debatable at least when the still-mounting sum of Johnson’s efforts — like standing publicly tall against the tide of AIDS-driven fear and building commercial bridges between corporate and urban America — is considered.  “When you look at the totality of his life to this point, you have to say that the way he’s lived has reflected the way he played, in that he elevates those around him,” said Boyce Watkins, an author, commentator and scholar-in-residence in entrepreneurship and innovation at Syracuse University. “I believe he absolutely has made himself one of the greatest athletes in terms of social impact.”  Though he occasionally expressed support for a candidate — Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries for the 2008 presidential election — Johnson has not been outspoken or overtly political, à la Ali. He has not broken a significant racial or gender barrier in the manner of Robinson or Billie Jean King. More than a scowl of protest, Johnson has mostly worn a smile reflecting a man at peace.  But the totality of Johnson’s off-court achievements has made him an indisputable champion of bringing people together. In “Magic/Bird,” we were reminded that it was the sheer force of Johnson’s gregariousness that forged a lasting friendship with Bird, his career-defining rival, while defying those who overstated and exploited the obvious marketing benefits of black versus white.  At 52, in many ways the new Dodgers ownership’s chosen peace offering to a vast melting pot that had soured on its dysfunctional baseball team, Johnson may be the closest American celebrity of color to reach a true postracial eminence.  “I have always talked about Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali being the two men who could bring people together on a global level,” said Richard Lapchick, a human rights activist and social watchdog of professional and college sports. “But Magic could be in that category as well. When he goes somewhere, he’s going to draw people of any race, any age. He has that charisma and magnetism.”  Lapchick said it had become clear to him that Johnson, by refusing to hide his H.I.V. diagnosis in 1991, as some other celebrities did, humanized the challenge of living while infected with the virus in the face of ignorance and indifference.  “His smile, his public persona, helped change perceptions and brought it into the mainstream,” said Lapchick, who considers Robinson’s breaking of baseball’s color line in 1947 to be the seminal moment in the social history of sports.  He added that while achievements across generations were all different based on circumstances unique to their time, “We can measure courage, character and commitment.”  But Harry Edwards, a sociologist and longtime champion of African-American advancement in sports, said that Johnson’s achievements — especially those related to the African-American athlete and community — should primarily be viewed as part of a continuum, more so than of generations that were distinctly different.
Magic Johnson has transcended N.B.A. stardom as the face of H.I.V. and as a thriving businessman, and his social impact has been immeasurable.