Magic Johnson stunned the world when he revealed that he was HIV positive in 1991. In a bombshell press conference that followed, the former Los Angeles Lakers legend revealed he would be retiring, but he returned twice.
And the return wasn’t without challenges and one of them was treating his wounds while he was infected by the virus. Gary Vitti, who was the head trainer for the Lakers for an illustrious 32 years explained how difficult the scenario was, especially during a preseason game in 1992 when he broke protocol and treated Magic’s scratch without his gloves on.
“I felt the weight of the world,” Vitti told Fair Game in 2019. “… If I put the gloves on, I’m sending a mixed message to everyone that I told ‘You don’t have to worry about this. You can’t get this disease from Magic Johnson.’ Because this is a little scratch. It’s a non-bloody wound. It’s a controlled situation… I just didn’t need to put those gloves on.”
“But if I don’t put that on, somebody is going to make a phone call. That was the protocol for the league. And guess who wrote the protocol? Me.”
He further added that he broke it. “But I did for the right reasons.” This comes as a brilliant move as Vitti’s work gave the world an idea of how the disease was misinterpreted into multiple myths, which the trainer quashed.
Vitti also shed light on how he felt that there was nothing amiss about his HIV, a feeling that carries on to date. “He was 100% asymptomatic. The only reason why we learned that he was HIV positive was because he had a second physical exam for a life insurance policy.”
He revealed how insurance companies would do HIV screening tests as part of their policy requirements, and that was how Johnson’s diagnosis came to light. “We couldn’t do it even if we wanted to because it was a violation of our civil liberties,” he explained.
In hindsight, the world perhaps reacted overly harshly when news of Magic’s HIV broke out. According to Bob Steiner, the public relations director for California Sports Inc, the star had acquired the virus in a heterosexual relationship. At that point, it was also revealed that his wife Cookie was seven months pregnant.
But credit to Vitti for doing what he did. His actions may have been scrutinized, but there was no doubt that he was fully aware of what he was doing. You can view the image of Magic being treated here. On his part, Magic overcame HIV to become one of the most successful businessmen after he called time on his playing career.
Magic Johnson Provided A Very Important Lesson About HIV In His Press Conference
Johnson was 32 when he was diagnosed with HIV, and that led the guard, who had played 12 seasons with the Lakers, to call time on his career. His diagnosis was also the opening scene of the HBO sports’ famed drama ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’
But it was what he said during the press conference that serves as a reminder that people needed education about the virus. “I think we sometimes think only gay people can get it; it’s not going to happen to me. And here I am saying that it can happen to anybody, even me, Magic Johnson,” he said.
“At that time, when you got something like HIV, there were so many things I didn’t know, so they had to educate me about how the virus was going to act in my body, and what I could expect. They calmed me down because I was thinking I was going to die. They told me that the three-drug combination was going to save my life, and they were right.”
Now, it is an incredible sight to see Magic still flash his million-dollar smile, the booming laugh, and be healthy. It just goes on to say that his optimism was one of the biggest lessons one could learn.
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