He remembers it like it was yesterday, not 20 years ago.
Ted Cappas returned from class to his apartment at Indiana University when one of his two roommates told him that he had to sit down, that he had to tell him something major.
That's when, where and how Cappas learned on Nov. 7, 1991, of the shocking news that his all-time favorite basketball player, Magic Johnson, had announced to the world that he was retiring from the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) because he was HIV-positive.
"I just remember being in shock and thought he was going to die [ almost immediately ] ," said Cappas, now 39 and living in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood.
"At that time, the prevailing attitude was, once someone got HIV, they were going to die. And that's what I felt. I was so upset."
Then a sophomore on the Bloomington campus, Cappas immediately left his apartment and went to a campus gym—to shoot hoops and try to get his mind off the news.
"If you asked most of my friends at the time, or my family, when they heard the news, the first person they thought of was me—because they knew how upset I'd be. Heck, my mom didn't even call me because she knew I'd be so sad," Cappas said.
Cappas grew up in suburban Northbrook and attended Glenbrook North High School, where he played on the school's sophomore basketball team as a freshman, and then the next three years on the Spartans' varsity squad.
Even before high school, the first NBA Finals that Cappas remembers—as a 10-year-old in 1980—featured Johnson in the spotlight. Games weren't broadcast live at the time, but he stayed up late to watch on tape-delay.
Cappas graduated from Indiana in 1994 and came out as a gay man in 1995. He has played in the predominantly gay Coady Roundball Classic basketball tournament in Chicago for the past 14 years—and also ran the event for seven years.
Cappas even has a Johnson jersey from Michigan State University hanging in his home on Chicago's North Side.
"I remember being so sad for him, thinking what was going to happen to him and sad from a selfish standpoint as well that I wasn't going to get to watch him play anymore," Cappas said.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, born Aug. 14, 1959, in Lansing, Mich., played at Michigan State before being the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1979, selected by the Los Angles Lakers. He blossomed into one of the best NBA players ever and, in 1996, was selected one of the Top 50 Players in NBA history by the NBA.
Johnson's Hall of Fame career included three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, 12 All-Star games, and 10 All-NBA First and Second Team nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in assists per game, with an average of 11.2. Johnson was a five-time NBA champion whose jersey number ( 32 ) has been retired by the LA Lakers.
"Everyone immediately thought he was gay because [ HIV/AIDS ] was then painted as the gay-disease," Cappas said. "But since Magic [ is ] straight, that really changed people's perceptions—in a good way. He showed that it wasn't just a gay disease, that anyone could pick up that disease."
Though he officially retired in November 1991, Johnson returned to the sport on Feb. 9, 1992, to play in the annual NBA All-Star Game, held in Orlando, Fla. Johnson won the MVP Award after scoring a game-high 29 points to lead his Western Conference teammates to a 153-113 win over the Eastern Conference.
"That [ game ] was a defining moment in HIV," Cappas said. "He had [ the disease ] , yet had a phenomenal game; that [ game ] opened a lot of eyes."
Johnson's popular one-night return for the All-Star Game wasn't, though, without controversy, even within the league. Take, for instance, Karl Malone, who also had a Hall of Fame career. He openly stated that he didn't want to play against Johnson because he was afraid he might catch AIDS.
Johnson was a member of the 1992 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic Dream Team that he captained along with longtime rival Larry Bird.
Johnson returned to the NBA in 1996, at age 37, and played 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
"Magic's return [ to the NBA ] in 1996 had a big influence because he was playing at the highest level," Cappas said.
"I think Magic has had a bigger impact on the African-American community with what he has done business-wise. He's been such an amazing example of a world-class athlete transitioning to the business world and being tremendously successful.
"When I look at Magic today, I don't immediately think that he's HIV-positive. When I see Magic today, I see an ex-superstar athlete who is now an announcer and successful businessman, then, a minute or two later, it hits me that he also is HIV-positive.
"To see him live a very successful life, it makes [ the disease ] more human."
Johnson was presented with the inaugural World AIDS Award from the AIDS Health Foundation in Los Angeles in November 2010. Johnson told attendees: "Who would have ever thought that, 20 years later, here I am and we're still trying to help people. This disease is a deadly disease, but I think now, where we couldn't talk about it 20 years ago in open, now we can talk openly about it. We can have awards like tonight at the Staples Center. What a blessing that is."
The Magic Johnson Foundation was founded by Johnson in 1991 to develop programs and support community-based organizations that address the educational, health and social needs of ethnically diverse, urban communities. Among its claims of 'What We Do,' the Foundation states: "raising AIDS/HIV awareness."
Magic is still Cappas' favorite.
