In conjunction with the United States celebrating its 250th birthday this year, USA Today Co. newspapers in Michigan have been looking at some of the top athletes to come out of each region in the state.
Over the next several weeks, the Lansing State Journal will unveil some of the top athletes to come out of Greater Lansing. We will take a daily look at one of the top 10 male or female athletes from the region. These athletes are determined by more than just high school performance. Accomplishments in college and as a professional were also taken into consideration when determining the area’s best.
These athletes are not ranked in order. Here is a look at our latest male athlete.
Magic Johnson
Johnson is regarded as one of the top basketball players of all-time and was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. The longtime Los Angeles Lakers star guard was a 12-time NBA all-star, was the MVP of the all-star game twice and was named first team All-NBA nine times during a 13-year career in which he scored 17,707 points and had 10,141 assists and 1,724 steals while winning five NBA titles.
Johnson was also a champion at Everett and Michigan State. He capped his high school career by leading Everett to a Class A state title as a senior in 1977. Johnson still ranks as one of the top high school scorers in Greater Lansing with 2,012 career points. He had a career average of 25.8 points. Johnson also led MSU to a national championship in 1979 as a sophomore and scored 1,059 points in his two seasons as a Spartan.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Celebrating Greater Lansing’s best: Magic Johnson’s championship pedigree began at Everett
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
