Because they are both from Michigan, it only made sense that the sports hero of young Grant Long was Magic Johnson.
“He was it,’’ said Long, the former Hawks power forward who grew up in Wayne, Mich., only 81 miles away from Johnson in Lansing. “For all of us that played high school at that time in Michigan, Magic was our guy.’’
Johnson entered the NBA in 1979, having had a brilliant college career at Michigan State while Long entered the NBA nine year later after four years at Eastern Michigan. They met for the first time in 1988 when Long was at Miami and Johnson was well into his career with the Lakers.
“I remember walking out there to face the Lakers for the first time and it is Magic, (Kareem Abdul-) Jabbar, (James) Worthy, A.C. Green and Byron Scott,’’ said Long. “I was thinking, ‘Wow, I have made it. It doesn’t get much better than this.’’’
That night in Miami ended with the Lakers winning 138-91. The Lakers would go on to lose to Detroit in four games in the finals after winning their first 11 playoff games.
Long would get to know Johnson but will never forget when Johnson announced he was HIV positive on Nov. 7, 1991. The Heat was playing in New Jersey later that evening and Long said, “I didn’t know what to think. We had no idea of what was going to happen. Was he going to die tomorrow? I remember sitting in my room and I was crying. It was a very bad day.’’
Later in his career, Long was appeared before a nationally televised game with Johnson and Steve Smith for a live interview about the basketball connection between the three Michiganders.
“I was trying to get my words together for the interview and when they came to me, I about lost it on the air,’’ he said. “My voice was cracking and I was about to cry. I remember (announcer) Dick Enberg pulling me aside after it and asked me if I was going to be alright. Magic is that important to me.’’
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