Basketball legend and successful entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson lived up to his nickname Tuesday at Jackson State University, casting a spell on audiences of students, faculty and staff for several hours.
Johnson held a series of meetings, including one with students at the College of Business where he shared secrets to his business success and urged them to take a chance on themselves.
“Celebrity hurt me,” he said. “Ten banks turned me down.”
The bankers only wanted his autograph and to have their pictures taken with him. “He knows basketball,” Johnson said they thought of him, but questioned “can he run a business?”
He admitted that he had to learn how to be a businessman, but has now built Starbucks and TGI Friday’s franchises, movie theaters, food distributing companies, a television network, a $1 billion real estate fund, a media company and other businesses.
“You have to know what you don’t know,” he said, to be successful. Hire people “who are smarter than you” to do the things they know how to do. Research what could form a successful business and execute your plan.
His businesses are aimed at minorities in urban areas where there is demand, but no competition. African-Americans have $1 trillion in spending power, as do Latinos, he said.
“If I can do what I did, you can do it, too,” he said.
Everywhere he went, students wanted to take “selfies” with him — and he obliged them.
At the Walter Payton Recreation & Wellness Center, he met with student athletes and gave them advice on how to excel in sports — a subject he also knows well as a former member of the “Dream Team” that won the 1992 Gold Medal in the Olympics.
Among his tips: “The best athletes are the hardest workers in practice,” he said.
“When everybody else was at the club, I was giving my time in practice,” he told them. So when the game day came, he was on the court, not the bench.
His most heartfelt moment came while meeting with students at Rose E. McCoy auditorium.
In answer to a twitter question from #MagicAtJSU on @JacksonStateU, he said the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life was drive home and tell his wife who was pregnant with his son at the time that he was HIV positive. Watching her cry, he said, “was the worst moment of my life.”
He said his wife Cookie reared back and gave him a “Mike Tyson” like punch — hard! — and then said, “We’re going to beat this.”
They got on their knees and prayed.
That was 23 years ago, he said, and each day is a blessing to him.
It’s important to “protect yourself” and “educate your partner,” he said.
In answer to another question, he said: “Changing urban America, putting people of color to work and showing that we can be successful, that’s important to me.”
“You should be happy,” he told the students. He was the first person in his family to go to college, he said, like many in the audience.
Pointing to JSU President Dr. Carolyn W. Meyers and others, he said, everyone on that stage was here to help them. “You’ve got to take advantage of this opportunity at this university.”
“And when you get out, be a great alum, give money,” he said, so others can have that opportunity for an education and a better life, too.
“It’s not bad to be smart. It’s really cool to be smart,” he said.
Johnson earlier met with Meyers and her cabinet in the administration building, and with Miss JSU Anissa Butler and SGA President Keonte M. Turner.
He also met with Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber, who was on hand at the McCoy speech and honored Johnson with a proclamation. They spoke about possible joint projects between Johnson, JSU and the city.
Click here to see more photos of Johnson’s visit to JSU.