In honor of NBA All Star weekend, we acknowledge one Mr. Magic Johnson.  As a Los Angeles Laker, he brought Showtime to the Forum, but it is his role as activist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur since his retirement that make the Magic Man a Game Changer.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s prowess on the basketball court is well-known. In his two years at Michigan State University, the Spartans made it to the NCAA tournament twice.  In what would be his final season, Magic led MSU past Larry Bird and Indiana State to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship in 1979.  After being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers that same year, Magic Johnson joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to lead the team to the NBA Finals versus the Philadelphia 76ers.  When Abdul-Jabbar was injured and unable to play game 6, Magic started at center and put on one of the greatest performances of all time with a stat line of 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals.  He played guard, forward, and center at different times throughout the game.  He went on to become the first rookie to win NBA Finals MVP, and became one of only four players to win a NCAA and NBA title in consecutive years.  The rest of the 80′s were the days of Showtime, led by Magic’s uncanny ability to make the game look easy.  The Lakers went on to win 3 more championships in the decade with Magic at the forefront of all of them.  In 1991 he unexpectedly announced his retirement after revealing he had contracted the HIV virus.  Though he came back briefly in 92 and again in 94, he was never quite the same.  He finally hung up his sneaks after losing to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.

Magic tried his hand at coaching briefly, but realized the business side was more for him.  He was for years a shareholder in the Los Angeles Lakers organization, and recently, as part of an ownership group, became an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise.  He has taken an interest in improving African-American communities around the country through community involvement and business opportunities.  After revealing he had contracted HIV, Magic started working as an activist for HIV/AIDS awareness especially in the Black community.  He wanted to make sure people understood that HIV/AIDS infected people outside the homosexual white males many believed it did in the 80′s and early 90′s.  He also worked to end discrimination of those living with HIV/AIDS.

As an entrepreneur, activist, media personality, and athlete, Magic Johnson has shattered stereotypes on every level, making him a Game Changer.

According to numerous media sources throughout the league and Los Angeles, Lakers owner Jerry Buss has passed away at the age of 80. Buss had been battling cancer recently, and had not made it to any of his team’s games this season. It had been reported that numerous Lakers greats, past and present, had been visiting Buss during his most recent stint in the hospital.

Condolences to his family and friends, and Laker Nation on this sad day.

In the fifteenth installment of our Black History Month series, we recognize arguably the greatest football player in history, Game Changer Jim Brown.  Known for his prowess on the football field, Jim Brown is often recognized as one of the greatest athletes the United States produced.

Jim Brown’s athletic abilities were clearly evident early.  In high school, earned 13 letters in basketball, football, lacrosse, baseball and track and field.  After moving on to Syracuse University, Brown was once again a stellar athlete participating in basketball, lacrosse, track, and most notably football.  Few know that Brown was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame for his collegiate prowess.  Once Brown entered the NFL in 1956, he began to leave a mark. Each year he played, he was voted into the Pro Bowl.  As a powerful rusher, Jim Brown was the first to reach the 100-rushing-touchdown mark.  Before leaving the league after only 9 seasons, and still at the prime of his career, Brown set numerous records including single season and career rushing yards, career rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, and all-purpose yards.

After retiring before the age of 30, Jim Brown went on to continue his advocacy work in the black community.  His Amer-I-Can program helps former gang members and youth in gang-ridden neighborhoods to learn life management skills.  Brown also went on to have a fruitful acting career, and also blazed a trail in that sphere.  In the film 100 Rifles, his love scene with Raquel Welch was the first interracial love scene in a major film.

Brown’s accolades as a football star made him a legend, but his continuing contributions to the black community make him a Game Changer.

Our Valentine’s Day Game Changer is the woman nicknamed by the Italians “La Gazella Negra”, Wilma Rudolph.  No black female track athlete did more for the future of the sport than Wilma Rudolph.  Her performance at the 1960 Rome Olympics had many girls wanting to participate in track and field.

Wilma Rudolph faced adversity at an early age.  As the 20th of 22 children, Rudolph was diagnosed with polio at the age of 4.  Though she recovered, she had to wear a leg brace for a few years.  But when she was able to break free, Wilma began to play basketball and eventually track.  When discovered by Tennessee State’s legendary track coach, everything changed.  Rudolph qualified for the 1956 Olympics at 16 and won bronze with the 4x100m relay team.  But it was at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games that Wilma became an international star.  Thanks to the Olympics being televised internationally for the first time, many U.S. athletes including Rudolph and Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali). Rudolph went on to win Olympic titles in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.  Rudolph went on to be named in four different hall of fames for her remarkable career.

Because of Wilma Rudolph, girls like me fell in love with the sport of track and field.

In our thirteenth segment of the Game Changers series we celebrate the accomplishments of the New York Renaissance professional basketball team and the 1966 Texas Western college basketball team.  Each was a first in their own right…and today we celebrate them.

The New York Renaissance, also known as the Rens, were an all-black professional basketball team established 90 years ago on February 13, 1923.  The team played in the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom, and after each game a dance followed.  However as the years went on they began barnstorming across the country.  They were one of the most dominant basketball teams in the 1920s and 1930s.  Between 1923-33 the team was 120-8, six of those losses coming at the hands of the Original Celtics, the preeminent all-white basketball team at the time.  It is worth noting the Rens beat those same Celtics 8 times.  In 1939, the Rens won the first professional basketball championship beating the all-white Oshkosh All-Stars in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago.  The Renaissance disbanded in 1949 after playing as the Dayton Rens in the racially integrated National Basketball League.  The Rens were collectively inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1963.

The 1966 Texas Western basketball team broke barriers when they became the first collegiate basketball team with black players in all five spots in the starting lineup.  Coached by Don Haskins, the team went on to beat the notoriously all-white Kentucky Wildcats in the title game to become the 1966 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball champions.  They changed the way colleges looked at black basketball athletes.  Collectively they were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.  The team also inspired the book and film Glory Road.

South African Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was charged with murder Thursday after the shooting death of his girlfriend of a few months, model Reeva Steenkamp.  The athlete, affectionately known as “Blade Runner” because of his prosthetic lower limbs, is due in court later today or tomorrow.

Reeva Steenkamp, an advocate for rape and abuse victims, was found dead in the early morning hours Thursday in the home of Pistorius in a gated community in Pretoria, the capital city of South Africa.  She was shot four times in the hands and head.  Though South African police do not release the names of suspects until they appear in court, an official did note during an afternoon press conference that police had been called to the home for previous incidents including “allegations of a domestic nature.”

The arrest and allegations are a surprise to the sporting community.  Oscar Pistorius rose to fame as a Paralympic sprinter after having both lower legs amputated at 11 months old.  He petitioned the Olympic governing board and won an opportunity to compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games.  He was a semifinalist in the 400m and a finalist as a part of the 4x400m relay team.

Previous reports stated Pistorius may have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, however the police spokesperson was quick to refute those claims.  She made it clear that those statements were not released by the cops and they were still investigating the scene, and would make no speculations through the media.

On his 79th birthday, we celebrate the legendary Bill Russell in our Game Changer series.  As a key component to the 50′s and 60′s era Boston Celtics, Bill Russell made a name as one of the best big men to play the game.  He is often considered the first black basketball superstar in the NBA.

Though many know of his amazing play, few are aware of his three-year stint as a player-coach.  In 1966 Russell became the first black NBA coach and first black coach in any professional sport.  His time as player-coach with the Boston Celtics led to two more NBA Championships in ’68 and ’69.  During his years with the Celtics, he often dealt with intense racism from fans and media, and developed a deep contempt for the city of Boston, which was one of the most racist cities in the northern United States at the time.  His reputation while in Boston was largely based in his belief that many whites around him were insincere in their attempts to speak or befriend him.  And he was often labeled “an uppity Negro.”  Though it should be noted that later in his life, both Russell and the city of Boston have made strides to repair the broken relationship with the legend and the city where he brought so many championships.

In 2011, Bill Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts in the Civil Rights Movement both on and off the court.

On day 11 of our Game Changer series, we highlight track star Jesse Owens.  In a time when black athletes were considered less than around the world, Jesse Owens proved the world wrong winning 4 gold medals in sprint events in the 1936 Olympic Games.

A star athlete from an early age, Jesse Owens came to fame in high school when he matched the world record in the 100-yd sprint at 9.4 seconds at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago.  But it was at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin that Jesse Owens truly made a name for himself.  For some time, Nazi Germany’s leader Adolf Hitler had been raving about the superiority of the so-called Aryan race.  Hitler and his people believed that the German athletes would sweep the Olympics, and touted the inferiority of the ethnic Africans.  But when Owens came through and won the 100-yd dash, 200-yd sprint, long jump, and 4×100 relay, Hitler was forced to backtrack and claim African descendants should be excluded because they were too athletically inclined.

Though Hitler was often talked about for his claims, Owens often credited the German leader for acts he could not attribute to his own American leader.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt never spoke to Jesse Owens about his win (no telegram…no acknowledgement of his accomplishments on behalf of “his country”) while Hitler sent Owens a beautiful commemorative inscribed photo of himself.  While in Germany, Owens was able to stay in the same hotels as white competitors yet upon his return to the US he was forced to take the freight elevator at the Waldorf-Astoria to his own reception.  Owens recognized the inconsistencies but like a true ambassador, he still was proud to represent the United States.  President Eisenhower would later honor Owens an “Ambassador of Sports.”

Everyone knows Tiger Woods.  But do you know about Charlie Sifford?

Charlie Sifford is best known as the  first Black golfer on the PGA Tour. Though Game Changer Joe Louis received the first exemption to play a PGA event in 1952 (Sifford joined Louis for this event), Charlie Sifford was the black golfer to officially join the tour in 1961.

After caddying for years, Sifford turned professional in 1948.  He played in numerous golf tournaments for black golfers as they were not allowed to play in PGA events.  Sifford then attempted to qualify for the Phoenix Open in 1952 utilizing an exemption extended to boxing great Joe Louis.  After joining the PGA tour in ’61, Sifford went on play on both the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour until his retirement in 2000.  He became the first black golfer to win a fully sanctioned PGA Tour event in 1967 with his victory at the Greater Hartford Open.

In 2004, Sifford was the first black golfer inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.  Since his retirement, Sifford has made appearances at tour events.  He currently lives in Texas with his wife.

Charlie Sifford paved the way for black golfers like Lee Elders, Calvin Peete, and Tiger Woods.

The Brown Bomber.  Considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, Joe Louis is remembered most for his championship reign from 1937 to 1949.  He is believed to be the first black athlete to reach the status of national hero as his time in the spotlight occurred leading up to and during the World War II, and his fights versus the German boxer Max Schmeling were considered legendary.

Louis had a cultural impact outside of the ring also.  He was used as a recruiting tool for the US military for World War II, and himself served in the Army.  After the war, he was also instrumental in integrating golf, as he broke the color barrier in 1952 when he played under a sponsor’s exemption during a PGA event.

In 2005, Joe Louis was ranked the #1 heavyweight boxer of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization, and was also ranked #1 Greatest Puncher of All-Time by The Ring Magazine.