Magic Johnson’s Traveling Circus

On a snowy night 30 years ago, an HIV-positive Magic lit up a Midwestern arena

Magic Johnson in Levallois Perret, France, Sept. 21, 1994, at a press conference for his world tour. (Jean-Pierre REY/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

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Before the Oklahoma City Thunder, we had the Quad City Thunder.¹

Before Magic Johnson was a Lakers coach,² sixth man,³ or executive,⁴ he was the ringmaster of Magic Johnson’s All-Stars, who barnstormed the U.S. and the world after his first retirement — the one he announced on Nov. 7, 1991, upon being informed he had tested HIV-positive.

That announcement was a stunner. Yes, I remember exactly where I was when the news came over the radio — at the wheel of my Corolla, driving home from a class at the University of Iowa. Like everyone else, I figured that Magic’s days were numbered. I was sure I would never get to see him play in person.

Yet there we were — my wife and I, along with our good friend Eric Neel — watching Magic play. We had driven from Iowa City to the Quad Cities⁵ for an exhibition game: Magic’s All-Stars vs. the Thunder, a CBA team.

It was 30 years ago this month.

And Magic is still very much with us. It’s fantastic I can say that. It’s fantastic it’s an ordinary fact. None of that seemed possible at the time.

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In 2001, Eric, now a longtime editor and writer at ESPN, shared his memories of the night, which you can see below.

First, enjoy the evening’s black-and-white program:

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Seven years later, here is how Eric remembered the night:

Read the full article.

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Magic Johnson and former Lakers running mate Mike McGee teamed up vs. the Norwegian All-Stars at the Oslo Spectrum in Oslo, Norway, Sept. 12, 1994, on a later leg of the Magic tour. (Phil Cole/Allsport)

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Bonus video

1. The Quad City Thunder played in the Continental Basketball Association from 1987 to 2001, when the CBA folded. The Thunder won CBA championships in 1994 and 1998. Their most famous player was George Gervin (near the end of his career), and their mascot was Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

2. His Lakers coaching stint began about six weeks after the game covered in this column, and lasted 16 games in March and April 1994.

3. During the 1995-96 season, upon his brief return to the NBA.

4. From 2017 to 2019.

5. More specifically, we traveled to an arena then known as The Mark of the Quad Cities and now known as Vibrant Arena at The MARK, located along the Mississippi River in Moline, Ill.

You might recall that Moline was the second home of the Atlanta Hawks. After the Buffalo Bisons moved to Moline on Christmas Day 1946, they became known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and joined the NBA, with Red Auerbach as coach for most of the 1949-50 season.

In 1951, they became the Milwaukee Hawks, four years later the St. Louis Hawks — winning their only championship in 1958 — and in 1968 the Atlanta Hawks.

The Tri-Cities were Moline, Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa. With the growth of the metropolitan area, there are actually five cities now in the Quad Cities, including Bettendorf, Iowa, and East Moline, Ill.

But the term Quint Cities never caught on.