The Magic of the Moment : Former Laker Star Gives Campers Tips About Basketball--and Life

For the rest of his life, Wesley Williams, 12, will undoubtedly rerun in his mind the scene played out Wednesday at Cal Lutheran University. He dribbled, he passed, he shot against former Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson.

Wesley lost, even though the eighth-grader from Los Angeles had a teammate and Johnson did not.

“We could have won, if we passed it more,” Wesley said earnestly.

And like he did after attending Johnson’s basketball camp in Thousand Oaks two years ago, Wesley will re-enact the events for his friends when he gets home.

“They’re like, ‘You played with Magic?’ ” he said. “I’m all bragging. I’m like, ‘Yeah. I made a three-pointer.’ ”

More than 400 children ranging from elementary to high school students from Ventura County and across the nation converged on the university campus this week for basketball lessons from the best, including 20 on scholarships from South-Central Los Angeles high schools.

Wadeh Constance and Grant Cohen, two 13-year-olds from Denver, beat Johnson in their brief court encounter. But Wadeh figured the former NBA all-star and most valuable player could have won if he’d pulled out all the stops.

“I mean, we were playing against the greatest player of all time,” Wadeh said.

Johnson clearly is no mere figurehead for the camp that bears his name. Daily he moves among the campers, who are separated into groups by age, to share tips and reinforce the coaches’ instruction.

So far, the lessons have centered on basketball. But today, Johnson said the talk will turn momentarily to life outside of basketball, including the importance of education and the threat of drugs, gangs and AIDS.

In November of 1991, Johnson shocked the world with his announcement that he was infected with the AIDS virus. But children at the camp did not dwell on the subject.

“It goes through everybody’s mind, but it’s not like everybody’s talking about it,” said Michelle Davis, 16, of Simi Valley. “I just think it’s cool that he’s still going.”

That is one lesson that Johnson would like the youngsters to learn, he said.

“You can ask all the doctors,” Johnson said in an interview. “If you give up and give in, it’s over.”

Deniece Garcia, 14, said she hoped Johnson would talk to the campers about AIDS.

“He needs to let these young teen-agers know about safe sex and that it’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Garcia, an eighth-grader from Los Angeles.

But others said the topic should not be raised.

“I don’t think that has much to do with basketball,” said 10-year-old Anthony Locke, a Los Angeles sixth-grader.

Jamar Weaver, an 11th-grader from Los Angeles, said thoughts of the deadly virus did not cross his mind while he played a tough game of one-on-one against Johnson.

Jamar acknowledged that some prominent NBA players criticized Johnson for attempting a comeback after he learned that he was HIV positive. They feared contracting the virus from physical contact during games, despite medical assurances to the contrary.

“Those kind of people just act stupid toward AIDS,” Jamar said.

Johnson said it is important to address such important topics honestly and directly with children. But basketball has its own ways of teaching young people about life, he added.

When Johnson hits 10 straight free throws to beat the camp’s best shooter, who made nine of 10, it showed the players that they have to work harder to succeed than they imagined, he said.

“When (the challenger) made nine free throws, they thought it was over. But I say, ‘I see you’ve got some more work to do,’ ” Johnson said, “because there’s always someone better than you. That’s what they’ve got to understand.”

The lesson came clear to Patrick Blake, the 16-year-old who lost the free-throw competition with Johnson. The bet was that if Johnson lost, he did pushups. If Patrick lost, the whole camp did.

Patrick was wistful after he got up from the floor.

“Almost,” he said. “One free throw.”