He Had Center Stage, but That Was All

Your paper continues to perpetuate one of the greatest myths in sports--that Magic Johnson played center in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA finals [“The Big Fill-In,” May 14]. It never happened.

Magic jumped center against Caldwell Jones of the 76ers, and also guarded him for the first few minutes. However, the 76ers also started Darryl Dawkins. He played center in their offense, while Jones, an offensive zero, played forward.

Dawkins was guarded by Jim Chones, who started at center and played the position at both ends of the floor the entire game, except for the times he was spelled by Mark Landsberger. Your paper’s report on the game, which you reproduce for this article, refers to Chones as Kareem’s “stand-in.”

And so he was. The only time Caldwell Jones played center for the 76ers was when Dawkins was not on the floor. However, Magic never guarded Jones during these times--Chones or Landsberger did. You quote Magic as saying people wondered how he could guard the 6-11 Dawkins. Magic never guarded Dawkins at any time in that game.

By the way, you are also giving too much credit to Paul Westhead for saying that Jamaal Wilkes’ jumper was like “snow falling off a bamboo leaf.” This is a direct quote from Basho, Japan’s most famous poet, who lived in the 17th century. Except he wasn’t referring to jump shots, of course.

GARRY McDONOUGH

Los Angeles