Bird Will Present Magic for Hall of Fame Induction

They were fierce rivals on the court, beginning in their college days and continuing throughout their stellar NBA careers. Now, Larry Bird will present Magic Johnson for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame at the Sept. 28 induction.

According to tradition, each enshrinee is presented by a Hall of Famer of his choice. Bird was inducted in 1998.

“I am honored to be presenting a person I have admired and looked up to during my whole career,” Bird said.

The Bird-Johnson rivalry began in 1979 when Johnson’s Michigan State team beat Bird’s Indiana State squad for the NCAA championship.

They spent the better part of a decade wrestling the NBA title away from each other. The Lakers, with Johnson, won five championships in the 1980s, and Bird’s Boston Celtics won three.

Philadelphia 76er Coach Larry Brown chose Dean Smith, his college coach at North Carolina, to present him for induction. Tar Heels women’s coach Kay Yow selected Anne Donovan, the center on the U.S. team she coached to a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics. And Willis Reed, who brought the late Drazen Petrovic to the New Jersey Nets, was chosen to present the international star.

Presenters for Arizona Coach Lute Olson and the Harlem Globetrotters have not been announced.