By Patrick Hayes

Magic Johnson and the rest of his 1977 Lansing Everett teammates were inducted into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame this week and Diamond Leung of MLive had the opportunity to talk to Johnson about the city and state he grew up in:

Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the rest of the 1977 Everett High School boys basketball team that won the state championship was inducted into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday, and while driving around his hometown with his wife, Cookie, before the event, he recalled Lansing’s better days.

“It’s breaking my heart,” Johnson said before his former team was recognized at the Lansing Center. “I’m driving by Fisher Body, I’m looking and there’s nothing but weeds. When I drive through where I grew up and see just vacant homes…I’ve seen it when it was thriving. You either worked for the state or you worked for GM, and the town was just incredible.

“And so I don’t know what’s going to change. When I look at the whole state as a whole, we’re losing people every day. It’s tough from where I sit from Los Angeles and see what’s happening to my great state and then also my city of Lansing. I just hope that we can find something that can turn the city as well as the state around.”

According to Fred Heumann of WLNS TV in Lansing, Johnson announced after his speech that he and his wife will be donating $20,000 per year to the Hall of Fame for the next five years. Johnson is obviously the most talented basketball player this state has ever produced, but he should also be heavily commended for his many philanthropic efforts.