We’re trying to avoid saying it, so we’ll let our reliable source do it for us: “There were some pretty incredible people that were there, but, of course, the star power was really Magic. He was magic.”
Really how else can you describe the basketball legend-turned-business man Magic Johnson? Especially when the six-foot-nine super star shows up at a run of the mill charity gala and throws $300,000 on the scoreboard without breaking a sweat.
At last night’s World Affairs Honors Global Education gala, attendees at the Ritz-Carlton were shocked when Johnson, who’s good friends with the council’s vice chairman, Michael Norris, trotted on stage “to make a couple of brief remarks,” according to a council spokeswoman. Soon after, Johnson went off script, announcing that he was donating $200,000 to the nonprofit dedicated to educating folks on global issues.
Okay okay, the guy’s worth $500 million so NBD, right? There’s more.
After taking off his philanthropy hat, Johnson decided to dabble in a little auctioneering. Turns out, he just so happened to have a few autographed Lakers jerseys with him, plus 14 tickets to a few Lakers home games, and a private lunch and one-on-one session with him at his Los Angeles mansion because, why not? All that swag brought in another $100,000.
“So the place just went crazy,” said Bob Ludwig, assistant vice president for media relations at the University of Maryland University College, which won an award on Tuesday. “It was a shocker.”
