THIS week Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report all agreed on their cover personality of the week: Earvin Johnson, known to his team mates as Buck, and to his adoring fans as "Magic".
They celebrated the fact that on Tuesday of the previous week, Magic Johnson, one of the great basketball players of all time, led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 10 point victory over the Golden State Warriors.
It was a routine performance by a top, though somewhat overweight, athlete in a regular game. What was remarkable was that it was accomplished by an athlete who retired from the sport on November 7th, 1991 after announcing that he had contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that leads to AIDS.
His comeback testified to both a sea change in public attitudes towards people facing the greatest plague of our times, and advances in medical treatments which give hope to the 19 million people in the US and around the world who are HIV positive.
Johnson retired five years ago; after contracting the virus from, unprotected sex with one of the dozens of girls who always hang around the great basketball players. His decision then had been applauded by many of the 17,505 fans who cheered him last week.
It was commonly believed at that time that teammates and opponents were in danger of infection from rough contact with a HIV infected player. Now it is accepted that none is in danger unless they engage in bloody personal combat.
"We've all learned a lot," said top player Karl Malone of Utah Jazz basketball team who had expressed doubts four years ago about an earlier attempt by Magic to make a comeback.
The worst fears of people about AIDS have not been realised. Most now know that it cannot be transmitted by a toilet seat or a wine glass.
Public attitudes are still infected with prejudices against, bearers of the infection. Just three months ago, White House security staff donned surgical gloves to check the personal belongings of a group of gay rights activists.
"I'm glad Magic got to play again," said Mr Bob Hattoy, a White House liaison official who is HIV infected. But he believed the reality most people still faced "was "amazing bigotry and stupidity".
The Republican majority in Congress only last week approved a defence Bill with a clause forcing all HIV positive military personnel out of the armed services. President Clinton had to sign it but considered bringing Magic Johnson to the Oval Office to demonstrate his personal distaste for the measure at a time when researchers are making some of the most promising medical advances since the epidemic began.
On the other hand, a new federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, protects from discrimination those who are either HIV positive or who have AIDS.
A new generation of anti viral drugs now keep disease at bay for those whose immune system has been undermined and innovative medicines are proving successful in foiling HIV's ability to, turn cells into virus factories. In particular, two new protease inhibitors called indinavir and ritonavir are showing a striking ability to hold the virus in check stop HIV replicating in patients' cells.
Recently at San Francisco general hospital, a 38 year old AIDS patient received the bone marrow of a baboon, an animal whose immune system is impervious to HIV. It was a gamble, but Mr Jeff Getty is alive and well, and showing no signs of suffering from infections to which baboons are susceptible.
Many years ago, people would not use the word cancer and those who contracted cancer were treated as the waking dead. All that changed with advances in medical treatment and more enlightened public attitudes.
The same thing is now happening with AIDS in the US. People are more aware that those infected with the virus can stay healthy for eight to 10 years and the survival time for those who progress to AIDS has roughly doubled since the first cases were diagnosed in 1981.
School superintendent Judith Billings (56) of Washington State was infected with donor sperm some 15 years ago and has progressed to AIDS, but plans to run for the US Congress this year. In New York Tom Duane tested positive for HIV in 1988, and is, now a city councillor.
Magic Johnson achieved a great ambition by returning to the game. He did not want his children to see him as a has been. There watching him in Los Angeles last week, and cheering lustily, was Earvin Johnson III, who was born in 1992.