ANNOUNCEMENT MADE LASTING IMPACT ON NBA TRAINERS WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES, PLAYERS THINK TWICE ABOUT BEHAVIOR.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

Magic Johnson drove to the hoop and came away with a fingernail scratch on his right arm. It was a minor scratch with no blood. They've happened many times before in the game of basketball.

But this was different. It was during an exhibition game in Chapel Hill, N.C., between the Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the fall of 1992. Johnson was attempting to make a comeback to the NBA after retiring from basketball when he contracted HIV a year earlier.

He immediately went to the bench, where all eyes followed him as Lakers trainer Gary Vitti prepared to treat the scratch.

Vitti started to reach for protective gloves, newly required by the NBA following Johnson's announcement. Then he stopped.

``I felt there were a lot of mixed messages going around the world,'' Vitti said. ``On the one hand we were telling people, `Don't worry, you can't get it that way (through normal contact).' On the other hand, we were stopping the game and putting on gloves.''

With his bare hands, Vitti put a bandage on the cut without ever touching Johnson.

``Players were saying `Wait, he can get the blood on me but not you?' '' Vitti said.

Johnson remembered the moment in his autobiography, ``My Life'': ``Gary covered it with a sweatband, but he couldn't cover up the feeling in the arena,'' Johnson wrote. ``Guys were scared. You could see the fear in their eyes and hear their unspoken questions: Is he all bandaged up? That cut's not leaking, is it?''

The NBA still requires that trainers use gloves when treating cuts. It was one of the changes in the league brought forth by Johnson's HIV announcement. Vitti eventually agreed to use the gloves after making his point.

Now, anytime there is blood present, play is immediately stopped and the player must come out of the game to get bandaged.

Magic's return to the game did more to spark controversy and change than his initial retirement.

After Johnson announced he was infected with HIV, many NBA players were worried about their own health because the league was infamous for the promiscuity of players. Many had sex with some of the same women as Johnson.

No other player tested positive for HIV and the league didn't require testing. But the league had each team meet with doctors to make them more aware of HIV/AIDS and ways of prevention.

``We brought out a team physician and got up in front of them,'' Vitti recalled. ``I think it prompted a lot of behind-door discussions. The players practiced safer sex than what they were doing before.''

Kurt Rambis, Johnson's former teammate who was playing for Phoenix at the time, remembered a doctor coming through.

``He explained how it is transmitted and educated the guys and answered their questions,'' Rambis said. ``Nobody was really educated about it. We all assumed it was for homosexuals and intravenous drug users. People had a bunch of questions about if it could be transmitted through sweat.''

Doctors told players they weren't likely to contract the virus from being in normal contact with Johnson.

``They said it was such a fragile disease that if it came up in the air, even if you rubbed two open wounds together, it would be nearly impossible,'' Rambis said. ``Even if he spit directly into your mouth, it wasn't going to happen that way. That reassured and educated a lot of people but still left doubt with a lot of people.''

Rambis, who left his team to be there for Johnson's retirement announcement and subsequent ceremony, said he felt completely safe playing against Johnson.

``I could only speak for myself, but I think I got myself educated and enough reassurances from enough people that I did not have any qualms about playing with or against him,'' Rambis said.

The practice of safer sex didn't seem to last among NBA players. In 1998, Sports Illustrated published a magazine with the cover reading ``Where's Daddy?'' The story described the many NBA players - more so than any other sport - with children out of wedlock from multiple mothers.

``Based on what I've observed, I would have to guess (NBA player's sexual practices) have changed very little,'' Rambis said. ``Guys are young and there are a lot of temptations and money. Because of their youth, in general, players thought they were omnipotent.''

Johnson once thought he was invincible, too. Then he embraced being an example to players and the general public that HIV could infect anyone.

``He was on the front page daily,'' Vitti said. ``Once I said, 'Doesn't it bother you?' He said, `When God gave me this, he gave it to the right person. I can handle this.'

``I think that was one of the bravest statements I've ever heard. He'll outlive all of us.''

IMPACT ON SPORTS

A list of prominent athletes who have died of AIDS or have been tested positive for HIV:

AIDS DEATHS

-- Jerry Smith, 43, tight end with the Washington Redskins from 1965-77, died of complications related to AIDS on Oct. 15, 1986.

-- Thomas Waddell, 49, a decathlete who competed for the United States in the 1968 Olympics at Mexico City, died of complications related to AIDS on July 11, 1987.

-- Esteban DeJesus, 37, former WBC lightweight boxing champion, died on May 12, 1989, after acquiring AIDS in the early 1980s while in prison.

-- Tim Richmond, 34, stock car racer, died of complications caused by AIDS on Aug. 16, 1989.

-- Alan Wiggins, 32, baseball player with the San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles, died of complications caused by AIDS on Jan. 6, 1991.

-- Arthur Ashe, 49, a tennis champion and human-rights crusader, died of AIDS-related pneumonia on Feb. 6, 1993.

-- Chad Kinch, 35, who played in the Final Four for North Carolina-Charlotte in 1977 and was a No. 1 draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers, died of complications from AIDS on April 3, 1994.

-- John Curry, 44, former Olympic and world champion figure skater whose artistry on ice revolutionized figure skating, died from an AIDS-related illness on April 15, 1994. The English skater won the European and world championships and the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.

-- Glenn Burke, 42, a Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics outfielder who says he was blackballed from baseball for being gay, died of AIDS-related complications on May 30, 1995.

-- Bill Goldsworthy, 51, a 14-year NHL veteran and one of the original Minnesota North Stars, died of complications from AIDS on March 29, 1996. He played with Minnesota from its first season in 1967 until 1977, and also with the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers.

HIV POSITIVE

-- Greg Louganis, the only man to sweep diving gold medals in consecutive Olympics, said on Feb. 22, 1995, that he was HIV positive when he competed in the 1988 Seoul Games and had full-blown AIDS. Louganis, now 41, won the springboard and platform gold medals in Seoul, duplicating his 1984 sweep in Los Angeles.

-- Tommy Morrison announced through his promoter on Feb. 12, 1995, that he was HIV positive. Two days earlier, he was suspended by Nevada boxing authorities before a scheduled bout with Arthur Weathers. Now 32, he was released from a Little Rock community detention center in February 2001 after serving time for drug and weapons charges, and he has opened a boxing camp in Arkansas.

-- Rudy Galindo, the 1996 U.S. figure skating champion, revealed on April 6, 2000, he was HIV positive. Galindo, now 32, is a touring professional.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

ARTHUR ASHE

Box: IMPACT ON SPORTS (see text)