ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - They never saw him play.
"How did you feel when you dunked on somebody?" asked one student.
But hundreds of Lucy Addison Middle School students will likely never forget who he is.
"If you would ask the Magic Man a question, what would it be?" he asked another nervous student. "Why did you pick me?" the student asked back.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson visited the Roanoke school on Wednesday, recalling how he grew up poor in a similar-sized Michigan community, but was taught the importance of an education.
"Education first then basketball," Johnson told yet another student he called up from his seat in the packed auditorium.
"Just because you grow up in a certain way doesn't mean you have to have poor dreams," Johnson reiterated to reporters after leaving the assembly.
He spoke to students about the high school principal who taught him to be a leader.
"I wanted them to know I believed in them because somebody believed in me. My teachers believed in me and that help me out a lot."
Johnson said he's walked in their shoes and knows it's not about the shoes you wear.
"I wanted them to understand that it's not about the clothes, the cell phones. It's not about getting those material things. It's about really understanding that you make yourself cool. Those clothes don't make your cool. You make the clothes cool," said Johnson.
And it's cool to be smart, he said.
"They're going to have to have challenges in life and they're going to have to meet them head-on, like my reading problem," Johnson stated, recalling how all the kids he went to school with were outside playing after school while he was in class to correct a reading problem.
An NBA legend, now leader of the Los Angeles Lakers and business powerhouse, Johnson told the students, once just like him, the importance of hard work and dreams. Johnson's visit follows the Roanoke City Public Schools' partnership with his food service company SodexoMagic.
"Sometimes status becomes a big thing in our community and I wanted to come in and make sure they understood it's not about that," said Johnson. "Just be a good person. And then dream. I was dreaming and look what happened."
Towering over every student, Johnson easily found a way to connect.
"What's your question?" he asked one student. "What size shoe do you wear?" the student replied.
Size 15, for the record.
Johnson engaged the kids and left a lasting impression.