The 50

Some people just have the magic.  They set their minds to do something, and they do it.  Here are 50  of’em:

Mom

Magic Johnson

Oprah Winfrey

Barack Obama

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Malcolm X

Nelson Mandela

Miriam Makeba

Richard Pryor

Redd Foxx

Eddie Murphy

Right around here I noticed that the entire list is black.

Larry Bird

Donald Trump

Aretha Franklin

Michael Jackson

Selena

John Coltrane

Jimmy Carter

Ronald Reagan

George H.W. Bush

Sun Tzu

General George S. Patton

Ed Koch

Al Sharpton

Bill Russell

Phil Jackson

Reggie Jackson

Billy Martin

George Steinbrenner

Dave Chapelle

Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson

Rafer Johnson

Jesse Owens

Venus Williams

Serena Williams

Just to show off, the next 10 will not be black:

Madonna

Lady Gaga

Elton John

Adolf Hitler

Josef Stalin

Golda Meir

Mohandas K. Gandhi

George Washington

Genghis Khan

Martha Stewart

By the way, a testimonial for Oprah Winfrey started me on this “list”.  To finish the 50:

Albert Einstein

Bob Gibson

Charles Barkley

Samuel L. Jackson

Martina Navratilova

By my count, 12 of the 50 are women.  The majority of the 50 – 28 -- are actors, entertainers or athletes.

Number 51 to pop into my mind was Bill Cosby.  I thought of Muhammad Ali along the way, but for some reason I did not write down his name until now.

This list is just that – a list.  It is not an invitation to debate – it is an invitation to discuss.