Jack Magee

John Joseph Magee (January 12, 1883 – January 1, 1968) was an American track and field coach. He was head coach at Bowdoin College from 1913 to 1955 and assistant coach of the United States Olympic track and field team in 1924, 1928 and 1932.

Biography

Magee was born in Newark, New Jersey, on January 12, 1883, but grew up in East Boston, where he was a sprinter in school.[1][2] He briefly coached at Powder Point School in Duxbury, Massachusetts before moving to Bowdoin College in 1913.[1] Magee was in charge of the Bowdoin track team for the following forty-two years, with some interruptions; in 1918 he received a year's leave of absence to train the American army in France, and was wounded during his time there.[3][4]

Magee's Bowdoin teams won the New England championship four times and the Maine state championship twenty times.[2][5] His most successful pupil was 1924 Olympic hammer throw champion and long-time Rhode Island track head coach Fred Tootell; other top athletes coached by Magee at Bowdoin included weight throw world-best holder Niles Perkins and 1934 IC4A high hurdles champion Phil Good.[6] Magee coached the American national team in dual meets against the British Empire in 1932 and 1933, as well as on tours of the Far East (1934) and Scandinavia (1937).[2][7] He served as an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic track and field teams of 1924, 1928 and 1932; he was also with the team in 1920, but was not one of the official assistant coaches that year.[8][9] Magee lobbied for an American boycott of the 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany; he turned down the opportunity to be an Olympic team coach again as a protest after the decision not to boycott was made.[5]

Magee was one of the founders of the Maine branch of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU); he was elected vice president of the national AAU in 1932 and re-elected the following year.[10][11][12] He also served as president of the Association of College Track Coaches of America and was a long-time member of the Maine State Boxing Commission.[2] After his retirement in 1955 Magee was named emeritus director of track and field at Bowdoin; he died in Brunswick, Maine on January 1, 1968, aged 84.[5]

Legacy

Magee was inducted in the Helms Hall of Fame in 1949.[6] The track at Bowdoin's Whittier Field stadium is named after Magee, as is Jack Magee's Pub & Grill on the Bowdoin campus.[3]

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References
  1. "Little Napoleon" (PDF). Bowdoin Alumnus. Vol. 29 no. 3. May 1955. p. 5.
  2. "Johnny Magee Stepping Down". Lewiston Daily Sun. January 29, 1955. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  3. "John Joseph Magee". Bowdoin College. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  4. "Casualties Are Few For N. England". Boston Post. July 11, 1918. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  5. "Former Bowdoin Coach Jack Magee Succumbs". The Bridgeport Post. January 2, 1968. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  6. "Jack Magee, Bowdoin Coach, Joins Track Hall of Fame". Portland Press Herald. May 10, 1949. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  7. "Magee, Bowdoin Track Coach, Named to Helms Hall of Fame". May 10, 1949. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  8. "Bowdoin Represented in Olympic Games". Bowdoin Orient. 50. September 22, 1920. p. 103. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  9. "Report of the American Olympic Committee: Seventh Olympic Games Antwerp, Belgium 1920" (PDF). American Olympic Committee. 1921. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  10. "Magee to Officiate in Guatemala Games". Lewiston Daily Sun. December 22, 1949. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  11. "A.A.U. Adopts Metric System of Measuring". The Scranton Republican. November 23, 1932. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  12. "Ban on Berlin Olympics Now Up to A.O.A." (PDF). Brooklyn Daily Eagle. November 22, 1933. p. 22. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
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