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. He briefly coached at Powder Point School in Duxbury, Massachusetts before moving to Bowdoin College in 1913.

Magee's Bowdoin teams won the New England championship four times and the Maine state championship twenty times. 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). 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. 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. 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.

Legacy

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