John Joseph Magee (January 12, 1883 – January 1, 1968) was an Americantrack and fieldcoach. He was head coach atBowdoin College from 1913 to 1955 and assistant coach of the United States Olympic track and field team in 1924, 1928 and 1932.
Magee was born inNewark, New Jersey, on January 12, 1883, but grew up inEast Boston, where he was asprinter in school.[1][2] He briefly coached at Powder Point School inDuxbury, Massachusetts before moving toBowdoin 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 theAmerican 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-timeRhode Island track head coachFred Tootell; other top athletes coached by Magee at Bowdoin included weight throw world-best holderNiles 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 anAmerican boycott of the1936 Olympics, held inNazi 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 theAmateur Athletic Union (AAU); he was electedvice 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 namedemeritus director of track and field at Bowdoin; he died inBrunswick, Maine on January 1, 1968, aged 84.[5]
Magee was inducted in theHelms Hall of Fame in 1949.[6] The track at Bowdoin'sWhittier Field stadium is named after Magee, as is Jack Magee's Pub & Grill on the Bowdoin campus.[3]
