Letters: Magee touch is shooting gold

IT WAS during the good old days of the mid-'70s when a pint-size shooting ace from Textile College (now Philadelphia University) came to my basketball clinic to show youngsters how to improve their shooting.

The campers watched in amazement as Herb Magee put on the greatest one-handed shooting exhibition I've seen during my time of playing and coaching basketball. Of the 50 or more shots Herb took around the perimeter of the foul lane, he must have made all but two or three.

During a break, several high school girls asked me: "How could Coach Magee make so many shots in a row without missing?" I responded that Herb Magee eats, drinks and sleeps the game of basketball and the art of shooting. Day after day, year in and year out, you'll find him at the gym - his second home - "shooting the lights out of the basket until he's blue in the face."

After the break, Coach Magee explained and demonstrated his step-by-step technique and his uncanny accuracy.

After jotting down notes and memorizing Magee's style, I tried to master the "Magee Method." And over the next 20 years, while coaching at all levels, I used the "Magee Method" to enhance shooting skills.

I've seen many basketball coaches and players trying to teach the fundamentals of shooting (including George Lehman, a great shooter and instructor who played nine years in the NBA). Neither George nor other shooting instructors can match Magee's philosophy and detailed techniques.

Now that Coach Magee has passed the great Bobby Knight as the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history, there's another equally important distinction that has made him stand out: Magee has mastered the intricacies of shooting a basketball, taught his proven techniques to thousands of aspiring ballplayers and in the process will leave a legacy you cannot define by wins and losses.

Doug Leaman

Oaks