If Magarity's the name, count on a game

If you're a coach, you probably don't mind seeing a Magarity signed up for your squad.

A Magarity quarterbacked La Salle High to this year's PIAA Class AAAA football state final. Another young Magarity signed a contract to play professional basketball in Italy, at age 17. And another Magarity used to play top-level AAU basketball, but she chose to emphasize lacrosse. Colleen has won two NCAA titles with the Northwestern women's lacrosse team.

Best known for car dealerships, the Magarity clan has a collective resumé that goes back generations. Half of them are named Bill. One side of the family mostly went to Cardinal Dougherty. Another side (the car dealership side) mostly went to La Salle High. One Bill was the quarterback for La Salle College in '43. Another Bill played basketball at La Salle and also coached at Christian Brothers Academy.

There are two athletic Mark Magaritys, each with a different Bill Magarity for a grandfather. (Those Bills were first cousins.) One Mark started at hoops for Dougherty and now is the volleyball coach at Philadelphia University. Another was the point guard at La Salle High and then started at West Chester. Another Magarity, Jake, also started at West Chester.

You want more sports? Michael Magarity was a star high school miler at La Salle in the early '70s. His son, Brendon, is a top swimmer at West Chester. (Brendon's brother Matt is the starting quarterback at La Salle High).

Chris Magarity reached the Catholic League baseball final with La Salle in '96.

Bill "Erf" Magarity once played a high school football game for Roman Catholic High in front of 55,000 people at Franklin Field. His son Bill played at Georgia and for several decades professionally in Sweden, then coached in Germany, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia, plus a number of places in Sweden, where he is director of youth development at Södertälje BBK, a Swedish club. That Magarity is the father of Billy, who is with an Italian club, Angelico Biella. He also is the father of Regan, a 14-year-old who is 6-foot-1 and considered the top youth player of her age group in Sweden. Their cousin Dave was a walk-on player at Marist.

In the Magarity clan, even in-laws can be athletic. One Magarity daughter who lived in Germany is married to Penn State assistant basketball coach Dan Earl. That daughter, Sheila, once worked as Joe Paterno's secretary in the Penn State football office.