Magee's grand day arrives
Legendary Philly U coach Herb Magee wins his 1,000th game. He has spent 56 years there as a player and coach.
ONE OF THE great joys of attending a potential Herb Magee milestone is getting a pregame audience with the King in his office. After the obligatory stop at Joe's (nee Chink's), Mike Kern and I arrived at Philadelphia University last Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., 3 hours before the first attempt at 1,000 was to begin.
Magee was over in Althouse Hall, where this all began, conducting a walkthrough for the game against Wilmington. It was to be his 1,397th game as head coach.
It was anything but a normal scene in and around the Gallagher Center, and Magee was uncomfortable.
"This is no fun," he was saying. "We could lose."
He was right, of course. They could lose. In fact, they did lose that night, a potential game-winning three at the buzzer falling away, the basketball gods clearly missing the moment.
There were no gods needed on Saturday at Gallagher. The Rams trailed Post, 22-11, scored 48 of the next 60 points and won, 80-60.
In Game No. 1,397, after approximately 56,000 minutes on the sideline, Herb Magee - who told us on Tuesday that since his days as a West Catholic player, Textile player and assistant and 48 years as head coach, he had never missed a practice or game - had win No. 1,000 as head coach at the school that has been his for 56 years.
"I like this place," Magee said after 1,000. "It's a good place. It's my school. There was a ton of ex-players here . . . That's a great thing for me. I've wanted to make the students proud of us. I think they were tonight."
Of course they were.
"It's relief," Magee said. "I can't make that up. That's the way I felt. Ask my wife. She'll tell you. It was a tough situation. I know how important it is. It means a lot. But I'll reflect on this when the season's over. We'll practice [yesterday morning]."
Magee apparently made practice. There is always time for reflection. When all the preparation was over Tuesday, with the game still hours away, Magee had time to reflect a bit in his office, just off Herb Magee Court.
"I never get sick," Magee said in explaining his perfect attendance.
And he knew how to stay out of harm's way.
"It wasn't like I was ever under the boards," he said. "I was at the top of the zone. I wasn't going to get hurt."
"You make shots, you win games," he said before Tuesday's game and after Saturday's game.
The Rams did not make enough shots against Wilmington, more than enough against Post (12-for-22 from the arc).
"It felt like forever [getting here]," Magee said. "[Tuesday's loss] was brutal. Time did drag, waiting to get to this moment. It was really hard."
And then it was over.
Former Gov. Ed Rendell and Phillies chairman Dave Montgomery, true hoop fans, were there Tuesday and Saturday. They were not going to miss history, something Magee has lived and knows.
On Tuesday, Magee told us the three best players he has coached against were Ron Kornegay (2,562 points for Monmouth in the late 1960s; "We held him to 29"); Ryan McCormick, a point guard who had a triple double for Adelphi in the 2001 NYCAC championship game win against the Rams; and University of Sciences senior Garret Kerr, who just went over 2,000 career points.
When Magee is not coaching his team, conducting clinics or teaching anyone and everyone how to shoot, he is walking with his wife, Geri. Or playing golf. There was a time when he would play 18 or 36 or maybe even 54 in the summer with his high school teammate and lifelong friend, Jim Boyle. Since Boyle passed away, Magee has not played as much. It just isn't the same.
So what would Boyle think about 1,000?
"Yo, Herb, he always said that. Yo, Herb, about time you did it."
Magee passed Clarence "Big House" Gaines for the Division II record in 2007. Only Mike Krzyzewski is ahead of him in NCAA wins. That "race" is likely to come down to who stays the longest, the man who gets all those McDonald's All Americans or the man who never gets sick.
Meanwhile, there is one game that needs to be played. Philly U. played at James Madison (a win), Pittsburgh (a close loss) and La Salle (a less-close loss) in exhibition games this season. Is there any reason next season should not open with a Philadelphia University-Duke exhibition game, and not at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Coach K Court. This game needs to be played at the Gallagher Center on Herb Magee Court, even out the "2,000 Game" just a bit, a perfect way to end all the debates.
Daily News sports writer Mike Kern contributed to this column.