INSIDE STORY: Back where it all began for Magee

The evergreen Jimmy Magee is still going strong and, in his 81st year, he’s bringing a new one-man show to the Ramor Theatre. PAUL FITZPATRICK spoke to Magee to find out more.

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Legendary sports broadcaster Jimmy Magee comes back to Cavan next week and, in a way, it’s fitting. Exactly 50 years ago this year, a major part of Magee’s life began right here.
The Jimmy Magee All-Stars threw in for the first time in Ballyjamesduff all those years ago and went on to become a national institution. On that summer’s evening, Magee coaxed local musicians as well as the likes of Phil ‘The Gunner’ Brady to come out of retirement and line out, with the proceeds going to charity.
It was, he recalls, the start of something special.
“For years we had been reading in the paper about show business teams going out and raising money for charity and I thought that was a good idea and I’d like to do it. Connie Lynch was from Ballyjamesduff and we talked about it and I said to him, I’ll do it if I get a bit of help,” Magee told The Anglo-Celt this week.
“Connie said’ I’ll get on to a fella in BJD and we’ll get it started’. We started joking about it and then one day it dawned on us, you know this thing is on next Monday!
“And it was – that was Monday the sixth of June, 1966. And we got out and played in Ballyjamesduff and it was a big success, I have to say. Later on, the lads were saying, that was great, it’s an awful pity we can’t do it again.”
Then came the sting in the tail; Magee was one step ahead.
“But what I hadn’t told them before the match was that I had arranged for about 15 matches around the country over the following year! It was ready to roll – and for the year of 1966 we played 16 or 17 games and we’ve been at it ever since.
“All the guys who were young back then got older but we still continued it. At the end of every match, we’d have a show and everyone performed or did a recital. It happened that Connie Lynch was from Ballyjamesduff and we could start it there and that’s what we did.”
By that stage, of course, Magee was well-known as a broadcaster but he is now a cherished national figure. The ‘memory man’ has been commentating on sport for a lifetime and is still going strong in his 81st year.
His profile grew along with the All-Stars gig and even when the showbands died away, Magee’s career continued to flourish.
“It was a new thing at the time. Nowadays it’s kind of commonplace but back then it was new. We used to get footballers who people would say were finished but they weren’t under any pressure to play brilliantly and they really enjoyed it.
“That very first match we had showband and showbiz people, Larry Cunningham, Joe Dolan, Dermot O’Brien, they’re all gone now, God.
“We had ex-footballers as well, a lot of very good fellas, some of whom could still play a bit and others who couldn’t play if they were in a three ring circus!
“The crowds were massive. I had great faith in it, I suppose I was stupid enough to try it, but thankfully the crowds came out for it. It was at the height of the showband craze and it owed a bit to that too. It was a lovely thing as it turned out.”
The wheel has come full circle, then, with the news that Magee is set to return to this county – Virginia specifically – for a one-man show called Around The World In Eighty Years.
The tour – which begins at the Ramor Theatre on Thursday, January 21 – is the brainchild of two Cavanmen, Jimmy explained.
“I think it’s a brilliant title. I’m usually a good man for coming up with ideas but I didn’t come up with that one. It is being run by a combination of Owen McConnon and Pat Costello and between them they came up with that title.
“I just celebrated my birthday last year and they said ‘Jesus, Jimmy’s 80, imagine, and he’s been round everywhere’ and that’s how they came up with this title.
“It will be the first leg of a nationwide tour. We’ll do about eight or nine before the high summer where please God I will be in Brazil for the Olympic Games. I don’t know if there’s any demand for it but I’ll soon know!”
The show will see Magee recount tales of his career – the people he met, the events he covered. His has been a life less ordinary and he has, he said, appreciated every moment of it.
“It is a one-man show and I’m the only man in the whole world who knows what it’s going to be like – and even I don’t know!
“I was thinking today to myself, God, I’ve been to some events. I’m a lucky fella. I’ve had a wonderful life. It’s nice that Pat and Owen are putting this together. Owen and I are friends since the All-Stars days and Pat is a Cavanman too, he’s from Ballyhaise, and I know him a long time as well through working on the radio.”
The tour will wrap up by around June because Magee has more pressing matters to attend to – in Rio De Janeiro where he will more than likely be on duty once again.
“If I go to the Olympics this summer it will be my 15th. That’s a lot isn’t it?” he smiled.
“Have Ireland got a chance of winning medals? I think more than ever before, we have at least three boxers who are capable of winning, going all the way.
“Michael Conlan from Belfast is brilliant, Paddy Banes is ranked no 2 in the world and Katie Taylor must have a chance as well. One or all of them could become an Olympic champion and that would be remarkable for a small little country wouldn’t it?”
Magee’s remarkable run as one of the most experienced sports commentators in the world shows no signs of slowing down, either. Back in mid-December, he received one of the most sought-after accolades in the world of sports broadcasting when he picked up the Life in Sport award at the 2015 Sports Media Pearl Awards which were held in Adu Dhabi.
Has he any ambitions remaining? Just one.
“I suppose my work keeps me young. My only ambition really that’s left is that I want to work and live till I’m 100. Whether I do or not, I’m going to try anyway.”
You can’t say fairer than that.