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VETERAN SPORTS BROADCASTER Jimmy Magee has died after a long illness.
Magee, much-beloved for his avuncular ‘Memory Man’ persona, was 82 and one of the world’s longest-serving sports broadcasters.
Over a career spanning more than 60 years, he commentated on a wide variety of sports, including boxing, soccer, and gaelic games, most notably for his long-term employer RTÉ.
The announcement has led to an outpouring of tributes from those who knew him across the spectrum of Irish life.
“It was my pleasure to know him and work with him. I’ll miss him terribly,” said RTÉ Morning Ireland host Gavin Jennings earlier this morning.
“It’s an incredibly sad day,” RTÉ’s head of sport Ryle Nugent later told the same programme, adding that he was “in awe” of Magee’s abilities as a commentator.
“To travel with him, he was unbelievable craic,” said Sunday Game host and fellow RTÉ sport denizen Des Cahill.
He was a pure rogue for getting a laugh going with a group on a trip away.
President Michael D Higgins said that Magee’s contribution to sports broadcasting was “immense”.
He reported on some of the most iconic sporting moments in sport but also had a genuine interest in the human side of everyday sports.
“Sabina and I express our condolences to his daughters and son, his wider family and friends. He will be missed by all those who appreciate and care for the world of sports.”
Memory man
Born in New York in 1935, Magee and his three siblings grew up in Cooley, County Louth.
In an interview on The Late Late Show in 2012, Magee said it was during this time that he fell in love with the idea of broadcasting; legendary Gaelic games commentator Michael O’Hehir being a particular influence.
At the age of 11, he wrote to RTÉ looking for a job. They politely declined but told him they would keep his application on file.
When he did eventually enter the workforce, Magee worked first as a chemist and then in a full-time clerical role with British Rail.
However, when the latter ceased operations in the Republic of Ireland in 1951, the then 16-year-old saw it as an opportunity to fulfill his broadcasting dream.
“It was the beginning of my new life because I knew what I wanted to do,” he told the Irish Independent in 2015.
It took some time, and it wasn’t until 1956 that he landed his first gig reporting on a hockey game for the RTÉ Radio programme, Junior Sports Magazine.
Magee progressed through the ranks quickly, however and covered his first major international tournament for the state broadcaster at the 1966 World Cup.
Indeed, he commentated on every edition of football’s global showpiece up until 2010 in South Africa, and his commentary on Maradona’s solo goal against England in 1986 will live long in the memory.
Magee is also widely remembered for his role in RTÉ’s Olympic coverage, particularly boxing, and commentated on every Games between 1968 and 2016.
He was honoured by the International Olympic Committee for services to the Games in 2012, when he was presented with a specially commissioned replica of the Olympic torch.
Between 1987 and 1998, Magee co-hosted the quiz show Know Your Sport alongside George Hamilton where his legend as Ireland’s ‘Memory Man’ grew and was still broadcasting into his 80s, launching a series called Jimmy’s Heroes on Irish TV in 2015.
Magee is survived by his children Linda, Mark, June and Patricia. He was predeceased by his son Paul and wife Marie, who died in 1989.
With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald and Cianan Brennan
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Lovely photo of Donald and Melania holding hands, she’s arguably the most glamourous First Lady ever to grace the White House.
@Saul Cusack: or the most made up. Looks like paddy the plasterer did a job on her
@Saul Cusack: And also the most unhappy looking one….
@Kerry Blake:
I think that mantle still belongs to Jackie worn down from her philandering husband.
Sort of ironic banning Russia from the meeting and having the fight against Jihad and IS as top of agenda…..Russia is fighting against Sunni Jihad and IS in Syria for several years….
@Saul Cusack: Yeah, a real classy lady and a respectable career behind her.
@Saul Cusack: Tom/Tommy/Cal/Daniel/Jack Cassady/Saul! Jaysus, have you had to set up yet another fake FB profile again?
@Saul Cusack: She’s a tramp.
@DaisyChainsaw: Don’t forget “Alex”.
@Stephen murphy: Jackie had class and was a very intelligent woman a great editor . Melania always look like she don’t want to be there and all she has to do is outlive Trump .
@Saul Cusack: Yeah! She doesn’t live in the White House, by the way. She swatted away his hand on at least two occasions during this trip but now, she is obviously reluctantly holding his sweaty little paw for the cameras. Just look at the expression on her face ?
@Saul Cusack: don’t agree, Michelle Obama beats her any day. She wasn’t kept woman like Melinda is
The irony of G7 members trying to encourage social media companies to ‘crack down’ on radical Islamist content while selling arms and supporting the biggest single promoter of radical Islam….Saudi Arabia.
@Leo Massey: Appropos nothing, but how are Italy a G7 country, parts of that country veer between the second and third worlds
Where’s a firing squad when you need one…
@Matty Kineven:
I hear there’s a slot open on LBC radio currently.
@Matty Kineven: a leave the Canadian one off he is intelligent and we wish the day we had someone like that here if only
@WilhelminaMCallaghan: You must be joking….
That’s a lovely Mediterranean Sea view in the second photo! How much does “The Journal” spend on stock photos? Why does every paragraph (sentence even) have to be illustrated with a graphic image? A photo of a human brain might assist us in reading the minds of the “journalists” on “The Journal”?
Whatever you think of Trump aside he has a point on here. German manufacture exporters have benefited massively from the Euro. The basket currency is very undervalued. If the Deutsche Mark was back tomorrow it would be at least twice as valuable as the Euro. German exports would become a lot more expensive and would greatly fall.
Why do you think the Germans are happy to plough billions into keeping the Euro going.
@John Fergus: That is true but if has also benefitted French, Spanish and Italian car manufacturers so it isn’t all about Germany is it. The fact is that Britain has priced themselves out of the market and has lost its competitive manufacturing edge dueto the greed of financial market traders.
drop the whole “climate change” shenanigans and instead fight pollution.. he cant debate out of that one
@iMoan Brutal: Good sentiment but I am afraid academic politics have already rigged the issue by literally destroying how planetary climate is defined or determined. The only avenue out of the mess is to expand climate to cover all planets in the solar system, discover the common traits which define climate instead of trying to squeeze climate into conditions of a common greenhouse and imagine humans have control of planetary temperatures via petrol pumps.
oh Jesus, you’ve set him off again!!!
Should have sent Bertie in his canary pants
What does the G7 ever achieve?
Except lovely dinners and a few days in a good hotel???
Waste of time.
That photo better not be too symbolic. Two EU flags cracking open the world order at the flanks.
Thor was the supreme commander of the asguard fleet.
have your say