After 52 years, Magee retires

A couple of days late, but longtime sportswriter Jerry Magee retired after 52 years at the U-T. Steve Brand, longtime prep guy, also took the buyout. His last day is coming up.


Collegues said goodbye:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20080927-9999-7s27mageefix.html

Canepa's coulmn:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/canepa/20080927-9999-1s27canepa.html

 

Wow. Seriously? During football season?

While the dwindling group of writers who covered the AFL loses another outstanding voice, Mr. Magee has more than earned a happy retirement. All the best, sir.

His sign-off tonight: Oakland memories, and fade to black

 

Had the pleasure of working at the U-T as a clerk during my college days back when they had, among others, Buster Olney, Clark Judge, Ed Graney and Jim Trotter. Jerry was great to work with and talk to when he had his occasional desk shift. The thing I remember is that he seemed to be the office expert on football, boxing and ... tennis. Seemed like an odd combination, but he mastered them all.

Another thing I remembered was one time in the office, a couple of guys and staff were discussing Deion Sanders, who was at the height of his talent and hijinks, talking about how they couldn't stand the guy and he was a bad role model, etc., and Jerry, who I thought was the ultimate in old-school, piping up and telling those guys that Sanders was a great player, very entertaining and the best thing to happen to the NFL in a long time. Guess you couldn't always judge a book by its cover.

My best wishes to Jerry, who it seems may be one of the last guys who can say he put in 50 years at a newspaper and who can say (I assume) that he was able to leave on his own terms.

 

Apparently, the higher-ups are doing cartwheels that he finally took the buyout.

The older guys are the ones who are usually immune to layoffs because the paper is worried about being sued for age discrimination.

 

We can only hope.

And congrats to Jerry, who has a lot of fans in this business, and by all accounts, justifiably so.

 

When I say older, I mean 60+

If you fall into that category and they're talking layoffs or buyouts, just say the words "age discrimination" and you should buy yourself a few years.

 

I really like the fact that Jerry's last column is a remembrance but not a protracted goodbye, mentioning only in passing that he's leaving before writing an actual, well, column. Although I'm sure some will be disappointed.

 

Great guy, and hopefully he'll enjoy retirement and not miss the gig too much...

What a line by Canepa, about a line by Magee...

"I may be whacked-out, but I couldn't think like Jerry if I were on hallucinogens. In our business, craftsmen are known for their first paragraphs, or “ledes.” Here was the best lede-writer in the business. And he never lost it.

Just a few years ago, he was in New York for the U.S. Open. After a day when the last American tennis player had been eliminated, Jerry wrote: “There is something missing from the U.S. Open. The U.S.”