Courtesy of Dick Jerardi, Philadelphia News

HERB MAGEE arrived on the Philadelphia Textile campus in 1959 and never left.

"That's a long time," Magee allowed.

Tomorrow afternoon, he will be honored at Philadelphia University in recognition of his 50 years at the school, a place that has changed so much that a name change was necessary in 1999.

Where there were once 350 students, there are now 2,700. Back then, it was textile classes, 36 hours per week, the "technology of weaves," "dyeing," no gym, practice at rec centers, waiting sometimes for Roman Catholic to finish, eat at a diner in Roxborough because the cafeteria would be closed by the time the players returned to campus.

Now, there is the beautiful new gym, the great campus and a diverse university that offers degrees in a variety of disciplines.

One thing that hasn't changed is the basketball coach. After scoring 2,235 points during his playing career (29.1 points per game in 1961-62), Magee stayed as an assistant coach to Bucky Harris. In 1967, at the age of 25, Magee became the head coach.

In his third season, the Rams (29-2) won their last 28 games and the Division II national championship. In his 40th season, Magee won for the 829th time, more than any coach in D-II history.

The number is now 882. It will end up in four figures, maybe, by the end, more wins than any college basketball coach in any division ever.

Magee isn't counting. In fact, if it were up to him, there would be no celebration tomorrow, especially on a game day against what might be the best team the Rams play all season, Merrimack.

"I think it's a very nice gesture and they're great people at the university," Magee said. "But, if you're asking my opinion, I'm not in love with it, especially the day of the game."

The coach is convinced legendary Saint Joseph's coach Jack Ramsay mistook him for Jim Lynam when he was scouting a West Catholic game.

If he ends up at St. Joe's with his high school teammates, Lynam and Jim Boyle, maybe he plays in the 1961 Final Four. And 50 years at Philly U. never happens.

"Who knows?" Magee said.

At the time, Magee wasn't happy he didn't get a chance at St. Joe's with his friends. Now, he knows he ended up in the right place.

Asked what 50 years at one place means, Magee said: "I'm not sure. It's something that I do. I enjoyed my stay there as a player. And they were kind enough to hire me as an assistant coach, instructor in the phys-ed department, along with being the golf coach at one time, the tennis coach, the cross country coach, the director of intramurals, etc., etc."

As he thought it about it some more, Magee said: "When you think about it, 43 years as a head coach and 50 years at the school, you go, 'That's unbelievable, it just doesn't happen.' And the reason it's unbelievable is because it doesn't happen. People don't do that. And it's just something that I've done."

And will continue to do.

Magee had chances to leave for more prominent jobs in bigger places. He listened. He stayed. He has never looked back.

"I never, ever, ever second-guessed myself," he said.

He has herbmagee.com, his shooting tapes, all those coaches he has helped develop, all his players who have found success, all those players he has helped with their shots. Mostly, he has his family and his friends.

Most of us spend half of our lives worrying about what we might have done. Magee is not like most of us.

"Pick up any men's health magazine and they talk about, what, don't smoke and stress," Magee said. "I don't smoke and there isn't much stress."

Magee always had the confidence he could have succeeded at a higher level. He just liked what he did more than something he might do. And he "wants his own team."

"The beautiful thing about working at Philadelphia Textile/Philadelphia University is no one ever, ever bothered me, from the first president to the one they have today, from the first athletic director to the one they have today," Magee said.

It is a great life lesson for managers. When you have somebody who is really good at their job, let him do that job and find something else to concentrate on.

"They just let you do your job and that's it," Magee said. "There's never any pressure, nothing. It was all 'This is your program, run it.' "

The coaches making the big money don't do it in Mageelike isolation. They are beholden to something, someone.

"I think those guys earn every dollar they get," Magee said. "A couple years go by and they'll be at your door, the same people, only they won't be giving you money."

Magee, 68, simply loves the game, everything about the game.

"I love basketball practice," he said. "I enjoy the games. I love teaching kids how to shoot. I enjoy the camps that I run in the summer with my daughter Kay."

There has never been a moment when he said to himself that it isn't as much fun as it used to be.

"People mention the word retirement, but it never enters into my mind until someone says the word," Magee said. "Well, why would I retire? What is the purpose of retirement? From what? From doing something that I enjoy doing.

"I enjoy playing golf, too, but I'm not going to play every day. With coaching my team, it's every day."

Magee lost his great friend Boyle a few years ago. The golf at Edgmont has not been the same.

"If I played 50 times when Bo was alive, 47 of them were with Bo," Magee said. "Now, I'm playing 20, 25 times a summer because it's not the same. We'd go out and play all day."

They'd go 54 holes and then say "emergency nine."

The golf will never be the same. The basketball endures.

Magee's name has been submitted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It really seems a matter of when not if.

Still, with the selection process shrouded in mystery, nobody knows the when.

"That's the ultimate accomplishment," Magee said.

He was in Springfield a few years ago teaching shooting at the Hall of Fame.

Did you miss any?

"No, I did not," Magee said. "And if I did, do you think I would tell you?"

The Hall of Fame would be a culmination, but the game will always be first. It has always been his game.

"Skinny little kid, wasn't about to play football, didn't want anybody running into me," Magee said. "Baseball, you get up to bat three or four times a game . . .

"There was a gym at St. Francis De Sales where I knew how to sneak in. I'd get in there with a ball and just shoot. And I could shoot. Nobody taught me how to shoot. I could always shoot. I'd be in there for hour after hour until someone chased me."

They put up a basket in the back alley where he lived.

"They talk about guys shoveling the snow," Magee said. "Well, we did all that."

A neighborhood guy would take the bulb out of a telephone pole and screw in a 300-watt bulb.

"Now," Magee said, "we could play all night."

They would play in independent leagues around the city, sometimes two or three games a night.

"There would be a guy stationed at each pay phone [at or near the gym] and he'd call up say, 'How are you doing?' " Magee remembered.

If they were winning by enough and the team was losing somewhere else, Magee and Bobby Gormley (who played at St. Joe's) would get sent to help the team that was behind.

"So, we'd get in the car and hopefully get in the car in time to help us win that game. And that would happen every single day."

Magee would have been around 14 at the time. He played with the same guys all the way through. They won a lot.

Just like his teams. Eventually, they are going to win 900 games, 1,000 games, more. And Herb Magee will be where he's been for just about forever. *