Kevin Magee (basketball)

Magee was born in Indiana on January 24, 1959.[6] He played college basketball at the University of California, Irvine, where he established himself as one of the program’s standout players.[3] In 1981, he set the school’s single-game records with 46 points and 25 rebounds; a later report said both records still stood when it was published.[3]

Magee graduated in 1982 after averaging 26.3 points and 12.3 rebounds. He was named the campus’s outstanding player and led the team to the second round of the national NIT tournament in his final year.[3] He also won a gold medal with the United States college team at the 1981 Universiade in Bucharest.[6]

Phoenix selected Magee 39th overall in the second round of the 1982 NBA draft, but he did not obtain an NBA contract and instead began his professional career in Europe. His first stop was Varese, followed by Zaragoza and then Maccabi Tel Aviv.[6] Magee stood 2.03 meters tall and played forward; accounts describe him as a scorer near the basket and a strong rebounder who regularly led the Israeli league in both categories.[3]

Magee spent six seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv, from 1984 to 1990, winning six Israeli league championships.[1][2] He helped the club retain its national title in 1986, when Maccabi defeated Elitzur Netanya 105–103 to take the final series two games to none. During Netanya’s comeback, Magee was described as helping steady the team.[7]

His performances included a 19-point, 15-rebound game in a 110–74 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv in a 1986 derby.[8] In the first game of the 1988 National League playoff final against Hapoel, Magee scored 15 points and delivered the decisive moment: after Hapoel had tied the game with 17 seconds remaining, he made a jump shot from about two metres as the buzzer sounded, giving Maccabi a 78–76 win.[4]

Magee also produced major scoring performances in European competition. In a Champions’ Cup final-group game against Aris Saloniki, he led Maccabi with 38 points on 71% shooting in a 97–77 win. Maccabi’s approach included getting the ball inside to Magee and Ken Barlow.[5] A separate account of a 1987–88 game against Aris recalls Magee securing a late rebound over the taller Greg Wiltshire, scoring, and drawing Wiltshire’s fifth foul as Maccabi won 95–91.[9]

Magee reached three consecutive Champions’ Cup finals with Maccabi: losses to Milan in Lausanne and Ghent, followed by a loss to Split in Munich. Winning the European Cup remained an unfulfilled ambition for him; a teammate recalled that Magee was devastated after one final defeat and said little in the locker room.[1]

Accounts give differing totals for Magee’s European competition scoring. A 2021 report records 2,073 points in 90 appearances, an average of 23 per game.[10] Reports published in 2020 and 2012 instead give a total of 2,081.[6][11] The 2,073-point account says he scored at least 30 points in 16 European games and lists season averages of 26.8 points per game in 1986 and 25.1 in 1989.[10] A 2008 retrospective placed him third among Maccabi’s all-time European competition scorers at the time.[1] A separate ranking also lists him third in Europe, with 2,081 points, and credits him with 3,215 points in the Israeli league.[11]

After leaving Maccabi in 1990, Magee continued playing in Spain, Italy, and France, including spells with Zaragoza, Torino, and Racing Paris. Maccabi released him from a contract that reportedly had two years remaining.[6][1] He returned to Maccabi’s arena in 1991 for Motti Aroesti’s farewell game and received a warm reception from the fans.[6]

Magee’s 1993–94 season with Maccabi Rishon LeZion was his last as a professional. The club signed him after officials watched him play for Racing Paris, where he scored 32 points and collected 16 rebounds in the game they attended.[12] He reportedly signed for $500,000, described at the time as more than any other foreign player in Israel, and was averaging 18.7 points and 12.1 rebounds at that stage of the season.[12] Rishon finished seventh after a disappointing campaign; in a 106–88 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Magee made three of 13 field-goal attempts.[12] The season was the final chapter of a professional career described as lasting 12 years and spanning Italy, Israel, Spain, and France.[1]

Magee’s game combined interior scoring with rebounding. His height, ability to score close to the basket, and regular leadership in Israeli league scoring and rebounding made him a central contributor for Maccabi.[3] His 38-point performance against Aris, on 71% shooting, illustrated the scoring threat Maccabi sought to exploit by directing the ball inside.[5]

Retrospective accounts also depict a highly competitive player who took practice seriously. Teammates remembered his scoring, rebounding, and intensity, while also recalling that he liked having the ball and taking shots.[1] Former Zaragoza president José Luis Rubio credited Magee with helping the club win its first Spanish Cup in 1984 and praised his competitive character. Rubio also described him as an aggressive player and good defender who averaged 20 points per game.[3]

Accounts of Magee’s time at Rishon LeZion were less uniformly admiring. Coach Pini Gershon criticized his priorities, while chairman Yitzhak Peri said that although Magee produced statistics, he did not have the same influence in important moments as another player to whom Peri compared him.[12] These assessments accompanied a season in which Magee’s individual averages were strong but the club finished seventh.[12]

Magee’s career at Maccabi Tel Aviv brought six consecutive seasons with the club and six Israeli league championships, while his scoring totals placed him among the team’s leading players in European competition.[1][11] His buzzer-beater against Hapoel Tel Aviv and his high-scoring European performances remain among the documented highlights of his Maccabi years.[4][5]

In May 2016, Maccabi announced a memorial ceremony at which Magee’s number 13 jersey would be raised to the arena ceiling. The club said it would bring his wife, Melanie, to the ceremony and invite former teammates. Motti Aroesti described Magee as a great player and professional as well as a close friend.[2] Away from basketball, former teammates recalled his quiet and simple habits; Greg Cornelius also remembered that Magee could fall asleep suddenly, even in the middle of a conversation.[1]

Magee died aged 44 in a traffic accident in Louisiana in October 2003.[1] A retrospective reported that he was returning from a night shift as a warehouse supervisor when his vehicle collided with another car on Highway 55 near Amite. He left a wife and three children.[1]

Retrospective sources differ on several career details. They credit Magee with either five or six Israeli cups during his Maccabi years,[1][2] and report either 2,073 or 2,081 points in European competition.[6][10] Sources also give October 23 or October 24, 2003, as the date of his death.[6][1] These discrepancies appear in retrospective tallies and dating; the accounts agree on his principal achievements at Maccabi and his death in a Louisiana traffic accident.