Commentator Jimmy Magee dies - Now we have the memories

OF all the tributes paid to the sports broadcaster, Jimmy Magee, the most poignant and most memorable came from former president, Mary McAleese.

She recalled her time as Uachtaráin na hÉireann and of seeking the assistance of Magee, when she and her husband planned to host a series of events and receptions for Ireland’s sporting heroes.

He was, as she put it, the go to person in sport, as he knew everybody and they knew and revered him. “Jimmy was a man that had a sparkle about him,” she said, remembering one particular occasion when a group of sportsmen and women were honoured at the Áras. “I was standing there, thinking, ‘I am President, but Jimmy Magee is King’.”