This was a truly memorable moment for a Philly guy, one who played high school basketball with Jim Lynam and the late Jim Boyle at West Catholic High and said Monday: "Every time I get a chance, I put a plug in for West Catholic."  After high school, Magee enrolled in 1959 at what was then Philadelphia Textile. He scored 2,235 points during his playing career, which was a record at the time, and now stands third on the school's all-time list.  He served as an assistant coach at Textile under Bucky Harris before taking over as head coach in 1967. He has been there ever since, even through the name change to Philadelphia University, leading the Rams to 25 NCAA tournaments. He intends to be there for a while longer with the same energy and passion as he had 20 years ago.  Once you lose that, then you're wasting your time and your players' time and I won't do that," he said. "I will know automatically if you're going to say, 'Herb, practice is tomorrow at 4:30' and I'm not ready for it and I go, 'OK, I'm finished.' But I'm not even close."  Magee also is known nationally for his teachings on proper shooting techniques, and has worked with a number of NBA players. He is scheduled to instruct 76ers rookie Evan Turner this summer. 

Magee said when Hall of Fame president John Doleva called him last Wednesday to tell him that he had been elected, he thought it was just to check in on him. Then it hit him.  "So I'm running around the room like this [fists raised in the air] trying to be cool at the same time," he said. "So it meant a lot to me then, and as the days and hours go by, it means more and more."  After the notification, however, the hard work had begun: Trying to go five days without telling anyone, especially his coaching friends here for the National Association of Basketball Coaches convention, that he made it into the Hall.  "It's been horribly hard," Kay Magee said. "His closest friends and coaches are all here, everyone cares and they've been asking all weekend. We wanted to make sure it was a surprise. He did not spill the beans."  In addition to Magee and the former NBA players, other members of the Class of 2011 were Stanford women's coach Tara VanDerveer, four-time Olympic gold medalist Teresa Edwards, coaching legend Tex Winter and former Harlem Globetrotters star Reece "Goose" Tatum. Tatum will be honored posthumously.  Two other finalists for the Hall were former NCAA coordinator of men's basketball officials Hank Nichols, a resident of St. Davids, and former Sixers player and coach Maurice Cheeks.