Remembering a Friend
Robert (Bob) Magee - One of the founding members of Hamilton Sparta recently passed away, he will be missed. Bob was born in Liverpool England in 1924. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute where a generation later, Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison also attended with John Lennon at the Liverpool School of Art next door. Bob attended the institute from 1935 until the start of World War II in 1939. Bob enlisted in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Command from January 1942 to June 1946 where he saw service in the Pacific and East Indies. Bob became active in local amateur soccer where the standard was, like all soccer activities in the Liverpool area, abnormally high. He became a member of two teams in the Sunday morning “Pub” leagues where he learned how to “juggle” fixtures. In 1957 Britain again faced economic ruin so Bob decided to take his family to Canada for a fresh start. There was no active youth soccer club in the East End of Hamilton in the early 1950’s so Bob decided to place his two sons in the Roxborough Park Police Minor Baseball Association. During this period Bob was a player for the Brantford Ex-Imperials in the Southern Ontario Soccer League. In 1965 along came a third son and partly to accommodate him, Bob started the East Hamilton Soccer club in 1976 with Bill Johnstone and Bill Bradley. Pele was active in New York with the Cosmos and suddenly soccer was the place to be, particularly in youth sports activities. In 1981 the Ontario Soccer Association was told the best way to obtain government funding was for youth and senior organizations to amalgamate. Throughout these early years Bob became the first President of the revised Hamilton and District Soccer Association, a position he held for three years. During this time Bob met Dennis Zimmer the founder of Hamilton Sparta and John Bremner the first Hamilton Sparta Club Secretary. It took little persuading from them to convince Bob to change his direction and become part of the Hamilton Sparta hierarchy where he has been ever since. Over the years Bob has become a founding member of the Ontario Soccer League (Senior) and the Ontario Youth Soccer League and served on the board of the Hamilton and District Old Timers soccer League where, in addition to his duties with Hamilton Sparta he is currently manager of Hamilton United. This is the summary of a man dedicated to the game of soccer. Bob committed himself to the sport for the “Love of the Game”.