Glendale’s Free Spirit Rediscovers Zest for Life

Pete Magill of the Glendale College track team always thought he was smart enough to attain a college education.

He just never figured he’d be working toward his Associate of Arts degree a decade and a half after graduating from high school.

Such is the life of a former free spirit turned dedicated family man.

Magill, who will run in the 5,000 meters in the Southern California championships at Citrus College on Saturday, speaks passionately about being a husband and father, but that was far from his mind when he graduated from La Canada High in 1979.

“I epitomized the term free spirit,” said Magill, 34. “If you had looked up free spirit in the dictionary, there would have been a picture of me.”

Although Magill had run 1 minute 55 seconds in the half-mile and 4:26 in the mile as a junior in high school, he didn’t compete as a senior because of differences with then-Spartan Coach Pat Logan.

He chuckles about the differences now, but they contributed to his absence from competitive distance running until the 1983 cross-country season.

After graduating from high school, Magill spent 3 1/2 years hitchhiking across the country and living in Florida and the Virgin Islands.

He returned to California in 1983, ran cross-country for Glendale that fall, but withdrew from school for a semester before enrolling again in the fall of ’84.

He didn’t run cross-country that season, but competed in track and cross-country in 1985, finishing sixth in the State junior college cross-country championships.

Despite his success, he returned to the Virgin Islands to manage a night club from 1986-88.

He worked long hours, smoked and drank too much and “generally became an unhealthy slob” during that time. But there were some positives. He met his wife to be, who was also from La Canada, and the two were married in 1988.

In 1988 and ‘89, Magill coached cross-country and track at La Canada with former adversary Logan.

“It was really fun to come back and coach alongside the man who had made my life so miserable,” Magill laughed. “But I learned a lot. I began to understand why he did some of the things he did.”

Magill got the itch to do something different, however, and held several jobs from 1990-95. The most recent was a partnership in an online publishing business that went under last year.

That failure prompted Magill’s return to college where he hopes to earn a degree then get a “steady, 40-hour a week job.”

The thought of working 9 to 5 would have made his stomach churn when he was younger, but having a wife and child has changed Magill’s outlook.

“When you have someone else to live for, your priorities change,” he said. “You’re not just doing things for yourself any more.”

After he enrolled at Glendale last fall, Magill was reminded by Vaquero track Coach Tom McMurray that he had a season of track eligibility left. He didn’t take the offer seriously, however, until he held his own in a workout with the Vaquero cross-country team that won the 1995 state title.

“I thought I was the old man on the team when I ran for Glendale the first time,” Magill said. “So I figured there was no way I was going to be able to run with these young guys 11 years later.”

When he did, he began to train in earnest.

Still, he never expected to run 1:55.9 for 800 meters, 3:54.88 for 1,500 and 14:49.48 for 5,000.

“I thought that I’d never be able to run a 4:25 mile again,” Magill said. “But I’ve run the equivalent of a 4:12.”

Affectionately known as great-grandfather to his teammates, Magill has had a steadying influence on them, according to distance coach Eddie Lopez.

“He comes out to the workouts and doesn’t waste any time,” Lopez said. “He takes care of business.”

Running with younger athletes has been good for Magill as well. “The young guys have this zest for life and this new approach for living that I think I had lost due to some unpleasant experiences over the years,” Magill said.