‘Finish what you start’: 67-year-old graduates from UNCW with honors

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Phil McGee told his children to finish what they started and after a heart attack in 2015, he decided to take his own advice.

McGee left school in 1977 to pursue a career with Lowe’s Companies and more than 40 years later, he enrolled at UNCW when he was 63-years-old in 2017.

The journey was not easy.

“I didn’t fit in. For my first class, I was walking across campus and people were asking me if I was a professor or whatever and it bothered me,” McGee said.

His son had joined Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity years prior, so on a Sunday afternoon he went looking for UNCW’s chapter and knocked on the door.

“They interviewed and they said since my son, he was a pike, that I could come in as a legacy,” McGee said. “I told them, I might come in as a legacy but when I leave I’m going to be a legend.”

Living up to his promise, McGee, better known as “Magoo” now, is more than a legend.

“He was always there for us,”  Drew Pamplin said. “If we ever needed anything we could rely on Magoo. I couldn’t have asked for a better pledge brother. He’s the man.”

“I’ve learned so much from Magoo, probably more than anyone I know,” Peter Stridh said.

“No matter what challenges he faced, he overcame them,” Landon Canton said. “He relied on the people around him that loved him and that’s the ultimate thing that brought him to where he is today.”

“He’s an inspiration to so many people, whether he hears it from them directly or not. So many,” Brett Solomanson said.

“There’s nobody like this man,” Nick Grubb said.

“He’s in the group chat with 25 other 20-year-olds. A lot of terrible ideas going on in that group chat,” Dylan Hill said. “There’s one mind to kind of level us out and keep us on the right side of things. We’ve got a lot to thank Magoo for.”

Liam Walsh, former president of the fraternity when Magoo joined, said Magoo had given them more than they could ever give him, but the brothers may have had a larger impact than they realize.

The 67-year-old worked full-time and traveled during his time at UNCW. Many nights were spent studying and doing homework in hotel lobbies, off-ramps, and McDonald’s parking lots. McGee says his brothers taught him to be a scholar, motivated him to keep going and give it 100 percent.

“They are my best friends for life and what I told them in there a while ago, I told one of their parents, they’re in the spring of their lives and I’m in the winter of mine but there’s going to be 55, 60 guys fighting on who is going to carry my casket to the grave,” McGee said.

The very same brothers who finally helped him finish what he started 44 years ago.

“To be 67-years-old and graduating with these guys right here means the world to me. It means the world to me, it means the world to my family. My daughter hugged me in the front yard today just crying, ‘dad I cannot believe that you’ve gone back and you’ve done this and you’ve stayed focused and you got through it.’ She said ‘I love you, I love you,'” McGee said. “You know what, I don’t care what I do for the rest of my life, that right there and how proud these guys are of me, that means more than anything.”

Phil “Magoo” McGee will officially graduate with cum laude honors and a degree in business from UNCW on Saturday at 67-years-old.