Jack Maginnis USNA ’27
1926 USNA Lacrosse Team
Laxmedals.com is thrilled to add a very important medal to its vintage medal collection. (Photo above: The Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart being awarded to Captain Jack Maginnis. Presenting are Vice Admirals Clark and Briscoe in 1953)
This medal was awarded to a member of the 1926 United States Naval Academy lacrosse team, defenseman Jack Maginnis. Maginnis was born in Duluth, MN. in 1904 and hailed from Oakland, CA. when admitted to the USNA class of 1927. Maginnis was a three-time letterman on the footbll squad but lettered only once in lacrosse his senior year. The USNA yearbook, Lucky Bag, records Maginnis’ senior year lacrosse season officially as the 1926 lacrosse season, in which the Navy squad finished with a 7-0 record (N.Y.U 4-0, Lafayette 23-0, Lehigh 8-1, Rutgers 10-2, Cornell 3-0, Onondaga Indians 14-3). The Midshipmen concluded the season at West Point with a 3-2 win over Army. Despite Navy’s undefeated record, the Hopkins squad was recognized as the ’26 national lacrosse champions. After entering the fleet, Maginnis began a thirty-one-year naval career serving initially as a meteorologist aboard the Ship of State USS CONSTITUTION. His later assignments were aboard the destroyer USS PARROTT (DD-218), destroyer USS BLACK (DD-666), destroyer USS IRWIN (DD-794), and later commanded the heavy cruiser USS MINNEAPOLIS (CA-36) and heavy cruiser USS SALEM (CA-139). He served in World War II and the Korean Conflict, during which he was the ranking U.S. naval officer wounded. On July 8, 1953, Capt. Maginnis was serving on the destroyer USS Irwin when the ship was targeted by an estimated 80 rounds from shore batteries near Songjin, North Korea. The ship took a direct hit to her main-mast seriously wounding Maginnis and several others. After a series of three operations on his wounds, Capt. Maginnis returned to active duty in January 1954 and retired in 1957. Capt. Maginnis died in 1977. Color silver with blue and gold drape ribbon. Manufacturer not marked, but I will assume the manufacturer was the Johnson Company, New York, NY., because later issues of this style medal bears its mark. Measures 1.5 inches across. Stamped “Sterling.”
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