Fr. Mark McGeary

Our job is to keep the game close

This week’s Moonlighter continued his basketball career in one of the most underdog roles any athlete could possibly play in - as a member of the Washington Generals. Father Mark McGreary finished up his college playing days and was given the opportunity to fill a spot in the lineup for the losing-est basketball team in history. Father McGeary played for the Generals in the late 1980s and was able to travel around the world and lose to the Globetrotters before finishing his professional career in Europe. 

Father McGreary played college basketball at Humboldt State in Northern California and wasn’t quite ready to hang up the sneakers when he finished school. A contact told him the Washington Generals were looking for a replacement player, so McGreary sent in some film and was offered the chance to try out. While they don’t play winning basketball, the Generals were talented basketball players and had to carefully learn the skits and be able to put on a good show. And though the games were part of the show, there are times within the game when the play was live. McGeary had to learn the unwritten rules of playing against the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, don’t go too hard or risk injuring the ‘showman,’ the Globetrotter who was the emcee of the event. Estimates range between 16,000 and 19,000 losses against the Harlem Globetrotters and only 3 wins over the course of 70 years. 

McGeary finished his travels around Latin America, South America, and Spain and realized he wanted to keep playing. He went back to California and reached out to some agents to see if he could get a chance to play professionally in Europe. Not getting any offers, McGeary decided to buy a one-way ticket to Ireland to see if he could catch on with a team. When one opportunity with a team folded, he went to Northern Ireland and was able to play some of the best basketball of his career.

When his playing days were over, Mark McGeary headed back to California to enter the working world. He built a very successful career in television advertising sales that took him all across the United States.  After 25 years in sales, Mark McGeary decided to respond to the calling he felt to enter the priesthood. Now, Father Mark McGeary serves as Catholic priest at Ss. John and Paul Parish in Altoona.

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