Background and Personal Life
McKeever was born in 1931 into a GAA interested home, in the small townland of Ballymaguigan on the western shores of Lough Neagh. He went to the local St Trea's primary school where he helped develop his football skills, before boarding at St Malachy's College, Belfast. The first inter-county football game he attended was Derry versus Leitrim in a 1938 National League playoff game with his father, and the quarter-final defeat to Roscommon a week later. He looked up to players who played for local team Newbridge at the time (the Ballymaguigan team hadn't been formed yet), such as Barney Murphy and John McGrogan. McKeever said "To me they were heroes at that stage". He also admired Mick Higgins of Cavan.
After finishing school at St Malachy's, he continued his studies at St Mary's Training College in Belfast. He completed his studies at Loughborough College in England. After returning to Ireland, he taught P.E. and other subjects in Downpatrick, County Down. In 1957 he returned to St Mary's in Belfast, this time as a lecturer, and would spent the rest of his working life at the college until his retirement in 1992. He is now retired and lives in Magherafelt with his wife Teresa, whom he married in 1958. They have three daughters, Ann, Maeve and Deirdre, and two sons, Éamonn and Jim.
Read more about this topic: Jim Mc Keever
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