Big Man Rebounds From Injury, Again

The obstacles that are most difficult to overcome are often the ones that help us to grow the most.

No one knows this better than Pat Magnarelli.

The senior forward on the Harvard basketball team has suffered multiple injuries throughout his career with the Crimson and has been repeatedly forced to sit on the sidelines.

But he has become stronger for it.

“Would I have liked to be injured less? Yes,” he says. “But in the long run, it teaches me some good life lessons. It teaches perseverance and being able to overcome adversity.”

The adversity started early for Magnarelli, who was first injured in the preseason of his freshman year when he received a stress fracture in his vertebrae, limiting him to a back brace for most of the remaining season.

“Everyone comes in to college thinking they are on top of the world, and that it is going to be the same thing as high school,” he says, “but right off the bat freshman year, I got the back injury, and it taught me that college was going to be a lot different. It was going to be a lot harder.”

Yet Magnarelli had no idea of what further challenges were to come.

At the outset of his sophomore season, it was as if Magnarelli had never been off the court.

At his peak, he was averaging 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, ranking second and first on the squad, respectively.

But his promising season was cut short when he dislocated his kneecap at Dartmouth in the second Ivy League game of the year, an injury that would come to haunt him again.

After spending the rest of his sophomore season in street clothes, he dislocated the same knee two days before Harvard’s opening game against New Hampshire his junior year.

The injury required season-ending surgery that January and prevented him from stepping out on the court for the entire season.

“The two knee injuries really hurt me a lot, just because…I was finally playing again after missing freshman year, and it was nice to be back on the court,” he recalls. “Then I went down with the same injury twice in back-to-back years, so that was definitely disheartening for me.”

But Magnarelli didn’t give up hope. He always had his team to support him and to encourage him in his efforts to get back on the floor.

“I was still coming down every single day, going to practice, and doing rehab,” he says. “I would see the guys every day, and they were rooting me on during rehab and hoping that I would make it back on to the court...They thanked me a lot for sticking through it and coming down, so they were definitely very supportive.”

Magnarelli acknowledges how much his teammates inspired him to return. But by working to overcome his setbacks, he also served as an inspiration to his teammates.

“He’s a good example of what hard work and commitment can do, an example of perseverance,” co-captain Jeremy Lin says. “There aren’t many people who would have continued to work and continued to come back from all the injuries and setbacks that he had to face, so the fact that he’s been through it all and is still going strong is a testament to his character.”

“Everyone is aware of what he’s gone through,” sophomore guard Oliver McNally adds. “The fact that he still comes in and works really hard and rehabs to get back and have a successful year, it shows a lot about his dedication to the team and how much he wants to help us win games, which he definitely has this year.”

Magnarelli returned to action this season, much to the delight of his teammates and coach. The year has not been perfect—he was a victim of bad luck once again when he sprained his ankle in January, causing him to miss nine games. But the senior is now back, and happy to finish his career on the court rather than on the sidelines.

His perseverance has paid off. As part of this year’s squad, Magnarelli has helped to alter the Crimson record books. Harvard currently boasts a 20-6 overall and 9-3 Ivy record, and now holds the title for most wins in a single season by a Crimson team after last weekend’s victory over Yale.

Magnarelli cherishes this aspect of his journey the most.

“To be in this process of putting Harvard basketball on the map, trying to make tournaments and win the Ivy league, trying to get recognition around the country as a good basketball program, and being able to say, ‘I was on the team that really put Harvard basketball on the map,’ that really means a lot to me,” he says.

And even though he’s had limited time on the court, Magnarelli has helped this happen.

“It drives you crazy a little bit to see what we haven’t had when Pat hasn’t been healthy,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker says. “He has great instincts, great savvy, court awareness, he understands, and he’s not selfish…A lot of things go a lot easier and smoother when he is able to play for our team.”

“Coach Amaker calls me a stabilizer,” Magnarelli continues. “When I’m in the game, I have to make sure the team runs the offense and we do what we are supposed to do…I kind of do the little things.”

The role of the stabilizer, the man who brings everything back under control, is an appropriate one for someone who has triumphed over so much adversity in his time here.

Although he’s faced plenty of obstacles, Magnarelli has become stronger for it in the end, setting an example for anyone who has or will face similar challenges.

“It’s nice to always be able to win and have things always go your way. But it’s important to be able to face adversity and be able to lose and try to come back from that,” Magnarelli says.

“I’ve had my share of adversity here…and just being able to turn that around and put a positive spin on that is important for later in life. There is nothing I would change about my time here.”