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AUG.22, 2025—1970 Pal-Mac graduate Jim McGinnis is well-known in the community. So if you know him, please enjoy this story. If you don’t know him yet, it’s about time you did.

McGinnis has been a staple at the Palmyra Community Center (PCC) for the better part of five decades. His name is even etched into one of the gym floors. He’s consistently provided a friendly face for the students and community members who pass through the doors daily. It’d actually be quicker to tell you what he doesn’t do at the center.

His focus is primarily on youth programs, where he coordinates everything from basketball leagues and after-school activities to summer camps and much more. 

“I just enjoy it,” McGinnis said. “It's pretty cool to have a job that you really enjoy, and that you're getting paid for.”

McGinnis (right) oversees the PCC game room during a Middle School "Sharpen the Saw" event

A Palmyra native, McGinnis usually starts his workday at 1 p.m. and doesn’t leave the center until close to 10 at night. When we caught up with him, he was preparing for a flow of students who spend their afternoons hanging out at the PCC after school. He says he typically oversees anywhere from 50 to 90 students every day. The after-school program includes activities and snacks for up to two hours each night.

This is on top of helping to oversee the adult programs the center offers.

But that’s not even the busiest part of his schedule. McGinnis says the basketball leagues can be a lot to manage for him and his team of volunteers. The leagues are hosted either at the PCC, or at one of the District's school gyms.

“In the months of October through March, I'm here about seven days a week,” he said.

And it’s been that way since he first stepped through the doors of the PCC more than 50 years ago. Back then, the center was on Main Street, where the current village hall sits. McGinnis first went to the PCC as a student and says it's where he spent most of his time.

McGinnis in the 1970 Zenobia yearbook

Growing up, he says he always wanted to be active. When he wasn’t engaged in something at the center, he was competing for a Pal-Mac athletic team or playing sandlot ball with his friends. McGinnis was a regular hooper for the JV basketball team but could also be found on the football field.

“I just enjoyed Pal-Mac. I thought they did a great job,” he said. “I enjoyed my teachers. I enjoyed my friends.”

That passion for his community extended into what he ultimately wanted to do after graduation. While he kicked around several ideas, McGinnis took a job at the Garlock plant in Palmyra. He’d work a shift during the day and then, you guessed it, head over to the PCC to work an evening shift.

This was his standard until, after some time, McGinnis decided to work at the center full-time. He’s never looked back.

Through all those years of late nights and long days, McGinnis has built quite a reputation and a few nicknames to match. He says the kids at the center simply call him “Jimbo.” But others may know him by another name: “PCC Jim.” It’s literally on his license plates.

“I don't know why I did that, but I did it,” McGinnis said. “Everybody thought it was kind of sharp, and they can identify me with who that is right away.”

That’s no more apparent than when he says he often gets recognized while getting groceries or stopping by Byrne Dairy in town for a snack. Fifty-plus years have lent themselves to that.

But what’s really stuck out to him is the number of familiar faces who come back to say hey or even volunteer at the center. McGinnis said without the volunteers, the center could not carry on. He estimates the total number of volunteers to be around 100.

“Oh yeah, kids have come back to help coach. They want to coach,” McGinnis said. “I'm getting a lot of them because I've been here so long. The kids who are coming now, their parents came to the center.”

McGinnis sits at his desk, which is flanked by photos and league trophies

McGinnis says time has made it hard to recognize everyone at first, but he often finds himself having good conversations that bring back even better memories. If this story didn’t already convince you of his legacy, take a walk around the center’s game room or even McGinnis’s office.

He gave us a close-up tour of both spaces, which have walls filled with photos from different trips, near and far. Traditionally, the summer program takes kids everywhere from SeaBreeze Amusement Park to the Chill and Grill in Palmyra. There’s also plenty of signed memorabilia and trophies from various sports camps and leagues throughout the decades. There’s even a specially designed pair of Nike shoes with his familiar “PCC Jim” nickname etched into the back.

A collection of memories displayed throughout the walls of the PCC

McGinnis also excitedly pointed to a foosball table that made the trip over from the old center.

But if you ask McGinnis what he’s most proud of, it’s the connection between the center, the school district, and the greater community. He mentioned how the PCC works in partnership with the District to host events, including parts of the summer camp programming.

“It’s a small community, but we got what a large community's got,” McGinnis said. “And a lot of large communities don't even have it.”

And it’s McGinnis’s efforts in the community that have led to several awards and honors. He was recognized by the New York State Athletic Administrators Association for his exceptional leadership and received the Palmyra-Macedon Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellow Award, the organization’s highest honor.

McGinnis reflects as he looks over at one of the PCC's basketball courts with his signature etched into it

And then there’s the district recognition. He received the 1997 Friend of Education Award and, perhaps one of his favorite memories, was being named a Pal-Mac Graduate of Distinction in 2012. His plaque still hangs in the hallway at the high school.

“That was a real honor,” McGinnis said.

McGinnis' Graduate of Distinction plaque at the high school

But for someone who’s spent a lifetime pouring his all into his community, the recognition is just a small reflection of something bigger, the example he hopes to leave behind for all of the students who have, and will continue to, come through the doors of the center.

McGinnis says he’ll keep doing the same for as long as he’s able.

“The advice is, if you’re going to work, you’re going to go a long way,” he said. “If your habit is working hard, good things will happen.”

Know an amazing alum who should be recognized? Fill out our form! Pictures and/or video can also be sent to Public Information Coordinator Andrew Hyman at andrew.hyman@palmaccsd.org