Duffy, a legend in the Philadelphia boxing scene and manager for the U.S. boxing team at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, passed away last November.

But in a way, Duffy's spirit will accompany Jim McNally to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

McNally, a Severna Park resident and boxing coach at the Naval Academy, will depart on Tuesday for Beijing, where he will serve as one of 34 Olympic Boxing Referees and Judges to officiate the '08 Games.

McNally, a Philadelphia native, shared more in common with Duffy than their Irish roots.

"The more I'd hear him tell stories about traveling the world through boxing, the more I wanted to do what this guy did,'' McNally said of Duffy, who was credited with starting amateur boxing in Philadelphia in the 1930s. "He was a great guy, one of the old throwbacks of boxing. He was like a grandfather to me.''

A 1981 graduate of Lock Haven University, McNally won the Eastern Championship, placed third in nationals and earned All-America honors while in college. Also, he and another student started a boxing club at the school, which still remains.

Once out of college, McNally realized his future wasn't in fighting, so he took up officiating, with his first local match at Penn State in 1982.

"I showed up with no training,'' McNally recalled. "I walked around the ring and thought, 'this is a great view of the match.' I had to remind myself that I was there for a purpose.

"The more I got into it, the more I liked it,'' McNally said of officiating. "As an athlete, I was never good enough to make the Olympics, but I saw that it was possible to fulfill a dream of traveling the world through boxing.''

Determined to learn the ropes, so to speak, McNally has spent the last 26 years officiating boxing whenever and wherever he could, from overseas to the roughest sections of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

McNally's selection came from a new evaluation process that started at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Chicago in 2007, and continued through the various Continental Olympic Boxing Qualifications Tournaments up until the end of March.

"It's the ultimate,'' McNally said of his Olympic involvement. "The Olympics blow anything away. It's the biggest event in the world, and to be a part of it is a thrilling experience. It validates all the hard work.''

The boxing coach at Navy since 1986, McNally's teams have won five national championships and been runner-up five times. He's also coached 33 individual national champions who have won 46 national titles.

A Physical Education professor at the academy, McNally is aware of past instances of corruption involving boxing and the Olympics, including 1988 in Seoul, where some highly questionable judging cost American Roy Jones a gold medal.

However, McNally has been impressed with the new AIBA President, Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu.

"He's done a good job of getting the word out that the days of corruption are finished,'' McNally said. "Every decision he's made has been a good one, and hopefully the integrity of the sport can be maintained throughout.''

McNally will return from Beijing on June 1.

Dbroughton@capitalgazette.com