Historical Tidbits
by DONN BROOKS
You should have seen the man back in about 1949, defying the law of gravity, twisting and cavorting through the air shooting layups, warming up for a basketball game between Southwest Texas State Teachers College and East Texas Baptist College. The Bobcats of Southwest Texas, under the coaching of Milton Jowers, won the game and watching that man, wearing number 40, hooked me on the game of basketball.
That basketball player was Vernon McDonald. Vernon was an assistant basketball coach under Coach Milton Jowers for many years and then became head basketball coach at what is now Texas State University. He is the father of Donny McDonald, girls basketball coach at Hays High School who recently announced his retirement.
I never saw Donny McDonald play basketball. But I saw Vernon play and that was a treat. It was more fun watching him warm up than it was to see other people play. Once, so the legend goes, a school administrator told Donny he probably did not know what it was like to sit on the bench. According to the legend, Donny replied, “I did get to sit the bench as a senior and watch my younger brother play as a sophomore.” The administrator hurriedly ended the conversation as I understand things. I did see the younger McDonald play in college and that man was good. It was no disgrace to play behind him. But, being honest, Lynn McDonald was never as good as his dad.
You should have seen Vernon. No, he couldn’t dunk the ball. He wasn’t tall enough. But he could come flying in for layup shots in such a way that made you forget to notice if the ball went in or not. This man could move.
Summers, he announced softball games for teams consisting of junior high and high school students. No matter your batting average, when you came to bat he made you feel like you were playing in the World Series and leading the league in all areas.
He worked for the San Marcos Parks and Recreation Department in those days, and Kyle fielded a team in that league.
In six decades with the family I cannot remember a bad deal with them. When Vernon replaced Coach Jowers, I tried to never miss a basketball game. Several of us sat right behind the bench. Sometimes Mac would talk to his players, sometimes to us, and sometimes to everybody, but he was always talking. Somewhere along the line somebody named him Motormouth. If he wasn’t the most popular man in San Marcos I will accept nominations, but I cannot imagine anybody who was and is better liked.
Both Donny and Coach Mac would probably deny this, but I saw a lot of the same things in Donny that I saw in Vernon. They are two of the friendliest people I ever met. They both talk with their entire body. Coaches come in for quite a lot of criticism, and when I heard people fuss about Donny my stock answer was “Like father like son.” But I will assure all and sundry that neither of these two basketball coaches, for all their failings, ever acted out of mean spirit or malice.
When Vernon was coaching at Southwest Texas there was another McDonald coaching at Texas A&I and the two of them could put on quite a show. Once they literally switched places on the court, both hollering at the officials. That brought on a whistle and a double technical foul on both coaches. Vernon McDonald stuck his tongue out at the other McDonald. The crowd loved it. This was a few minutes after the A&I McDonald challenged the inflation of the basketball. Vernon McDonald reached under the scorers table and shoved the cart that had about 10 basketballs out to the center of the floor as he yelled, “Just pick which ever one you want, and let’s play.” Within two minutes the referee called the double technical. That calmed the McDonalds down. Sort of.
It has been a good run. Basketball people everywhere appreciate the McDonald family.
There is one other thing: they, McDonald father and son, are two of the most decent people I ever met.
