Bowling Green State University Athletics
Jim McDonald: 2006 BGSU Hall of Fame Inductee
September 04, 2006 | General
Sept. 4, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletics Hall of Fame will welcome nine new members on Friday (Sept. 8). The 2006 class will be inducted during a formal dinner on the BGSU campus.
The class of 2006 includes Sara Collas '90 (women's cross country/track and field), Carlyn Esslinger '96 (volleyball), Steve Klein '98 (men's soccer), Brian Leaver '95 (football), Carla Marshack '92 (women's tennis), Jim McDonald '59 (men's basketball), Megan McGuire '91 (women's basketball and volleyball), Vince Palko '95 (football) and Andy Tracy (football and baseball).
The official induction ceremony will take place Friday evening (Sept. 8) in the grand ballroom of BGSU's Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's (Sept. 9) BGSU-Buffalo football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 3:00 p.m. and is designated as Hall of Fame Day.
Tickets for Friday's dinner are $35 ($30 for Varsity BG members), and advanced reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Falcon Club office at (419) 372-7100. Football game tickets can be purchased through the ticket office by phone, at 1-877-BGSUTICKET, or on the web at www.BGSUFalcons.com.
The public is invited to attend the induction dinner. Reservations are encouraged, but walk-ups are welcomed as well.
The following is the sixth of a nine-part series that takes a look at this year's inductees...
JIM McDONALD (men's basketball; 1957-59)
Jim McDonald, from New York, N.Y., enrolled at BG after a three-year tour of duty with the U.S. Army. He scored a total of 878 points in a three-year career under the legendary Harold Anderson. McDonald co-captained the Falcons as both a junior and a senior, leading BG to the 1959 MAC championship. The Falcons had a 47-25 record (.653) during his three seasons in uniform.
Upon graduation, McDonald coached in the high-school ranks in the Toledo area for a decade (at Ottawa Hills and Sylvania High Schools), and returned to BGSU as an assistant coach for the 1969-70 season. He helped the Brown and Orange to a 15-9 record that year, then spent 12 years as an assistant coach at Toledo. McDonald was named head coach at Kent State in March of 1982. After taking over a team that had recorded just three winning seasons in the previous 30 years, he promptly led the Golden Flashes to a 15-13 record in his first season.
McDonald remains the winningest coach in KSU history, with a 148-139 record in 10 years. That record included back-to-back 21-win seasons in 1988-89 and 1989-90, and a MAC Coach-of-the-Year award in the latter season.
In addition to spending 33 years coaching basketball in the state of Ohio, McDonald spent eight months as interim Director of Athletics at Kent State in 1994. He is married to the former Nancy Anne Schenk, also a BG graduate, and the couple resides in St. Petersburg, Fla. They have six daughters and 16 grandchildren.
