Dan McDonald (2023) - Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame

Dan McDonald

Induction:
2023

In a career dating to 1974, McDonald continues to pile up Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) writing and broadcast awards and remains involved in sports media relations in the private sector. He stands alongside state sports information legends Louis Bonnette (McNeese), Paul Manasseh (LSU) and Ace Higgins (LSU) as inductees into the College Sports Information Directors of America's Hall of Fame (June 2011) … McDonald was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as the 2017 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism … In 26 years as an SID at Northwestern State (1975-80) and Louisiana (1980-99), McDonald became an industry leader in many aspects … Among those who benefited first hand from McDonald's guidance include former assistants Herb Vincent, the associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference; Greg Sharko, the media relations director for the Association of Tennis Professionals; Doug Ireland, the longtime SID at Northwestern State and current chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches; and Pat Murphy, the head softball coach at the University of Alabama, who came to work as a graduate assistant SID for McDonald in Lafayette … After graduating in three years from Northwestern State, the Jonesboro, La., native spent one year as a sportswriter at the Alexandria Town Talk before Northwestern hired him – at 22 years old – to be the SID of what was about to become a Division I athletics department. In 1980, he moved south to Lafayette to handle the day-to-day operations of the then-USL Athletic program … McDonald won numerous CoSIDA awards for writing and media guides at both institutions, including national honors at NSU, and served two years on the CoSIDA Board of Directors … He was a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee media relations staff for two Olympic Games (Seoul, 1988 and Atlanta, 1996) and six U.S. Olympic Festivals … He also served two years as president, after a two-year term as vice president, of the LSWA and remains a key member of the LSWA Executive Committee and Hall of Fame Committee … McDonald retired from then-USL in 1999 to become the senior sports writer at the Lafayette Daily Advertiser and spent nine years in that role … Now a freelance journalist, he has won dozens of writing awards from the LSWA, including three 'Writer of the Year' awards in a five-year span, and was the 1999 recipient of the LSWA's coveted Mac Russo Award recognizing members who remarkably represent the ideals of the organization … At the Advertiser, he captured a "Best of Gannett" national award for his coverage of the Little League World Series … McDonald has also done extensive broadcast and television work, including currently serving as a staff writer and television play-by-play announcer for Ragin' Cajuns Athletics on ESPN+ … he has also anchored annual webcasts of Sun Belt Conference baseball, softball and golf tournaments and currently serves as the moderator at Sun Belt Conference Football Media Days … He and his wife, Mary Beth McDonald, operate the Lafayette-based McD Media marketing/public relations firm with an emphasis on sports PR.