Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, June 11, 2017 

If you listen to Dan McDonald, he’ll tell you it’s still far too early for his name to even be considered as a candidate for the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s annual Distinguished Service Award.

“The first time I got contacted about it,” McDonald said. “I was like, ‘What, have you run out of people?’”

Talk to just about anyone who has ever worked with or around Dan McDonald, however, and his qualifications for induction are without debate.

As longtime Daily Advertiser sports editor Bruce Brown put it, “The Distinguished Service Award fits McDonald like a glove.”

Indeed, if there was a Mount Rushmore of LSWA DSA inductees into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Dan McDonald should be in that number.

McDonald will be honored by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in a ceremony June 24 in Natchitoches.

He may humbly attempt to toss aside his worthiness of receiving the award, but no one would be able to question the "distinguished" or the "service" part of that honor.

In the hectic, stressful world of sports journalism, Dan’s been making the lives of sports writers and broadcasters in Louisiana easier for almost five decades now.

And he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

He’s still a regular at almost every UL sporting event or Sun Belt Conference Tournament — either working the event himself or delivering interesting tidbits to spice up somebody else’s story.

“Writing or broadcasting, he has shown the uncanny ability to handle any assignment with ease,” Brown said. “But, just as importantly, Dan is one of the most even-tempered, principled people you’ll ever meet in this business or any other, a self-depreciating friend who will do anything he can to help make your days go better, professionally or personally.”

Just about every veteran sports writer in Louisiana has a Dan McDonald story to tell, and just about every one of those tales revolve around Dan going above and beyond to get the job done.

For Bobby Ardoin, it was a cold, rainy night in Natchitoches in 1976 that immediately comes to mind.

“It was raining ice droplets, (maybe sleet) and the new football press box wasn’t completed,” Ardoin remembered. “We covered the game in what was similar to a duck blind, open air with tar paper covering us. Dan didn’t flinch. We got our stats, everything was cool and he led us back to NSU’s Bullard Hall to write our stories.”

As Ardoin so accurately described him, Dan was “a multi-tasker before the term was invented.”

Former Advertiser assistant sports editor Philip Timothy worked in the Demons’ sports information office with Dan before many of us ever met him.

With Dan, though, very little has really changed. “I remember once while in Nacogdoches, Texas, to play Stephen F. Austin, we had arrived early with the team, ate our pre-game meal and were relaxing in the dressing three hours before game time,” Timothy said. “Dan suddenly appeared and told me he needed my help getting into the SFA press box. It was urgent he told me.

“When we got there, it was naturally locked but somehow he managed to get into the press box and together we placed game-day media packets at each seat. Then as if this wasn’t enough, he found a broom and proceeded to begin to sweep and clean the press box.”

Timothy said three years later, Dan had him slow down in traffic on I-10 with 18-wheelers bearing down on their vehicle to make sure McDonald got a good picture of the new Louisiana Superdome.

“I didn’t stop but slowed to 20 miles per hour,” he remembered. “As soon as I heard ‘Got it,’ I floored it. He had wanted a perfect shot and he had gotten it.

“That was Dan. He was so meticulous, left nothing to chance and had just one speed … all out.”

Many have said that Dan McDonald was the Energizer bunny long before the battery commercial ever hit the drawing boards.

In this age of entitlement, Dan has never been one to sit around and complain. He’s too busy doing something about it.

Veteran Baton Rouge Advocate reporter Sheldon Mickles has witnessed that first hand.

“If something needs to be done, don’t drag your heels doing it," Mickles said. "That’s because Dan will jump in and help wherever and whenever it’s needed.”

As impressive as Dan’s work ethic has always been, however, it’s the deeper aspects of his “get-it-done” approach that has always caught my eye.

Dan worked two Olympic Games, he was one of the most respected sports information directors in America and he’s attended countless conference and national championship events.

And yet on any given Friday night still today, Dan could be found covering a Class 1A high school football game in some small area town somewhere.

It’s still fun for him. The novelty of covering a sporting event, having a job to do and doing it has never evaded Dan’s perspective.

Plus, it just might be an opportunity to catch a future Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer — perhaps the next Jake Delhomme — in action before he becomes famous.

“I think of Dan as a ‘renaissance man’ when it comes to reporting — willing and able to tackle almost any sport, any subject, any time,” Mickles said. “That, along with a vast ability to work on a number of different journalistic platforms — print, electronic, digital and public relations — makes him a one-of-a-kind guy in my book.”

His passion for covering more than just the most popular events began during his years as a sports information director at UL from 1980-1999. Unlike so many sports information directors, Dan made it a point to travel with every Ragin’ Cajun sport at least once in every school year.

“I knew those kids playing those sports worked just as hard as anybody’s else sports out there and they deserved that kind of recognition,” McDonald said. “And I think it also gave them sort of a feeling that somebody cared about what they were doing.”

That sentiment also explains his intense love for the Olympic Games. Ask Dan about his favorite athletes of all time and near the top of that list will be a gold medal freestyle wrestler name John Smith that most sports fans in these parts have never heard of.

“I was struck by the fact that here I was around all of these world-class athletes and nobody knew their names,” McDonald said commenting on his firsthand Olympic experiences in Seoul in 1988 and Athens in 1996. “They were in sports that don’t get a lot of exposure and don’t get a lot of attention.”

His college experience in Natchitoches also prepared Dan for all the many hats he still regularly wears in the world of sports journalism.

“I was so thankful to the people at Northwestern,” McDonald said. “I had the chance to work for student newspaper, I had a chance to edit the student newspaper, I had a chance to be in founding group of the campus radio station and most notably I got a chance to work in the sports information office, which at the time was a one-person office. I was basically the assistant sports information director and I was only 17 years old.”

At that young age in turbulent times in America when most of the country was confused and flustered, Dan’s life plan in sports was already crystal clear in his mind.

“I knew at a very young age that (sports journalism) was exactly what I wanted to do,” he said.

And he’s spent his life making sure that others can better enjoy sports.

“Dan has devoted his life to sports,” Timothy said. “You never had to worry about whether or not you were getting 100 percent. He is so deserving of this honor, not just for what he has done but for the many lives he has impacted.” 

Athletic Network Footnote by Dr. Ed Dugas:

Dan McDonald: Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Inductee – McDonald reflects on sports career The Advertiser, June 9, 2017  Please click here for Dan’s video.

Dan McDonald: Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Inductee – My favorite Ragin Cajun athletes  The Advertiser, June 9, 2017
Please click here for Dan’s video. 

Click here for Dan’s Athletic Network profile.  He is not only top-shelf when it comes to a variety of media skills – from reporting to announcing – but a first-class person. The AN is appreciative of the assistance and many courtesies he has provided since our inception. 
Congratulations to Dan on this most-deserving recognition by the Louisiana Sports Hall of  Fame. 

Please click here for the website of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and view the information about the 2017 inductees. Raymond Didier, former football and baseball player and coach and athletic director at SLI and Dan McDonald, former Director of Sports Information at USL will be recognized in the ceremonies next week.