Bob McDonald, the Chisholm boys basketball coaching legend who won more games than any coach in any sport in Minnesota history, died Wednesday at age 87.
McDonald, who coached basketball for 59 years — 53 at Chisholm — won 1,012 games and three Class A state titles with the Bluestreaks.
He coached sons Mike, Paul, Tom and Joel at Chisholm and took the Bluestreaks to 11 state tournaments.
McDonald grew up in Chisholm and played basketball for legendary disciplinarian Harvey Roels. He received a scholarship to play at the University of Michigan but left after one semester to play at Hibbing Junior College. McDonald went on to lead Minnesota Duluth in scoring for two seasons after transferring there.
He began his coaching career with stints at McGregor and Barnum before the Chisholm job opened up when O.J. Belluzzo stepped down to become athletics director. Belluzzo, a man whom McDonald, much later in life, came to believe was his biological father, hired him before the 1961-62 season.
Joel Maturi, who later became athletic director at the University of Minnesota, was a member of that first team.
“Everything wasn’t easy for Coach McDonald,” Maturi said in a 2015 News Tribune article when McDonald was selected into the DECC Hall of Fame. “It wasn’t like we were stars his first couple years at Chisholm, by any stretch of the imagination. But he stuck to his principles and, obviously in the long run, ended up succeeding.”
McDonald was a noted disciplinarian who required short haircuts, nice attire and strictly-adhered-to curfews. He admonished smoking and swearing, among other vices. McDonald says he instituted those rules — and stuck to them throughout the various generations — so the players could benefit in life, not just athletics.
“Sports really exemplify what society is; sports are competitive, society is competitive,” McDonald said in 2015. “Young people have to be aware of the fact that their lives are going to be competitive.”
McDonald also taught history, social studies and physical education for more than 40 years and was a track and field coach for 47 years.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
