Former University of Minnesota Duluth basketball forward Bob McDonald passed away at age of 87 on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The Chisholm native was donned into the UMD Hall of Fame in 1995, as well as the DECC Hall of Fame in 2015. McDonald held down the No. 1 spot on the club scoring charts in each of his two seasons with the Bulldogs (he had spent the previous two years at the University of Michigan and Hibbing Junior College before transferring to UMD). While with the Bulldogs, he averaged 13.6 points per game in 49 career outings for UMD and graduated in 1955 with a B.S. degree in social studies, history and physical education.
 
After graduating, McDonald spent years racking up more victories than any head coach in the history of Minnesota high school basketball. He finished with an overall record of 1,012-428 (for a .703 winning percentage) in 59 seasons of prep coaching -- McGregor High School (1955-59), Barnum High School (1959-61) and Chisholm High School (1961-2017), while also coaching the boy's track and field programs at each of those high schools. The Chisholm Bluestreaks have appeared in eight Minnesota State High School Tournaments and have taken home three state titles (1973, 1975 and 1991). He was also a member of the Minnesota State High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, inducted into the HOF in 2018. The Chisholm School District named the high school gym for him in 2017.