Press Release
Mac MacDonald
“I am honored to be recognized by the Sports Hall Of Fame, but I am also honored to have been a part of LR football’s finest decade – the 1960s,” MacDonald said.
The Bears started the decade with a National Championship in 1960, and in 1962 the team was a National Championship runner-up. Throughout the 1960s, Lenoir Rhyne University won seven out of 10 conference championships.
MacDonald started all four years at offensive tackle in the Bears’ feared and famed single-wing offense. During his four seasons as a starter, the Bears won the Carolinas Conference Championship every year, and in MacDonald’s senior year, the team ranked as high as number two in the country.
In MacDonald’s senior year, his honors included: All Carolinas Conference, All- State and NAIA All American. He won the team’s Best Blocker Award and was selected to play in The Sudan Temple College All Star Game in Raleigh, NC
As a student, he was a member of The Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.
After graduating in 1969 with a B.A. degree in Economics, MacDonald taught school and coached football and baseball in Statesville, NC, and later at Brookland Cayce High in West Columbia.
In the mid-1970s he entered the real estate business in Irmo, and he later moved to Hilton Head Island to continue his career.
In 1991 he focused his full attention on the senior community industry, a focus he continues today as a Sales and Marketing Director for Capital Senior Living of Dallas, Texas.
MacDonald is a member of Central United Methodist Church, where he teaches Sunday school. He is married to the former Liz Wherry and has two sons and four grandchildren.
MacDonald is a native of Dillon and graduated in 1964 from Dillon High School, where he played football for the Wildcats under Bull Lee, an All American at Newberry College in the 50s, and Bob Rankin, who ranks second in the state for high school football victories.
“This is a great honor, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to the coaches and teammates whose spirit and determination not only left a winning tradition in athletics at LR, but also taught me so many enduring life-lessons about dedication, persistence, and hard work,” MacDonald said.
The Lenoir-Rhyne University Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1976 and is designed “to recognize and perpetuate the noteworthy athletic tradition of Lenoir-Rhyne by honoring and memorializing individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the tradition.”
