Kwame McDonald, was born James Cornell McDonald in Madison Wisconsin. McDonald, coined as “The Godfather” of the sports community, was also a prominent sports writer, mentor, adviser, teacher, journalist and organizer of youth programs.Two weeks before his death on Oct. 7, McDonald was honored at St Paul’s Central high school for his commitment, influence and activism for minority progress in local athletics.
He often wrote about unheralded high school and college athletes in his sports columns for Insight News, Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder, two of Minnesota’s African American newspapers distributed throughout the Twin-Cities area and columnist for the Pioneer Press.
He studied political science at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he met Mary Palmer, the teacher he married in 1956. From 1957 to 1959, he worked for the Urban League in Milwaukee.
In 1961, he came to Minnesota to run the state's Commission Against Discrimination, working with Gov. Elmer L. Andersen and Attorney General Walter Mondale.
McDonald made a pilgrimage to Africa, studying and teaching at the University of Ghana. Here he changed his name to Kwame, Ghanian for “born on Sunday.”
One of McDonalds highlights in his career was his role in the development of the annual Inner-City All-Star Classic in 1994, a showcase for high school boys basketball players in the Twin Cities metro area.
Other accomplishments include work on the Summit-University Crime Prevention Council; host of a cable TV show; service on Gov. Arne Carlson's Council on Youth; and teaching at Minneapolis and St. Paul schools. His final job, from 2008 to 2011, was mentoring students at St. Paul's Johnson High School, where his son Mitch McDonald is a teacher.
McDonald died early Wednesday morning October 26 after a two-year battle with bladder cancer and other ailments. He was 80.
McDonald is survived by brothers Billy McDonald and Jack Mitchell, both of Madison, and Ralph Mitchell of Greensboro, N.C., and sisters Carolyn Hargrove, Betty Banks and Emma Earl, all of Madison, Arlene Marion of Seguin, Texas, and Evette Mitchell of Colorado.
Services for McDonald will be held 1pm Saturday, November 19 at Living Word Church, 655 Fairview Ave. N. St Paul, MN 55104.
