James Reiley McDonald, an insurance broker and University of Baltimore lacrosse coach who founded a youth program for the sport, died Aug. 16 of complications from old age at his Ruxton home. He was 97.
Born in Ruxton, he was the son of Harry McDonald, Sparks School principal, and his wife, Mary Catherine McDonald, a homemaker. He was a 1946 graduate of Towson High School, where he played lacrosse. He also attended Mercersburg Academy and earned a degree from Washington and Lee University, where he was named to the 1950 All-America lacrosse team.
He entered the insurance business in Timonium, representing Massachusetts Mutual Insurance.
Mr. McDonald coached lacrosse at the University of Baltimore from 1956 to 1963, winning four championships in what was then known as the Laurie Cox Division. In an upset, his University of Baltimore team beat Army.
“He was offered coaching jobs at Cornell, Washington and Lee and the University of Virginia, but he decided to concentrate on his insurance business,” said his son, Reiley McDonald of Lexington, Kentucky. “He was very good with numbers, whether it was advising his insurance clients, helping us with homework or doing his taxes.”
Mr. McDonald went on to form a lacrosse recreation program at St. James Episcopal Church in Monkton and coached generations of players.
“He had a 9-year-old son and talked to a bunch of parents and there seemed to be a huge demand,” his son said. “Some kids started to come out from the city to play for him. From that first class, he coached seven boys who went on to be Division I lacrosse captains in their colleges.”
He was also a lacrosse coach at Hereford High School.
“His coaching style was simple. He taught the fundamentals, and if you get the fundamentals right, you have a team,” his son said.
Mr. McDonald owned horses and, as a youth, rode from Towson to Monkton. He was a member of the Mount Carmel Hounds, a fox-hunting club. He rode until he was 82.
Mr. McDonald joined the board of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame Foundation in 1964 and served as president and vice president in his 18 years of service to the organization.
He spent 30 years as a member of the National Hall of Fame’s selection committee, including 24 years as its chair.
“Jim was a humble leader who engendered respect,” said Steve Stenersen, former CEO of USA Lacrosse. “He was a guy who did not dominate a conversation. He was an incredible listener.”
Mr. McDonald was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Charlottesville Chapter Hall of Fame in 1997, the U.S. Lacrosse Greater Baltimore Chapter Hall of Fame in 2005 and the University of Baltimore Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.
Survivors include a son, Reiley McDonald, of Lexington, Kentucky; three daughters, Brooke McDonald, of Baltimore, Page Crosby, of Monkton, and Leigh McDonald Hall, of Ruxton; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his three wives, Joan Frey McDonald, Barbara Waters McDonald and Susan Gooch McDonald.
Services were held Aug. 29 at St. James Episcopal Church in Monkton.
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