Angus Morris "Monk" McDonald (February 21, 1901 – September 2, 1977) was an American

college athlete College athletics encompasses non- professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale de ...

, a

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

for the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, and a

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...

. He is best known for his time as a college athlete playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

for the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, and is generally considered the best all-around college athlete to attend the University of North Carolina. For his collegiate and coaching career, he was inducted in the

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

Early years

Monk McDonald was born as Angus Morris McDonald on February 21, 1901, in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

to Angus Morris, Sr. and Ann Howard McDonald. Monk McDonald's father, Angus Morris Sr., was the founder of the Southern Real Estate Company and was a chairman on the Mecklenburg County

Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...

. McDonald attended Charlotte High School and

Fishburne Military School Fishburne Military School (FMS) is a private, military boarding school for boys in Waynesboro, Virginia, United States. It was founded by James A. Fishburne in 1879 and is one of the oldest military schools in the country. History James A. F ...

before attending the

College

While at North Carolina, McDonald, who was 5 feet, 7 inches, played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

on the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

on the men's basketball team, and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

on the

baseball team Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. McDonald lettered in all three sports for all four years. He is generally considered the best all-around athlete in North Carolina sports history. McDonald also won the first Patterson Medal, the most prestigious award for student-athletes at the University of North Carolina, for his collegiate career in 1924.

Football and baseball

McDonald lettered in football for the four years that he attended North Carolina. McDonald most successful season in football came in 1922 when, as quarterback, he led North Carolina to a 9–1 record and led North Carolina to a first place standing in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

. During one game that season, McDonald had a

kickoff return A kickoff is a method of starting a drive in gridiron football. Typically, a kickoff consists of one team – the "kicking team" – kicking the ball to the opposing team – the "receiving team". The receiving team is then entitled to ''return' ...

of 95

yards The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...

against in-state rival NC State, which is the ninth longest kickoff return in North Carolina football history. During his baseball career, McDonald batted over .300 and helped his team to 19 wins and only two losses during the 1922 season. McDonald was good enough to be considered a prospective professional baseball player.

Basketball

McDonald first played for North Carolina under head coach Fred Boye for the 1920–21 season, and during this season North Carolina earned a 12–8 record. After the 1920–21 season, North Carolina was without a head coach for two years after Boye left the team. During the 1921–22 season, North Carolina played its first season in the

, gained a 15–6 record, and won the first Southern Conference Tournament. McDonald was named all-Southern Conference—an award given annually to the best basketball players during the regular season in the Southern Conference division—at the end of this season. McDonald was captain of North Carolina during the 1922–23 season, and he led the coachless team to a 15–1 record, which tied North Carolina for first place in the Southern Conference regular season standings. Before the start of the 1923–24 season,

Norman Shepard Norman Westbrook Shepard (August 20, 1897 – August 22, 1977) was a head coach of various college athletics at several American colleges and universities. He is best known for being the only Division I college basketball coach to go undefeated ...

became the head coach of North Carolina. Beside McDonald, there were several other talented players on the 1923–24 team, including senior Cartwright Carmichael, who was the first North Carolina All-American in any sport, and

Jack Cobb John Blackwell "Sprat" Cobb (August 4, 1904 – September 9, 1966) was an American college basketball player at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cobb is one of eight Tar Heels basketball players who have had their jersey retired, ...

, who would later be named to the All-American team and would later have his number retired at North Carolina. This team earned the nickname the "White Phantoms" because of their fast playmaking and defense. McDonald was named all-Southern Conference and all-Southern Conference Tournament team – an award given annually to the best players in the Southern Conference basketball tournament – for his play during the 1923–24 season. The 1923–24 North Carolina team managed to win all 26 games they played that year. Because there was no national post-season tournament, the final game for North Carolina was in the Southern Conference tournament against the

University of Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

. North Carolina managed to win the game 26–18. The local news reported that hundreds of students at North Carolina "waited in the streets in front of telegraph offices and cafes" for news about the game and after the victory students "went wild" and set a

bonfire A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catho ...

on the athletic field. In 1936, the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owners ...

retroactively awarded a national championship to the 1923–24 North Carolina men's basketball team since there had been no organization to award national championships at the time. This was the first national championship given to a North Carolina men's basketball team.

Coaching at North Carolina

After coaching North Carolina for one season, Norman Shepard went to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

to work as a sales manager for Liggett and Meyer tobacco company, which left the position of head coach open. Even though McDonald has just graduated from North Carolina and had started to attend medical school full-time, he became the next head coach after Shepard's departure. McDonald was the first former player to become head coach of the North Carolina men's basketball team; Matt Doherty would be the second. When McDonald took over, there were still many seasoned veterans on the team including Jack Cobb. McDonald continued the team's winning streak from the previous season for the first eight games, but North Carolina eventually lost to the

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than a ...

basketball team, ending their 34-game winning streak. Although the team would lose another four games, North Carolina went through the regular season unbeaten when playing at its home arena, the

Tin Can A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English), steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans ...

. That season McDonald's team also managed to win the

regular season for the second year in a row and win the Southern Conference Tournament beating

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in the finals, which McDonald did not attend due to his medical studies. North Carolina would end the 1924–25 season with a 20–5 record.

Head coaching record

Later years

McDonald gave up coaching after one year and instead focused on attending medical school. In 1926, McDonald transferred to the

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

and graduated with a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

in 1928. After graduating from medical school, McDonald practiced as both a

and a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

. He later worked at a variety of hospitals and clinics including the Protestant Episcopal Hospital in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staf ...

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Ac ...

NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New Y ...

, and the Vanderbilt Clinic in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1935, McDonald moved back to North Carolina and joined the practice of Dr. Fred Patterson. McDonald left this practice in 1939 to help the Crowell Clinic. In 1942 he became

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

in United States Naval Medical Corps. He transferred to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

in 1944 to work in naval hospital there. He was discharged from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the war, McDonald resumed a urology practice in Charlotte and worked with the Crowell Clinic until his retirement in 1969. McDonald was inducted into the

on February 17, 1977. McDonald died seven months after being inducted on September 2, 1977.

Personal life

McDonald married Mary Letitia Mebane in 1939 and had three children: Letitia, Mebane, and Angus. All of his children graduated from the University of North Carolina. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

References

;General * * * * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Monk 1901 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American physicians American football quarterbacks American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players United States Navy personnel of World War II American urologists Baseball shortstops Basketball coaches from North Carolina Basketball players from Charlotte, North Carolina Baseball players from Charlotte, North Carolina North Carolina Tar Heels baseball players North Carolina Tar Heels football players North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Physicians from New York (state) Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina Point guards Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina United States Navy Medical Corps officers Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni