Roderick McDonald (April 9, 1945 – January 17, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. McDonald was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He spent his early childhood in Japan, New York and Panama. He graduated from Cloverpark High School in 1963.

College career

McDonald played at

Whitworth University Whitworth University is a private, Christian university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1890, Whitworth enrolls nearly 3,000 students and offers more than 100 graduate and undergraduate ...

, for the Pirates basketball team. He was an NAIA All-American in 1967. Later in life, he would be inducted into the Whitworth University Heritage Hall of Fame.

Professional career

He was drafted in the ninth round (110th overall) by the Seattle SuperSonics in the

1967 NBA draft The 1967 NBA draft was the 21st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 3 and 4, 1967 before the 1967–68 season. In this draft, 12 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball play ...

, but he never played for them. After a stint in the Army where he earned an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...

, he was drafted by the Utah Stars, starting with the 1970 season. Nicknamed "The Rocket", he played for three years, winning an ABA Championship in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

. In those playoffs, he played 5 games and averaged 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds. In his two subsequent playoff experiences, he would score an average of 6.0 and 0.7 points per game, while only playing 1 and 3 games, respectively. He played 87 games in his career. After his career ended, he moved to San Jose with his wife, whom he was married to for 43 years. On January 17, 2015, McDonald died. He was survived by his two children and four grandchildren.

References

1945 births 2015 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Jacksonville, Florida Power forwards (basketball) Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Small forwards Utah Stars players Whitworth Pirates men's basketball players {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub