Roderick McDonald (April 9, 1945 – January 17, 2015) was an American professional

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 (appro ...

player. McDonald was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. 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, 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 The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

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 pla ...

, 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 the ...

, he was drafted by the

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving to ...

, 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 (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. 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 Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Small forwards Undrafted ABA players Utah Stars players Whitworth Pirates men's basketball players {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub