The CJFL is saddened by the passing of former Commissioner Don McDonald last week, he was 86.

He got his start in junior football as the back-up quarterback for the Saskatoon Hilltops in 1952 playing behind future Saskatchewan Roughrider Ronnie Adams.  He then switched to wingback and middle linebacker.  

During the 1953 season McDonald played both ways for the Hilltops with only 29 players on the roster.

After coaching flag football for eight seasons and leading his team to four city championships the Hilltops came calling again in 1970.  

As a member of the board in 1972 and watching the Hilltops reach the Canadian Bowl, which Saskatoon hosted, McDonald started the Hilltops yearbook which he ran for 12 years.

By 1975 he was the Hilltops President, as well as the President of Football Saskatchewan.  That same year two of the teams in Manitoba decided to form their own league and didn’t invite the Hilltops to join.  Later that year he organized an exhibition game in Edmonton and invited representatives from that city’s two teams and from Calgary to meet to discuss the formation of the Sask/Alberta Junior League, which eventually led to the birth of the Prairie Junior Football Conference (PJFC).

In 1978 McDonald was elected the President of the PJFC and then the Commissioner of the CJFL.  He held the CJFL chair for eight years, longer than any other Commissioner to date. He was also the CJFL Past Commissioner for five years.

As part of his first year as Commissioner he agreed to partner with the Leader Post in Saskatoon to sponsor the Canadian Junior final with a $10,000 sponsorship and a new trophy that would be presented to the champion.    The partnership lasted 10 years before the Sifton Family who owned the Leader Post at the time decided to retire their trophy to the CFL Hall of Fame.  This did not stop McDonald.

The next year he flew to Calgary to meet with the chair of CP Airline who agreed to buy a new trophy which is the present day Canadian Bowl trophy.  

The CJFL is not the only football organization that benefited from McDonald.  He was involved with Football Saskatchewan for over 35 years, a director with Football Canada for over 20 years and is a CJFL Life Member.  He is also a member of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, inducted in 2009 before being inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

After 66 years since joining the Hilltops as a back-up quarterback, Don McDonald made a difference in junior football across the country and he will be missed.