Angus Hoey McDonell
Angus Hoey McDonell, the father of the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, contributed in an unprecedented way to the historic sports and cultural community of Glengarry Country through his life.
“Angus H.” was born in Montreal on May 13, 1906, the son of the late John Duncan McDonell, and the late Elizabeth McMillan. He arrived at Highland Chief Farm on Dornie Road, three miles west of Alexandria, at the age of five with his mother.
He grew up with an affection for sports, inheriting that passion from his father. In his youth, he submitted his first piece of sports news to The Glengarry news on January 6, 1922. The item was a brief from the “Little Four Hockey League” which took in the county communities of Maxville, Martintown, Apple Hill and the Third of Kenyon (Hwy. 43).
After that initial contact, in May of 1924 he represented the newspaper at the founding organizational meeting of the Glengarry Football (now soccer) League in Dunvegan, a group still in existence, and authored the details of that meeting.
The Glengarry native left for the city lights of Ottawa later in the 20s, where he worked as a barber and shortly thereafter began his career in insurance adjusting. While in Ottawa, he helped lay the groundwork for the city’s little league baseball league.
His organizing of a Glengarry Night in Ottawa in 1946 led to the formation of the Glengarry Club of Ottawa, a non-profit organization which now has chapters in several cities across the country, and devotes itself to worthy causes, and fellowship among Glengarrians living away from their birthplace. He also chaired the Alexandria Lions Club Sportsmen’s Dinner for 10 years, an event which continues today.
The late 1950s were to prove an eventful – and tragic time for him. His wife, Annie J (McKinnon) died in 1956. Angus remarried in February, 1958, the former Bertha (Bea) MacDonald, who survives him. Tragedy again struck the family in 1959 when Angus’ son (John) Duncan was killed in a car accident at the age of 22.
His solid faith in the Catholic church sustained him, however, and he was an active member of St. Finnan’s Cathedral and a member of the Knights of Columbus.
After his return to his family home, Highland Chief Farm, in 1959, he continued insurance adjusting in Cornwall, and again started contributing a regular diet of articles to the paper. For the next 20 years, he continued in the insurance adjusting business, retiring in 1970 with a long career and already significant accomplishment behind him. He and Bertha then decided to travel extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada, sending back reports on places and experiences that drew detailed pictures for many a Glengarry News reader.
His contributions to the well-being of the world-renowned Glengarry Highland Games were legion. He served as chairman for 25 years until his “retirement” from that post in 1987.
He was feted and honored in May of that year, as the community organized an evening in his honor, saluting his contributions and personality. He continued on, however, as the honorary chairman and continued to lead his considerable experience to the Games board.
When he wasn’t travelling, his work for the Glengarry Highland Games occupied much of his time, but his depth of knowledge about athletes and Glengarry sportsmen and women drove him toward the establishment of the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame some 15 years ago. It was his oft-repeated dream to see a shrine built to house artifacts and paintings that would represent a permanent place of honor for the county’s sports heroes of yesteryear.
The bottom line for Angus had been a deep desire to save for the ages names that would otherwise have passed without comment by people too young to appreciate the roots of recreation in Glengarry, and the old country’s history in general. The late Eugene MacDonald said about his old friend in a column printed in May of 1987, the evening before the testimonial dinner for Angus H.: “Sports are in his blood and, one would think, in his mind to the exclusion of all else. And there one would be wrong for his memory bank is well programmed with Glengarry’s history and its first families, too.”
His dream came true one September day in 1989, when, after a long quest, he watched the doors open on the Sports Hall of Fame in Maxville. He was honorary curator of the hall after its opening but illness forced him away from the operation. Angus was also late in life named honorary co-chairman of the Glengarry-Stormont branch of the Clan Donald Society.
His next goal was to remain healthy until February 1, 1992 – when the News officially marked its 100th year in operation with a banquet at the Glengarry Sports Palace.
Despite the debilitating effects of the cancer inside him, Angus insisted that he climb the stairs of the sports Palace that night, in full formal Highland dress, and stood long enough to deliver a short speech saluting The Glengarry News and its anniversary.
It was the last time he would be seen in public. After some weeks in Glengarry Memorial Hospital, he was sent home, where VON nurses cared for him and Bertha until his death on Sunday, May 10.
