Ronald MacDonald

Ronald Joseph MacDonald, born March 5th, 1932 is not the first of his family to be inducted. Namely, he is following suit of Alexander “Big Alex” MacDonald, Ralph MacSweyn, and J. Alex (Angus John) McDonell, and his older brother Donald who was inducted in the Cornwall Hall of Fame. Growing up Ronald had two major sports figures in his life; his father and older brother.

One of Ronald’s best sports is hockey. As a child he played for the Holy Name Society team and then moved on to the Maxville Juvenile Village League then to the Maxville Millionaires and finally with Alexandria in the Border League. He also tried out for the St. Catherine Tepees of the Junior A, O.H.L. In Perth he played for the Perth Blue Wings and this team reached the O.D.H.A. senior finals for the citizen shield. While serving with the O.P.P. he played in the Renfrew Industrial League for seven years and for the last ten played in the Renfrew Millionaires Old Timers hockey team.

Playing hockey was not his only standpoint on the game; he also coached. He coached the Renfrew Lions Junior B hockey team for seven years and in his last year with them they won the Citizen Shield, O.D.H.L. Junior title.

The other sport that was a big part of Ronald’s life was basketball. He joined the Holy Name Society team in high school winning the City of Cornwall title four times between 1950 and 1955. These wins gave them berths in the Ottawa District finals where they then moved on to the Canadian Semi-finals twice.

On a less sports oriented note, many know Ronald because his heroic act in 1957. He saved a drowning co-worker who had fallen into the cold icy waters. With heavy bleeding from the co-worker and no hesitation from Ronald, he saved a life that day and both of them will cherish that moment forever.

Ronald Joseph MacDonald passed away on October 5th, 2012.