BGSU grad, onetime Blade intern ran touted basketball newspaper
11/18/2000PINEHURST, N.C. - Larry Donald, a Bowling Green State University graduate who ran one of the nation's most regarded basketball publications, died Thursday of an apparent heart attack while returning to his condominium here after his morning walk. He was 55.
Mr. Donald was the owner, publisher, and editor of Basketball Times, a tabloid he purchased in 1980.
Cited 19 times for his writing by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Mr. Donald was the only two-term president in the association's history and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1997. The following year, the National Basketball Association's Hall of Fame presented him with its prestigious Curt Gowdy Award for service to the sport.
His sister, Linda, said he worked tirelessly at his job and sometimes went to the “oddest places of the United States” to research youngsters pegged for future stardom.
A Deshler native, Mr. Donald was a summer intern at The Blade in 1965 and graduated from BGSU in 1967. His first job was in the sports department of the Fostoria Review-Times, where he worked until heading to Detroit in 1970 to become managing editor of Football News and Basketball Weekly.
He moved the offices of Basketball Times from Rochester, Mich., to Pinehurst two years ago, partly so he could have more time pursuing another one of his passions, golf, his sister said.
Surviving are his son, David, and sister, Linda.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Wright Funeral Home, Grand Rapids, O. There will be no visitation.
The family requests tributes to the American Heart Association or the National Kidney Foundation.