Fast. Powerful. Elusive.
Those adjectives best describe the play of Darnell McDonald, but they don't come close to capturing the full scope of the
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Colo.) star's ability.
McDonald left his mark on the Colorado record book, as well as on the minds of those who had the pleasure to watch him play. Simply put, he was the type of player you wanted to have the ball on every play, and when he had it you didn't take your eyes off him.
As a running back, he set the state standard by rushing for 6,121 yards, the most in Colorado's top classification when he graduated in 1997. (The mark was surpassed by Chatfield's LenDale White with 7,802). McDonald led the Bruins to three state titles and earned a scholarship to play at the University of Texas.
McDonald never donned the burnt orange of the Longhorns, though, as he also happened to be perhaps the top baseball player in state history. Cherry Creek also won three consecutive big-school baseball championships with McDonald in the outfield and in the middle of the batting order. His senior year he hit a then-state-record 15 home runs.
McDonald was a first-round draft choice of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1997 amateur draft and currently plays for the Boston Red Sox.
Gerry Valerio has covered high school sports for more than 20 years, all
but one of them in Colorado. He has worked at the Greeley (Colo.)
Tribune, Victor Valley (Calif.) Daily Press, VarsityOnline.com and was a
staff writer at the Rocky Mountain News (Colo.) before taking over as
the high school sports editor from 2001-2009. He is now a senior writer
with MaxPreps.
