Dustin McDonald

Dustin Columbus McDonald (October 3, 1908 – February 23, 1975) was an American professional football guard. He played college football for the Indiana Hoosiers. After college, he signed with the Cincinnati Reds of the National Football League (NFL) and also had stints with two non-NFL teams before signing with the Green Bay Packers in 1935. He appeared in one game for the Packers before being released, and after his sports career served as a labor leader in Indiana.

Early life McDonald was born on October 3, 1908, in Heber Springs, Arkansas. The son of a coal miner, he grew up in Linton, Indiana. Once, when young, his father was "laid up", and thus McDonald and his brother worked a shift in the mines instead of their father. After playing for the freshman team in 1929, he received varsity letters from 1930 to 1932. According to the Anderson Herald, he won the 1932 international YMCA wrestling championship. He was described by The Indianapolis Star as "stellar" and "one of the strongest men ever to perform on an Indiana grid or mat aggregation". In 1935, he signed with the NFL's Green Bay Packers; former Packers lineman Bobby Jones had recommended the team sign McDonald. Later life and death After his football career, McDonald was a labor leader in Indiana. He was an organizer for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and led several strikes. He was once jailed for fighting the police during one of his strikes. He later was a business agent for Local 741 of the Laborers' International Union of North America. He was married and had a step-daughter. McDonald was ill for the last 18 months of his life and died on February 23, 1975, in Bloomington, Indiana, at the age of 66.