NWAC Hall of Fame Member Don McConnaughey of Highline College passes at 90

Don McConnaughey, longtime Track Coach and Athletic Director at Highline Community College, passed away January 8 at the age of 90. 

He spent 30 years at Highline retiring in 1993, after building a collegiate track power in the Pacific Northwest.  His teams won 2 NWAC Championships in 1968 and 1989 and were runner up many times over that time span, but were also very competitive with the Pac 12 schools in the northwest.  Many of his former athletes and players went on to 4 year schools. 

Originally, he was also hired to start the football program at HCC.  He also served on the conference board and as commissioner. 

He was an assistant football coach at Highline HS for 5 years, building many formidable defenses in the old Puget Sound League,  with a defense he learned from Bum Phillips during his previous coaching stop at Amarillo HS TX where he had coached and taught for 5 years. McConnaughey had also coached on the HS level at Norphlet, AR. 

He played football and ran track at the University of Central Arkansas (then Arkansas State Teachers College) in 1949 and the early 50's where he was an all-conference end and one of the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference's top sprinters during that time.   

McConnaughey's college career was interrupted by his 2 years of active combat duty in 1951-52 during the Korean War, where his artillery outfit was involved in heavy firing on the front lines.  A 3 sport athlete at Rogers HS, AR in the late 40's, he was an all-state end in football and a top scorer as a sprinter at state HS track meets in Arkansas.

McConnaughey was inducted into the NWAC Hall of Fame in 1993.