University of Massachusetts basketball coach Steve Lappas wanted to see if the man would meet the expectations. He wanted to see if Will McDonough could live up to the myth.
“Steve came up to the paper to meet Will,” Boston Globe Assistant Sports Editor Joe Sullivan said. “And he asked Will what his role was in the Boston sports scene.
“Will just looked at him, and said ‘I’m the king around here,'” Sullivan said. “Steve looked at me, and I just nodded. Will was the king.”
Early morning on Jan. 10th, the Northeastern community lost one of its most beloved alumni. Will McDonough, 67, longtime Boston Globe columnist and former Northeastern graduate, passed away due to a heart attack while watching ESPN’s Sportscenter in his Hingham home. The sportswriter was a friend to many, foe to some, but respected by all.
McDonough, a true co-op success story, covered the NFL for the Globe for over 30 years, including every Super Bowl. McDonough also worked for CBS and NBC, covering the NFL there as well.
“Will was a pioneer, he was the first successful sideline reporter and opened doors for countless amounts of people. He began what’s now a staple of NFL telecasts,” Sullivan said.
McDonough’s ability to pull information from the stingiest of sources was admired by colleagues and supervisors alike.
“He was the ultimate information man,” Globe columnist and co-worker of 34 years Bob Ryan said. “He had an unchallenged ability to be able to extract information from any source.”
Sullivan agreed.
“Will would call me at the office and ask what I had on the Patriots, then he would send a story. His were always stories no one else had. He had the inside scoop on everyone.”
Longtime Patriot Ledger football analyst Ron Hobson, and close friend of Will’s for 41 years, started out in the business with McDonough. “He was the only reporter I ever saw that never used a notebook. He would disarm people by just starting a conversation, and they would tell him things then never told anyone else. He could disarm anyone,” Hobson stated.
The sports icon was never one to mince words; if he wanted to call someone out, he did it. In one infamous incident, McDonough punched out former New England Patriot Raymond Clayborn because the brawny athlete attempted to intimidate him.
“His style was that of a tough, street smart guy from Boston,” Sullivan said about the youngest of nine Irish immigrant children from South Boston. “He carried himself thus, but Will had a real soft spot too. He worked tirelessly for a number of charities.”
McDonough was one of the leading contributors to the Globe’s “Robin Romano Fund,” a charity set up for a former Globe staff member that passed away due to cancer.
“Will really drove the Fund, I’m a little worried about its future now that he’s gone,” Sullivan said.
However, for a man at the tops of the sports journalism world, Hobson said that McDonough never forgot his roots.
“The most amazing thing about Will, was that he was the same guy in 2002 that he was in 1960. He never changed a bit. Here’s a guy that was rubbing elbows with kings and queens, and all the big names of the sports world, but that also remained very grounded,” Hobson said. “He might’ve know the President of the Bruins, but he also knew the guy that sold the hot dogs.”
Although the death of a legend leaves thousands of fans, friends, and family mourning the loss of the one that made them laugh, cry, and think, the city of Boston will make its attempt at filling the void of the Will McDonough-less world.
Sullivan adds, “Will was such a great guy to have around the office, we’ll be less of a sports section without him.”
