Joanne Williams
Editor

(Photo provided- Former Charlotte area students, athletes and coaches Marsha McDonald (left) and Charmaine Heimes were honored with a gymnasium named after them as they retired after 40 years of coaching in Texas.)

The band played, the students cheered, the gym was packed, but this time, not for a game.

Rather, it was a dedication ceremony at the Cigarroa Middle School, in Laredo, Texas, for two former Charlotte coaches.

The Marsha McDonald and Charmaine Heimes Gymnasium was dedicated on February 11, as the coaches, friends since college, retired after 40 years of teaching and coaching there.

The coaches are 1980s graduates of Olivet College. McDonald and Heimes credit Coach Sue Bujack as a mentor there. She got McDonald into field hockey in addition to her softball play. Bujack was named to the Olivet College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

In their last two years of study at Olivet, McDonald and Heimes student taught in Charlotte, coaching volleyball and softball. McDonald started her student teaching at Marshall Middle school, then coached in Charlotte

They graduated and looked for coaching jobs in Michigan, where McDonald was a Charlotte native, and Heimes was from Detroit. They found none. So, the job hunt began and landed them in Texas in 1984.

McDonald said they wanted to coach together, and the middle school in Texas agreed, as long as they taught as well. So, they tackled physical education and racked up the wins. Within five years there, they had 100 wins. They coached basketball, volleyball and track.

“We liked middle school,” McDonald said. “We had offers for high school,” she said, but middle schoolers were “awesome.”

Over the years, the two gained supporters, friends, and saw dozens of former students return or keep in touch, many going into coaching themselves. The dedication ceremony drew school officials as well as “40 to 50” former athletes. It did not include McDonald’s popular pet bulldog, Hazel, who visited students later in the week. The Cigarroa athletes are known as the Mighty Bulldogs.

The two visit Michigan often. McDonald’s mother Nancy, has passed, but father Roger now lives in Texas. Roger was a bus supervisor for the Charlotte Public Schools and mother Nancy was a bus driver. McDonald said there are many family members to visit in Michigan, including cousins who were also athletes in school.

McDonald’s uncle, Bill Groleau, remembers  her as athletic. She was a “golf buddy,” he said, and he remembers McDonald and Heimes going on trips up north with him and his late wife, Linda, to golf and shop.