Throughout the course of the 2008-2009 academic year, we will seek to recognize some of the great names of the past to highlight the heritage of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association in honor of the Association’s 95th anniversary. In this edition we are pleased to recognize Donald Bonner.
Donald Bonner’s career included involvement in athletics from a number of different perspectives and positions.
A native of Robeson County and a 1955 graduate of North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University), Bonner began his teaching and coaching career at two high schools in South Carolina, sandwiched around a stint in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. His duties included coaching football, basketball, baseball and track.
He returned to his native state in 1961 and was a teacher and coach at Leach Street High in Rockingham, coaching both men’s basketball and baseball, and then was involved with women’s basketball and baseball in Maxton for five years and then at Rowland High School for four.
In 1972 he became principal of Rowland’s Southside Middle School, and then in ’77 was elevated to the central office, where he now serves as associate superintendent of the Public Schools of Robeson County.
Very active in civic and church affairs, Bonner was involved at a statewide level in athletics in a variety of capacities. He is a former member of the NCHSAA’s Board of Directors and served as president of the organization in 1983-84. He served on the Association’s Hall of Fame Selection Committee and also co-chaired the difficult Realignment Committee.
Bonner also headed up the State Endowment Committee, which made the proposal for the NCHSAA Endowment that has become a reality.
Bonner has been honored by the NCHSAA with a Distinguished Service Award and was recognized in 1990 as the superintendent contributing the most to high school athletics. He was inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Assocaition Hall of Fame in 1992.
