Ray McDonald no stranger to championships

Published Jan. 30, 2013 1:33 p.m. ET

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The game has been a part of Ray McDonald’s story from the very beginning.
Born in the wee morning hours of Sept. 2, 1984, the sounds of football could be heard almost right up to McDonald’s birth.
His father, Ray McDonald Sr., was a standout receiver for the Gators at the time. Florida opened the 1984 season a few hours earlier on the night of Sept. 1 against Miami at old Tampa Stadium.
As LaBrina McDonald’s body continuously reminded her that it was about time, the Florida-Miami game was on the radio in a Pahokee hospital.
“The doctor who was birthing him was a big-time Gator fan,’’ Ray McDonald Sr. recalled this week. “He was actually listening to the game while she was in the delivery room.”
Soon after the Gators returned to Gainesville after a 32-20 loss to the Hurricanes, Ray McDonald Sr.’s mood took a turn for the better. LaBrina had given birth to Ray Jr., the couple’s first son.
That son, who like father suited up for the Gators, will play in Super Bowl XLVII vs. Baltimore on Sunday in New Orleans.
A third-round draft pick in 2007, Ray McDonald is in his sixth season with the San Francisco 49ers. In San Francisco’s two playoff wins to get to the Super Bowl, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle had nine tackles, including five in the 49ers’ 28-24 comeback win over the Falcons on Jan. 20.
Like almost always, Ray Sr. and LaBrina were at the game. They rarely miss one, making regular cross-country flights from their South Florida home to San Francisco and points in between during the season. They met up with their son in a corner of the Georgia Dome after the 49ers clinched their first Super Bowl berth in 18 years.
“The first thing he said was, ‘Pop, I get a chance to go for a three-peat.’ I get a chance to play for another championship,’’ Ray Sr. said. “He gets to play in one of the best games on the planet.”
McDonald won a state championship at Belle Glade Glades Central High in 2000 and a national title with the Gators in 2006. He hopes to add a Super Bowl title on Sunday.
McDonald has overcome a pair of serious knee injuries at Florida and another reconstructive knee surgery in San Francisco to earn a starting spot the past two seasons. Now he gets to play on the game’s biggest stage.
“Growing up, this is what you dream of doing,’’ McDonald told 49ers.com this week. “Playing in big ballgames like this. All the hard work is paying off.”
McDonald is not the only former Gator at the Super Bowl.
Baltimore receiver Deonte Thompson, an inactive member of the Ravens’ 53-member roster, is also in New Orleans. Thompson caught five passes for 51 yards in his rookie season, impressing Baltimore enough to keep him on the 53-man roster to avoid losing him to another team.
The connection between the 23-year-old Thompson and McDonald, 28, doesn’t end with their ties to the Gators. They both played at Glades Central High.
Thompson came along after McDonald was there but Ray Sr. said the two know each other. Ray Sr., a police commander in Palm Beach, spent 17 years as a track coach at Glades Central and coached Thompson in high school.
“Deonte was one of my sprinters. I go back a long way with him,’’ Ray Sr. said. “I’ve got some love on both sides basically. Of course, there’s a lot more toward my son. I want him to win.”
McDonald and Thompson spent Tuesday at media day, surrounded by cameras and reporters and a man dressed up as a clown in what has become perhaps the silliest day in sports.
Thompson was in his No. 83 jersey and seated in the first row of Baltimore’s team picture. McDonald walked around in his No. 91 49ers jersey with a freshly adorned Super Bowl XLVII logo over his left chest.
McDonald will be doing dirty work in the trenches on Sunday trying to slow down Baltimore running back Ray Rice and quarterback Joe Flacco. If McDonald could write the script, he would make an impact in the Super Bowl like his former teammate at Glades Central did, former Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes.
In Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Holmes was named MVP after he caught a six-yard touchdown from Ben Roethlisberger with 35 seconds remaining in Pittsburgh’s win over Arizona. If San Francisco wins Sunday, McDonald will join former Gators receiver Dallas Baker as the only players in school history to win a state championship in high school, a national title in college, and a Super Bowl ring.
“I know it’s kind of hard for a defensive player to be remembered like that in a Super Bowl, but that would be something I would be very proud of,’’ McDonald told 49ers.com. “To be known in the Super Bowl for making an awesome play and helping my team win.”
Ray Sr. and LaBrina departed their Wellington home Wednesday for New Orleans. There is no way they would miss this game. When Ray Jr. was at Florida, the elder McDonald said he can only recall maybe one game they missed home or away.
They have made approximately 75 percent of their son’s games in the NFL, made a little easier this season after Ray Jr. purchased a home in San Jose. No more hotels for his parents at home games.
After Ray Sr. finished his career at Florida – he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1985 after the Gators’ win over Auburn – he was drafted by New England and was one of the final cuts in camp. He later spent three seasons in the CFL before entering the police force.
He never came close to a Super Bowl as a player. He finally made it as a father.
“I want my boy to make history,’’ he said. “To see him come back from [three knee surgeries], it’s special man. Here he is, playing in the Super Bowl.”

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