(16 Dec. 1865-8 Nov. 1951), athlete and figure of legend. (Big Alex MacIsaac MacDonald, Big Alex the Champion, Alexander J. Big Alex MacIsaac McDonald, Alex J. McDonald, Big Sandy, the “weight man”) Born in the Loch Garry area, east of Apple Hill, GC, on the farm on which he grew up, which was on Lot 29 in the 2nd Concession of Kenyon Township. The MacIsaac MacDonald family had been settled in this area since the 1830s. Parents: Mr and Mrs John MacDonald. At Caledonian (Highland) games and other sporting competitions, he distinguished himself as a caber-thrower, hammer-thrower and shot putter, and at tug-of-war. Angus H. McDonell wrote of him as “a protege” of R. R. (Big Rory) McLennan, who was also a celebrated athlete. The Cornwall Freeholder of 11 Aug. 1882, probably referring to him, reported that A. A. [sic] McDonald of Loch Garry, world champion stone thrower, had been defeated at the Caledonian games, Montreal, last Saturday. Big Alex was a farmer in GC and worked on railway construction in various parts of North America. In the First World War, he enlisted despite being overage, and served overseas in the Forestry Corps. While in the Forestry Corps, he participated, as the Corps’s entrant, at the British Empire games held at Starcross, Devon, Eng., and as a winning athlete in the caber toss he was awarded a gold wristwatch, the actual presentation being made by Queen Mary. (Glengarry News 24 Jan. 1919) He bore a large scar on his head, and used to explain that it resulted from a most violent fight which he had had with a supernatural creature in a swamp near his home. He died in a Cornwall hospital. Roman Catholic. The burial was in St. Anthony’s cemetery, Apple Hill.

     Roy F. Fleming’s article of 1949 on early GC athletes is useful for giving a comprehensive picture of the half-legendary history of GC sports, as that history looked to be in the 1940s; it is a progress report on the growth of a mythology. The article mentions Big Alex only briefly, however, while misspelling his name, suggesting that among the people Fleming consulted for his comprehensive article, MacDonald was not seen as important as he later came to be.

     Big Alex MacDonald must be distinguished from another man of similar name, his kinsman A. K. MacIsaac MacDonald, born 24 May 1874 at Loch Garry, who was also a well known GC athlete active in Highland sports and competitions. He shortened his first name Alexander to A., and he added K., thus getting as A. K. MacDonald a name which would distinguished him from other members of his family. He and his wife, Agnes Ann MacDonald, residents of Lot 24, 3rd Concession of Kenyon Township, died instantly on 11 June 1944 when their car was struck by a freight train near Apple Hill.

Biog. article by Angus H. McDonell (for Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame) Glengarry News 6 June 1979, illust. * Leroy L. Guldan, “The MacIsaac MacDonalds of Kenyon and Glengarry,” Ninth Annual Volume of the Glengarry Historical Society, 1969-1970 * Apple Hill (1982) 59 * Roy F. Fleming, “Glengarry Athletes Star Performers in Early Caledonian Games,” Standard Freeholder 23 July 1949 * Fraser (1959) 231, 251-253 * portrait of “Big Alex,” GN 13 May 1998 * material in present author’s files from papers of Leroy L. Gulden (d. 19 April 1973) , of St. Paul, Minn., a descendant of the MacIsaac MacDonald family * A. K. MacIsaac MacDonald: obituary, GN 16 June 1944, with tribute by Angus H. McDonell; biog. article by Angus H. McDonell (for Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame) GN 30 May 1984, with line drawing by Douglas A. Fales