Steven McDonald, NYPD hero and Rangers superfan, dies at 59

Every NHL season since 1987-88, the New York Rangers have awarded the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award to one of their players.

It isn’t just another postseason honor handed out by an NHL team: It goes to the player who went “above and beyond the normal call of duty,” and it’s named for a New York Police Department detective who embodied that spirit after being paralyzed from the neck down by a gunman’s bullet in 1986.

Now, it will serve an annual tribute to his memory.

Steven McDonald died on Tuesday after going into cardiac arrest on Friday. He was 59.

He was a fixture at Rangers games, drawing standing ovations from the Madison Square Garden crowds when his image would flash on the Jumbotron. “My appreciation of New York Rangers hockey is something I live with 12 months a year. It’s something that helps me live day to day,” he told the team in a video last season:

McDonald was shot in Central Park in July 1986, on the case of a rash of bike robberies. He was a quadriplegic and unable to breath without assistance.

But he stayed on the job, according to the NY Post:

A third-generation cop, McDonald remained on active duty following his devastating injury, serving as a goodwill ambassador for the NYPD who attended events, gave speeches and counseled troubled kids.

He traveled to war-torn regions including the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Bosnia, and met with the late Pope John Paul II and Nelson Mandela.

McDonald was also the first person in wheelchair to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and in 1991 threatened a boycott unless organizers let other people with disabilities also join the procession.

The Rangers tweeted a tribute to him on Tuesday, saying: “Rest In Peace Steven McDonald. Our friend. Our hero. Above and beyond.”

Condolences to the McDonald family on their loss.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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