Donald Jay was a four-year letterman on the Howard Payne track team in the hurdles and weight events under legendary coach J.H. “Cap” Shelton. He was a three-year letterman at end for the football team and played basketball for two years. The Brady High School graduate received his bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 1951 and coached a year at Kingsville before enlisting for two years in the Navy. He returned to coach at Kingsville and earned a master’s degree from Sam Houston State. He coached at Lamesa and West Orange before moving to Austin to become Executive Vice President of the Texas High School Coaches Association. He worked for the association until he retired in 1991. In addition to the HPU’s Athletics Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and awarded the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Jim Myers “Extra Mile” Award. He died in 2016.