A New City, N.Y., native, Brian Donohue came to Mercy College by way of Albertus Magnus in Bardonia, N.Y., A high school classmate of fellow 2009 Mercy College Hall of Fame inductee Mary Brechbiel Agnetti, and one of the Mercy College Basketball program’s three retired jersey numbers (#12), Donohue, “the man with the golden shooting touch,” is the program’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,028 career points. He’s also in the record books as ninth all-time with 119 career steals. Donohue was the first men’s basketball player in Mercy College history to score 1,000 points then 2,000 points. He also broke the all-time scoring record as sophomore.
An All-County honoree for Albertus Magnus, Donohue was the fifth leading scorer in the county as a senior guard. Recruited by fellow Hall of Famer, Dr. Neil Judge, he chose to play for the Flyers over other schools in the area such as Marist and Dominican, both of which Mercy College defeated during Donohue’s playing career with the Flyers. Donohue played in Judge’s final season as coach of the Flyers’ basketball team, and went on to play under two Mercy College coaching changes with one-year head coach Angelo Petrone, and the school’s all-time win’s leader (84 wins), head coach Joe Flower.
“I enjoyed all my coaches, from Judge to Petrone and Flower,” said Donohue. “From each, I took something that I could apply in life. I also had the opportunity to play with some very good players and people, like Tom Sivulich, Dan Quilty, Ralph Smith, Neal Murphy and Ed Prendergast.”
A three-time captain, Donohue, primarily a perimeter shooter, was described as displaying strong character during his playing days and beyond. During his career with the Flyers, he averaged 22.5 points per game. He held the single-game record with 45 points scored against St. Thomas Aquinas, a top-20 NAIA team, on Feb. 7, 1977. The Flyers scored 139 points in the contest, the most any Mercy basketball team has scored in a single game. He was ranked in the top 20 in scoring in the country for three-straight seasons, 17th in 1976, 12th in 1977 and 17th in 1978.
In his rookie season, 1974-75, Donohue scored 303 points, averaging 17.8 points per game and a .466 shooting percentage. In his second season with the Flyers, he posted the school record for field goals made in a game with 18, en route to 42 points against Cathedral College on Dec. 3, 1975.
Under the tutelage of Flower, Donohue was part of the Flyer squad that averaged 104 points a game – the best in NCAA Division III; and as a junior, Donohue was leading his teammates with 24 points per game and was selected to the Westchester All-County Collegiate first team and the All-Metropolitan New York second team.
Going into his final season, he was named “All Star” on the ECAC’s weekly honor roll 20 times and received honorable mention on five other occasions.
In his final year with Mercy College, Donohue averaged 22.8 points per game and scored 501 points in 22 games played, helping the Flyers to their second-best season winning percentage since 1974 (.615). Donohue recalls one of his most memorable moments in his career with when the Flyers defeated top-seeded New York Tech in a 102-100 overtime victory to advance the squad to the finals of the Knickerbocker conference tournament championship. Donohue scored 27 points.In the Knickerbocker Conference championship final, Feb. 26, 1978, the Flyers lost to Stony Brook, 88-82. Despite the loss, Donohue scored 26 points in that final game, 20 in the first half to become the first person in Mercy College history to score 2,000 points with 2,003. He was named both Regular Season Knickerbocker Conference MVP and Tournament MVP. Once again, Donohue and joined collegiate basketball greats such as legendary St. John’s head coach Lou Carnesecca by being honored at the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association’s 45th Awards Dinner for the second reason in a row.
Donohue completed his bachelor’s degree in business from Mercy College in 1978. After college, instead of pursuing a professional career in Europe, Mercy College provided him with the opportunity to complete his MBA at LIU. Since finishing his MBA, Donohue has had a successful career with IBM, as the Vice President of Operations, coincidently at the same company as his fellow teammate and Mercy College basketball’s all-time assist leader Tom Sivulich.
Donohue currently resides in Brewster, N.Y. with his wife Maureen, his sons Conor (17) and Ryan (14) and his daughter Kaitlin (13). He continues to be active in the sport of basketball as assistant coach for the JFK – Somers varsity basketball team, where his son Conor, plays. He has been active in coaching youth baseball and basketball since his sons were five years old. Donohue has also coached the Special Olympics Basketball for three years.
