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JIM PROUDFOOT Speaking on Sport Bucko Started From Scratch EVERYTHING Bucko McDonald ever accomplished in hockey, and it was considerable, was the direct result of determined hard work. Nature equipped him with few of the skills essential to a big-league player. In fact, he could barely stand up on skates when he first came to Maple Leaf Gardens. The very picture of grace on the lacrosse floor, where he was one of the best, Bucko was painfully awkward on ice. So he learned. He found out where to station himself on defence, how to press the right attacking buttons with forward passes and how to use his bulk as an effective weapon. None of this came easy. One practising the art of dropping down to block shots, he sat on his skate blade and inflicted a most distressing wound. Other lessons were almost as excruciating. Eventually, though, he became a first-rate National league defenceman. More important, he stored up uncommon knowledge of the sport. It was inevitable that he would become a coach. Men like Gordle Howe and Jean Beliveau have BUCKO MCDONALD trouble explaining many of the things they do during a contest. They play strictly by instinct, Hockey to them, is an enjoyable caper, really a game. It is the other chaps, the ones to whom hockey is a laborious project, who make the good coaches. Short on talent, they get by because they know more about what they're doing. So it was with Bucko. Today, there are better coaches in hockey but very few of them. Since 1948, his students, the Sundridge Beavers, have won the Ontario intermediate 'B" championship three times, the most recent being two weeks ago. They were finalists on three other occasions and in 1956, successfully invaded the tougher intermediate "A" division. The Beavers' positional play and pattern passing stands up under the most critical examination, One of the players had this to say: "I watch the NHL games on television, I see guys on certain teams make some terrible blunders. If we did the same things, Bucko would have us on the bench." McDonald Product NHL-Bound ^HE Beavers, as you might expect, are something of a . I legend through the Muskoka-Parry Sound area where Sundridge is located. So is their coach. He's the district's best-known resident. Capitalizing on his popularity, Bucko served 12 years ,as a member of Parliament until he retired undefeated in 1957. He didn't last that long in the NHL, During his stay m office, Bucko arranged construction of many new post offices and docks and bridges and set up several pensions for folks who needed them. But people being people, the achievements of the Beavers always have commanded much more attention. These days, they're quite excited about a McDonald product who suddenly has become the hottest property in minorTeague hockey. That's 21-year-old Gerry Odrowski, who has just been singled out as top defenceman in the Eastern Professional league. "I had him here in 1956 when he was 17," Bucko related yesterday. "He seemed like a good one and the Leafs moved him to St. Mikes the next season. He couldn't seem to get adjusted to city life or something because he did no good there and Leafs took him off their list. "Next season, 1 took him with me to the Soo where I was going to coach the senior team. I shifted Gerry to defence then. He looked so good that Detroit Red Wings put him on their list and now I believe hell be one of their protected players this summer." Pardonably proud of his protege, Bucko confessed he has one more point to prove. Two years ago, he had a brief tryout as coach of Rochester, N.Y., Americans and was fired. He has nothing to say about that episode except. "Let's say I might have been caught in the middle, so to speak. Anyway, I'm not bitter. Except that I still think I can co-ach anywhere." Anywhere? "Well," said Bucko, "it might have to go some to beat Sundridge, You'll have to excuse me, I'm getting my jeep ready for a-fishing trip." ,