Beloved NTX Cheetahs Elite coach Orlando McDaniel passes away: A Tribute

by Steve Underwood


Orlando McDaniel, the wonderful coach who mentored countless athletes as the founder, director and head coach of the North Texas Cheetahs Elite – in addition to his own outstanding career as a student-athlete – passed away Friday night due to complications from Coronavirus. He was 59.

Coach McDaniel guided track and field athletes of all ages at the nationally-renowned Dallas/Ft. Worth-area club. They included numerous NBN champions and All-Americans, Texas state champions and podium finishers, and Youth/Club standouts at every level – with scores of them earning college scholarships, from the top D1 programs on down. Among those great athletes was Jasmine Moore (with Coach McDaniel, photo at right), the Mansfield Lake Ridge HS (TX) grad and Team NSAF/Project Triple Jump alum who won 8 UIL titles and 6 NBN crowns as a prep, and is now starring at U. of Georgia.

Some of McDaniel’s athletes prepped at DeSoto HS, where they annual racked up state titles, national rankings and HS records. That included four current DeSoto standouts – Jalaysi’ya Smith, Ja’Era Griffin, Jayla Hollis and Mia Abraham – who starred individually and on the US#1 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams before the outdoor season was interrupted. Two of them were also part of DeSoto’s national record 4x100 last year.

“I can't think of another coach who supported his athletes and believed in his athletes as much as he did,” said Joy Kamani, COO of the NSAF, who knew him for many years. “And, that is saying a lot! His athletes were always incredibly talented and incredibly coached and taught.” She remembers McDaniel as always smiling and “always a gentleman.”

“He had a personality that was definitely all his own,” said Macka Jones, the NSAF Project Triple Jump Coordinator, who has coached in Texas for many years, including a stint in the DFW area. “He was a very charismatic and determined individual. Anything that he did regarding his kids was to promote their talents at highest stage possible. He also wanted to make sure that they performed at the best of their abilities when it counted.”

McDaniel was very special as an athlete himself, too. At Lake Charles HS, he was one of the nation’s very best as a junior and senior – over both the 120y and 180y hurdles and with the stick for Lake Charles’ 4x110 and 4x220 relays. As a junior in ’77, he ranked #3 nationally in the 180s (18.6) and #5 in the 120s (13.5), and ran on a 4x220 that ranked #4 nationally (1:26.4).

That set the stage for an even better senior year in ’78. McDaniel’s lone indoor competition was a co-national-leader 7.1 60yHH to win the Mardi Gras Classic. Outdoors, he led the U.S. in the 180yLH at 18.3 and was #5 again at 120yHH at 13.5. He was a double Louisiana state champ in those events with the above PRs, with the 13.5 coming into a 6.5mph headwind (his 3rd 13.5 of the year).

McDaniel and his Lake Charles mates were equally spectacular in the relays. They set two national records in the 4x220, with a 1:24.8 best and with McDaniel running 20.7 for the 2nd leg on the 1:24.9 state champs. They were US#2 in the 4x110 with 40.9 (also state champs) and they swept both events at the prestigious Golden South Invite (41.33 and 1:25.74).

Thanks to Jack Shepard, HS Editor of Track & Field News, for Orlando McDaniel’s HS stats, which can be seen in even greater detail HERE.

At least as good as a wide-receiver on the gridiron, McDaniel became a 2-sport standout at LSU. He was twice an All-American in the 110mH (2nd in ’80, 3rd in ’81) for the Tigers, and in the fall caught 64 passes for 1,184 yards during his career – ranking among the SEC top four in two categories as a senior.

McDaniel then had a brief stint in the NFL after getting drafted 50th overall in the 2nd round by the Denver Broncos.

“Orlando was a tireless worker for the youth in his area of (Dallas-Fort Worth),” current LSU Head T&F Coach Dennis Shaver told The Advocate. “His youth North Texas Cheetahs Track Club, year after year, developed many of the great athletes competing for universities throughout the United States.”

Like many others for sure, Jones is saddened that an age group coach like McDaniel, that put so much of himself into track and field, is no longer with us.

“He loved the sport and cared so much about his athletes and will definitely be missed by so many,” he said. “But I know through his athletes his legacy will live on.”

More on Coach McDaniel

 

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