We know where the star athlete ended up. What about the benchwarmer, the consummate team player, the one who shows up to practice every day to make the whole team better? What about the underdog that learned so much from the plight of fighting for every minute of playing time, they were unstoppable after the final buzzer of their athletic career? It is something Mike MacDonald knows well.
 
In fact, he wrote the book on it.
 
Mike MacDonald is a 1975 Rutgers graduate, a men's basketball letterwinner, a loyal supporter of Scarlet Knights Athletics, and now, an author. From the Bench to the Boardroom hit bookshelves on May 25, telling the story of a lower middle-class kid whose life was changed with a scholarship to Rutgers, the people he met along the way, and the indelible lessons of leadership and perseverance.
 
The book's subtitle, My Journey from Underdog Athlete to Turnaround CEO, speaks volumes by itself. Years before a world-renowned business venture, MacDonald turned around his personal brand with a commitment and willingness to overcome any obstacle in his way. MacDonald can bookmark a chapter in his life's story when it all changed, and it was written "On the Banks of the Old Raritan."
 
"Rutgers was one of the greatest experiences of my life," MacDonald said. "It was because of the people. I never would have achieved what I did without going to Rutgers. I came from very little money, so the scholarship impacted my life tremendously by giving me the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest people I have met to this day."
 
The journey led to a thriving business career at Xerox, OfficeMax, and Medifast. Throughout a meteoric rise from the sales department to chairman and CEO, MacDonald honored his roots at Rutgers and gave back to the place that shaped a basketball player into a savvy businessman.
 
MacDonald has given generously to three endowed athletic scholarships, conference and film rooms in the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center, the Athletics Excellence Fund, and the Big Ten Build, among other causes and initiatives. He received Rutgers' Class of 1931 Award, given to a young alumni who has supported the University through service and philanthropy following his initiative at Xerox to donate printers to his alma mater during a budget downturn.
 
He went on to become the Vice President of the Rutgers men's basketball booster, Court Club, as well as stints on the Rutgers Board of Trustees and Board of Overseers.
 
"I believe if you've done well, you should give back to the people and places that helped get you there," MacDonald said.
 
MacDonald also gives back to one of his greatest mentors and everything he stands for – Jim Valvano and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. One hundred percent of the proceeds of MacDonald's book sales will be donated to pediatric cancer research. Valvano was one in a long line of "Rutgers People" that inspired MacDonald to commit to excellence. As a business school student and graduate assistant on the coaching staff at Iona with Valvano, MacDonald heard Jimmy V say he was going to win a national championship – at Iona, of all places.
 
"Jimmy taught me sales, motivation, and goal setting," MacDonald remembers. "He believed he was going to win a national title with Iona. That's how two years later, he beat the No. 1 team in the nation and eventual national champion, Louisville, by 17 points at Madison Square Garden. He believed in himself and he believed in his team."
 
A political science major, MacDonald may as well have been in a double major, with the other subject being basketball. It was not just the X's and O's, the wins and losses. It was the lessons on leadership, communication, teamwork, and confidence that propelled MacDonald to a successful career in the boardroom.
 
Lesson number one was patience and perseverance. MacDonald worked the snack bar and meal service at a basketball camp one summer and would join the pickup games with the campers in between shifts. That is where he was noticed by college recruiters one night, dropping around 30 points in a game before ever playing a single varsity game for his high school in Philadelphia. Once he was established on varsity, the Rutgers coaches watched him score 31 points and offered the scholarship. That piece of paper MacDonald signed would change his life.
 
MacDonald was one of seven children. His father drove trucks and cabs, and his mother danced professionally with a group that eventually became the Rockettes. The MacDonald kids had two choices for a college education: join the military or get a scholarship.
 
"Education can be the most important thing in your life," MacDonald says. "That scholarship changed everything. Basketball was my path to Rutgers, where I learned from the people that would shape the rest of my life. These people showed me what can be accomplished through dedication and hard work."
 
Now, don't let his book's subtitle deceive you. MacDonald may not have been a starter for Rutgers basketball, but he was no slouch. He scored 17 points per game for the freshman team, then 32 points per contest for junior varsity before getting the call up to the main event, where he joined a roster that featured four of the greatest players in Scarlet Knights history: Eddie Jordan, Phil Sellers, Hollis Copeland, and Mike Dabney. As a crucial role player and prudent practice player, MacDonald helped build the program to a No. 16 Associated Press national ranking and Rutgers' first NCAA Tournament during his senior year.
 
It turned out building programs was MacDonald's thing.
 
"Basketball was part of the education," MacDonald said. "I got to watch Phil Sellers, one of the greatest to ever play the game. He was the example of how hard you have to go after things in life. I didn't have the physical skills of some of these guys, but I told myself when I go into the business world, it's not about the physical game, it's about the hard work and the stick-to-itiveness. I'm going to outwork and outperform everyone. I got that from my coaches, Tom Young, Joe Boylan, Dick Lloyd, and Dick Vitale."
 
Rutgers Alumni Relations helped set MacDonald up with an interview with Xerox, and the ball was rolling. He lived up to his "outwork everyone" mantra and became the president of Xerox's North American Solutions Group, who had the largest turnaround in company history with MacDonald at the helm. He served as the executive vice president of OfficeMax before taking over his brother's weight-loss products company, Medifast, as chairman and CEO in 2011.
 
The upward trends following MacDonald's career path were no mistake, and this one was personal. Under his watch, Medifast's stock rose from $4 to $218 per share. He took the reins from his brother, who passed away from cancer.
 
Rutgers has been an epicenter of MacDonald's life, and that continued into his family life. His wife, Jean, was Rutgers coach Tom Young's secretary when they met. They have three children, including one in the Rutgers Athletics record books. Ryan is a Class of 2001 graduate and a four-time men's golf Most Valuable Player that led the Scarlet Knights to second place in the Big East before turning pro. MacDonald endowed a Rutgers men's golf scholarship in Ryan's name. MacDonald's son-in-law, Anthony Cali, is a 2007 Rutgers alumnus.
 
"I'm proud there is a family legacy, and I'm proud our family's scholarships will continue to inspire generations of likeminded burgeoning professionals," MacDonald said.
 
His monetary gifts have certainly had an impact on the trajectory of Rutgers Athletics. His inspirational story can have just as large an effect.
 
"This book can reach any kid that sat on the bench, that got cut from a team, that played JV and never got the public recognition of a star player," MacDonald said. "The best thing I learned at Rutgers was that being a good teammate and learning from your coaches is all you need to trigger a tremendous career.
 
"Any kid can do that."