As a player he was there in the Scottish Cup Final-winning team in 1885 alongside Bob Kelso at half-back, was there again in losing it in 1886 in the same pairing and in 1888 in victory there he was once more on the left of the club's uniquely innovative three. And he was also a man of his valley for the whole of his life, born in Renton, lived in Jamestown and Alexandria and died in Bonhill. That is apart for one short period, which again seems entirely ignored.  

Donald McKechnie was came into this world in February 1861 on Renton Main St., the son of a Millwright, and it was on that same street that he grew up, his mother a shopkeeper. In 1872, when football came to the Vale he was already eleven, his teenage years clearly spent watching it develop. When he first played for Renton is unknown but he was a stalwart of the team that emerged from 1883 from early on. In terms of work he was a Machine Tenter, a Calico Machine Printer from youth until retirement except for a couple of years. After Renton's 1888 Scottish Cup Final win and the club being crowned "World Champions" by defeating the English FA Cup winners, Preston North End and West Bromwich, he was one of the players tempted South, in spite of already being twenty-eight. He went to Sunderland, as did teammate, Johnny Campbell. The Wearsiders have him staying just one season, 1888-89 but it seems unlikely since he is also said to have played thirty-eight times for them and in the 1891 is recorded as boarding in Bishop Wearmouth in the city.