Longtime Sahara publicist McDonald dies

Monday, July 8, 2002 | 4:33 a.m.

Herb McDonald, who invented the cheap all-you-can-eat buffet that has become a Las Vegas trademark and worked as publicist and promoter at the Sahara hotel-casino for 25 years, died Saturday in Las Vegas. He was 83.

Services will be held 1 p.m. Friday at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church for the Las Vegas resident of 56 years, who in the mid-1960s penned the deal that brought the Beatles to Las Vegas.

In the 1980s and '90s McDonald was director of Las Vegas Events Inc., which was created to tap new tourism markets and counteract the loss of business to Atlantic City, which had just begun its foray into gaming.

"He was the godfather to all of us in Las Vegas publicity and marketing -- he made the footprints that we follow today," Jim Seagrave, vice president of marketing and advertising for the Stardust hotel-casino, said of his mentor.

McDonald served as public relations director for the Sahara hotel-casino from 1957 to 1975, was managing director of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commmerce from 1954-57 and was the driving force in bringing the National Finals Rodeo to town in 1985.

McDonald, an avid amateur golfer, established major tournaments in Las Vegas. Among them was the $77,777.77 Sahara Invitational PGA event in the late 1950s, where McDonald pioneered the pro-am format of golf, and the Dinah Shore and J & B Scotch LPGA events at the Desert Inn in the 1980s.

In 1975 McDonald predicted the growth boom of the past 20 years, telling the Sun that Southern Nevada's tremendous growth to that point was nothing compared with what he saw for the future.

"For the last 30 years, I have believed in Las Vegas and we have just scratched the surface," McDonald said. "The international desire to see Las Vegas is growing by leaps and bounds."

Born Herbert Cobb McDonald in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, his middle name was in honor of baseball legend Ty Cobb, a fishing buddy of Herb's father.

The family moved to California, where McDonald graduated from Pasadena Junior College in 1939. He enrolled at Stanford but quit to join the Navy and become an aviator. A lieutenant, he trained fighter pilots during World War II.

After the war McDonald began his promoting career for Music Coproration of America and early on booked acts for the El Rancho Vegas. In January 1946 McDonald scrapped plans to return to college after being offered the $125-a-week entertainment director's job at the El Rancho.

The job included running the resort's publicity department, in effect, making McDonald the Strip's first publicity director before there was a Strip. Only the Flamingo and El Rancho existed at the time.

McDonald said it was not genius but rather hunger that led to his creation of the cheap buffet.

One night, while working late at the El Rancho Vegas, McDonald said he brought some cheese and cold cuts from the kitchen and laid them out on the bar to make a sandwich. Gamblers walking by said they also were hungry and that's how the buffet was born. The original midnight "chuckwagon" buffet cost $1.25.

McDonald became managing director of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in 1954. Then 32, he was the youngest chamber director in the nation.

In 1957 McDonald was hired as director of promotion and publicity for the Sahara. In 1964 he attended the British Open and watched the Beatles perform at the Talk of the Town Club in London. He signed them after the show to an August concert at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

In March 1982 McDonald become director of Las Vegas Events Inc. and lured the National Finals Roadeo from its longtime home in Oklahoma City to Las Vegas. The event remains a popular December attraction for Las Vegas.

McDonald also helped establish the Las Vegas Bowl college football game and brought to town the nation's second largest trapshoot tournament.

He is survived by daughters Cheryl and Kimberly McDonald of Las Vegas and son Greg McDonald, also of Las Vegas.