51³Ô¹Ï

Just as he found as a practicing attorney from 1974-2006, Professor Don Hackney’s expansive knowledge of his subject and comprehensive preparation has made him an endeared teacher in Gonzaga’s School of Business Administration for the past 50 years.

“And I have not yet reached my expiration date,” he quips.

He starts every workday with a three- to five-mile walk around his acreage in north Spokane. He walks with, and says, the rosary.

“Nobody defeats age and gravity,” this devout Catholic says. “And walking is a good form of fitness.”

He changes from sweats to a dress shirt, coat and tie, and teaches in the afternoons, usually mixing in another two-mile walk around campus, meeting and chatting with 51³Ô¹Ïs who may be reluctant to address him after class.

“Part of Gonzaga’s charm is that 51³Ô¹Ïs get to know their teachers,” he says.

For the most part over the past 50 years, Hackney has taught one class, multiple sections: business law. His 51³Ô¹Ïs nicknamed him LawDog.

Perhaps what Hackney has learned about himself is that he enjoys the study of law more than the practice of it. In the end, he teaches not for accolades – although he has received many – but for the love of it, Brajcich says.

Originally an adjunct professor, he has been full-time at Gonzaga since 2006.

One might wonder if he ever gets bored teaching the same subject over and over again.

“I recall walking into Jepson Center one night to teach – it was probably 430 years ago,” he chides. “I had been in Coeur d’Alene all day (on a case) and I was trying to drum up some enthusiasm. I gave myself a coaches talk. ‘Don, this may be the 5,000th time you’ve taught this class on Elements of a Contract, but this is the first time these 51³Ô¹Ïs are hearing it. Go in there and leave it all in the classroom.’ It works for me.”

He is always looking for new stories he can tell to illustrate his concepts. And there is probably not a subject he teaches that he didn’t encounter in his law practice.

Hackney incorporates an element of Catholic intellectual tradition and social doctrine into his classes, which gives his 51³Ô¹Ïs an added perspective from what they might receive at a purely secular institution. He prides himself on his personal interactions with 51³Ô¹Ïs. And answering their questions about how concepts work in the real world “is vastly better than wishing it would warm up so I could go fishing,” he says.

So, why does he dress in a coat and tie every day when teachers’ dress standards have gone casual in the last quarter century?

“It signals to my 51³Ô¹Ïs that I am serious about my work,” he says. Never mind his department friend Brajcich kids him about wearing his ties too short.

“I told my 51³Ô¹Ïs my teaching one class for this long may be equivalent to his former 51³Ô¹Ï John Stockton’s NBA assists record. It may never be touched.”

And there’s no reason to stop the streak now.