Born May 22,1956, Donnie attended Prairie View A & M on a track scholarship. While there a leg injury required physical therapy that led to his becoming involved in the sport of power lifting. His coach, an advocated of drug-free power-lifting, enticed Donnie to try it. Soon afterwards, Donnie relocated to Port Arthur, where we began intensive training, and in 1981 he earned a fifth place finish in state competition. Undeterred, Donnie went on to win the state championship at the University of Texas at Arlington campus in 1983 in 181 lb. Class. By 1985 he had made the move to the National Power lifting Championship level, sponsored by the American Drug-free Power lifting Association; he finishing third in the Nationals. A year later he returned, having just set an American record of 705 lbs. In the Squat at the University of Texas at Austin, though finishing in second place at the San Jose, California, nationals.

Shortly afterwards Donnie teamed up with Gene Rodgers to enter the two-man dead lift championships, establishing a new World Record in that event of 1,103 lbs. Unfortunately, a devastating knee injury sidelined Donnie, stopping his participation in the sport for almost two years. After extensive rehabilitation he returned to power-lifting with a vengeance, joining the recently-formed Natural Athletes Strength Assn. In 1990. Winning the N.A.S.A nationals that year, he went on to compete for the U.S. team in international competition in the Soviet Union. There he won the World Title in the 181 lb. Division, repeating the same feat the following year in Finland.

Among his lifetime achievements are the following marks set by Donnie: Six-time nationals champion; two times as World Champion; once earning the title of Pure Athlete of the Year; twice as Male Athlete of the year; one as Master's Athlete of the Year; and one time as Overall Athlete. As recently as 1997 Donnie Cole set both the Master's American and World Records in the 198 lbs. Division, with record lifts in the squat (614 lbs.) and dead-list (705 lbs.), his combined total being 1,649 lbs.

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