Melvin "Sugar" McLaughlin (born July 31, 1960) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

, where he became the school's leading scorer and was the 1981–82 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. A native of

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, McLaughlin starred at Creston High School. A 6'0" scoring

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

, he scored 1557 points in his high school career and led the Polar Bears to the state quarterfinals as a sophomore. For his junior and senior seasons, he averaged 33 points per game. In 2016, the Grand Rapids-based media company Mlive named McLaughlin the greatest high school player in the city's history. McLaughlin then moved to Central Michigan to play for coach

Dick Parfitt Richard Allen Parfitt (May 13, 1931 – September 6, 2021) was an American college basketball coach. He was head coach for Central Michigan University (CMU) from 1971 to 1985, during which time he led their move from the National Association of In ...

. He entered the starting lineup in his freshman year, averaging 12.4 points. In his sophomore season he became one of the top guards in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

, averaging 20.8 points per game and earning a berth on the All-MAC first team. He followed this by repeating as first-team all-conference and was named the MAC Player of the Year after leading the conference in scoring. In his senior season, McLaughlin again increased his scoring average and led the MAC, but dropped to second-team All-MAC. Following the close of his college career, McLaughlin was selected by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

in the sixth round (119th pick overall) of the 1983 NBA draft, but did not play in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

. He played for the

Detroit Spirits The Savannah Spirits were a professional basketball team that played for two years in the Continental Basketball Association from 1986 to 1988, amassing a total regular season record of 42 wins and 60 losses for a total of 306.5 points. The team ...

of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA). He also played with

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

's barnstorming team, the All-Stars. McLaughlin left CMU as the school's all-time leader in points (2,071, 20.3 per game) and steals (196, since surpassed). In 1993 he was inducted into the Central Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame and in 2005 was inducted into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame. His number 14 is one of six retired by CMU basketball. The book, ''Sweet Shot: The Basketball Life and Legacy of Melvin "Sugar" McLaughlin'' was published in March, 2021.Sweet Shot: The Basketball Life and Legacy of Melvin "Sugar" McLaughlin; Wendt Jr., Vernon E.; Twig All-American, Inc. 2021)

References

External links

College stats @ sports-reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Mel 1960 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Grand Rapids, Michigan Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball players Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Detroit Spirits players Point guards