Sweet Shot: The Basketball Life and Legacy of Melvin “Sugar” McLaughlin

REV. DR. VERNON E. WENDT JR has been an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod since 1990. He has a Masters of Divinity and PhD in Missiology from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has served as a pastor and missionary in a wide variety of settings. His love for basketball has been a platform for him to share the Good News of Christ crucified for sinners. He has been an adjunct theology professor at Concordia University Portland and Concordia University-Chicago, teaching bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level courses. His doctoral dissertation “The Application of the Christian Faith by Small College Christian Athletes within the Sport of Basketball” was published by the University of Oregon’s Microform Publications (2000). Certified with Global Sports Chaplains with CEDE Sports, Vern has spoken on Christianity and Sports at college campuses throughout North America. He is a consultant for Christian athletic high school and college programs that seek to use sports as a witnessing tool, builder of character, and means of fostering community, while at the same time experiencing the freedom and play God intends for us to enjoy as His Kingdom people. He’s available to speak to athletes and athletic programs on cultivating a grace-based approach to sports. He loves helping people fully appreciate the joy of sports God has gifted us with. Plus, he can still demonstrate the proper form of shooting a jump shot. A technique that he worked hard to develop as an aspiring player! A former distance runner in college and marathon runner, he was hit by a car in Los Angeles in his late 30s. He’s happy to be a plodder these days. Vern is the proud founder of the Twig All-American Team, a selection of some of the top high school players in the country from the late 70s and early 80s. The TAA Team started around the same time as his friend John Perfitt’s Perf All-American Team, and his brother Jamie’s Flea-All-American Team. Melvin “Sugar” McLaughlin is Vern’s top-rated Twig All-American of all time! While his Macker Tournament play was the highlight of his so-called basketball career, it was also a lowlight when he experienced the agony of defeat on the Macker’s main court in Lowell, Michigan. His brother Jamie had blown a wide-open lay-up that would have made the “Perf-Twig-Flea All-American Team” the first-place champions in their division! As an old man watching from inside the McNeal family garage bemoaned, “Oh, man! He could have put the game away!” For more information and to invite Vern to your school, group, church, or team, see TwigAllAmerican.com. Email him at vern.wendt@TwigAllAmerican.com