Canisius College Career Hoops Scoring Leader
When Buffalo-born Sugar Ray Hall arrived at McKinley High School in 1978, the disco era was in full swing; with his considerable basketball skills, dazzling moves, slick footwork and acrobatic dunks, he proceeded to electrify the court like no other.
Four years later, Sugar Ray was the all-time Western New York high school leader in points with 1,794; his team won two city and three sectional championships, he garnered two scoring titles, three school MVPs, and was an Empire State Games Silver Medalist and an all-star selection in numerous publications. In addition, Sugar Ray was a high school All-American selection, a USA Top 50 player selection and a finalist for USA Player of the Year, won that season by Patrick Ewing.
Sugar Ray’s arrival at Canisius College in 1981 ushered in the return of Golden Griffin hoops to the national stage. An ECAC North Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year, Sugar Ray led his team in scoring all four years, earned team MVP honors three times, conference first team honors three times and received honorable mention All-American accolades his senior year and captained the team to an NIT berth. He holds more career records than any player in the 105-year history of Canisius men’s basketball and is the only player in school history to score more than 2,000 career points, to score more than 550 points in three seasons, and to have more than 50 steals in each of three seasons. Sugar Ray completed his illustrious career as a Golden Griffin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and sociology.
In 1985 the Utah Jazz selected Sugar Ray in the fifth round of the NBA draft. He played eight years of professional basketball in the Continental Basketball Association, the International Basketball Association, Philippine Basketball Association, Federal International Basketball Association and the World Basketball League, earning league all-star, MVP and scoring leader titles. He has been voted to the All-Time Little Three Team, Canisius College All-Century Team and the Canisius College Sports Hall of Fame.