Kevin Sugars

Townsville's Kevin Sugars started playing basketball in 1952 as a Bouncers Club junior. His penchant for point scoring was evident in his first season, when Kevin scored a then-record of 65-points in one game. Kevin carried his points scoring records from Townsville, into the Queensland State and Australian Championships.

At the 1960 Australian championships held in Newcastle Kevin scored 105-points to finish third in individual points scoring. The following year at the 1961 Australian championships in Melbourne, he scored a then Australian championships record of 161-points. His closest rival at that Australian championship was South Australian double Olympian Mike Dancis who scored 87-points for the championship runners-up.

Kevin continued his Australian championship scoring blitz in Adelaide in 1964 when he was once again the championship’s leading scorer. Overall Kevin represented Queensland at five Australian senior men’s championships including 1963 in Devonport and in 1965 in Brisbane. Kevin was selected, but unable to participate, in the 1962 Australian championships because of injury.

Kevin become the team manager of the Townsville Suns when they entered the Queensland State League in 1986. When the Suns entered the National Basketball League in 1993, Kevin was again invited to be the team manager, a position that he retained throughout the life of the Suns and, following the name change, of the Crocodiles.

Kevin was manager of the Suns / Crocodiles for 23-years during which time he was inducted into the Crocodiles’ Hall of Fame. In 1986 the Suns’ best and fairest award was instituted as the Kevin Sugars Medal and remained as such through the NBL life of the Suns and the Crocodiles.

Kevin Sugars was an exceptional Queensland basketball player of his era and an outstanding Queensland representative basketball player of any era. He excelled at five senior men’s Australian championships and he made extraordinary contributions to his teams, and to basketball in Townsville, North Queensland, and Queensland. He is a fitting inductee to the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021.