Sergio McClain is a former professional basketball player and NJCAA coach. He was the 1997 winner of the prestigious Illinois Mr. Basketball

Illinois Mr. Basketball

Each year the Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois....

 award.

Biography

In high school, Sergio was the star player on one of the top high school teams in the nation, Peoria Manual High School, and led them to an unprecedented four consecutive state titles, a feat that stands alone in the IHSA

IHSA

IHSA can refer to:*Illinois High School Association*Intercollegiate Horse Show Association...

 record book. Sergio was a three time all-state selection, and Conference Player of the Year in 1997. Ultimately, he was named 1997 Illinois Mr. Basketball

Illinois Mr. Basketball

Each year the Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois....

, receiving 1361 votes. McClain is one of only two players (with teammate Marcus Griffin) to play in a maximum 16 state tournament

Illinois high school boys basketball championship

The Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring. It is organized by the Illinois High School Association ....

 games and win all of them. The final three championships were won with father Wayne McClain as the head coach. In those 16 games, McClain scored 201 points and grabbed 89 rebounds.
In 2007, McClain was voted one of the "100 Legends of the IHSA

Illinois High School Association

The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...

 Boys Basketball Tournament," recognizing his superior performance in his appearances in the tournament.

McClain later played for Lon Kruger

Lon Kruger

Lon Kruger is an American college and professional basketball coach who is currently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State University...

 and Bill Self

Bill Self

Bill Self is an American college men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, where he led the Jayhawks to the 2008 NCAA national championship....

 at the University of Illinois, along with his high school teammates Marcus Griffin and Frank Williams

Frank Williams (basketball)

Frank Lowell Williams is a former American professional basketball player. As a point guard, Williams starred at both the high school and collegiate levels, and played briefly in the NBA....

. "The Peoria 3" anchored one of the Big Ten's top teams during their time there and the Illini ultimately earned a number one seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Elite 8. His intimidating stature led Illini football coach Ron Turner to approach him about trying out for his team as a linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 or safety, but after a few practices, McClain decided to focus on basketball.

McClain's father, Wayne, coached Manual High School during its title run, and after Sergio graduated from Illinois, Wayne joined Bill Self

Bill Self

Bill Self is an American college men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, where he led the Jayhawks to the 2008 NCAA national championship....

's staff as an assistant coach, where he remains to this day under Bruce Weber. Sergio, often referred to as a physical and cerebral player, followed in his father's footsteps, having served as a player-coach

Player-coach

A player-coach, in sports, is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches, or as assistant coaches....

 in the ABA and was the head coach

Head coach

A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 of the men's basketball program at Parkland College

Parkland College

Parkland College is a is a two-year community college in Champaign, Illinois, a member of the Illinois Community College System serving Community College District 505. District 505 includes all of Ford County, and parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Iroquois, Livingston, Moultrie,...

 http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/04/01/usports/doc47f2cad68667f811011942.txt in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

from 2008 - 2009.

Said McClain about his father's influence on him:

"I've been an apprentice to a Jedi my whole life," Sergio said of his father. "Now I've graduated and I'm the Jedi master. Now I have the apprentices.http://www.illinihq.com/news/mens_basketball/2008/10/23/sergio_mcclain_back_at_work"