Inducted in 2019
Coach, Athletic Director & Vice President for Athletics, Fordham University
Basketball Coach, Various NCAA Teams

Coming out of St. Barnabas Elementary on the Bronx-Yonkers border, Frank McLaughlin was “pretty good at basketball” — as the stories go — so much so that he was offered scholarships to just about every diocesan boys’ high school in the area.  Athletics scholarships were a thing in those days — but not at Fordham Prep.

And so, sitting in their kitchen in 1961, Detective Walter McLaughlin of the NYPD and his wife, Margaret Lynch McLaughlin, had a difficult decision to make: a basketball scholarship would certainly benefit the family’s finances — they had already put three children through high school and there were still two to go — but they also knew the Prep and held its program in the highest esteem.  Walter Jr. had been a member of the Class of ’49 and Jackie the Class of ’55. 

In the end the McLaughlins went with their hearts. The bank account would wait.  Besides, they placed their trust in God. He had already seen them through the worst of times, so by comparison, a little more scrimping and saving would be a metaphoric walk in the park.

The rest, as they say, is Maroon history.

Francis Xavier McLaughlin was born in the Bronx in 1947 and grew up in Woodlawn in the northern part of the borough.  He was the fourth of the five McLaughlin children: June, Walter, and Jackie were older, and Thomas was the youngest of them all.  It seems that Det. and Mrs. McLaughlin’s wallets would waited even longer still: Tom would graduate the Prep in 1968.  (And then, of course, there were the college tuitions.)

Arriving at Rose Hill in September of 1961, Frank immediately followed in his older brothers’ footsteps as a premiere Prep student-athlete.  He had big shoes to fill — literally and figuratively — and was far too tenacious to let his parents down.

During his time at Hughes Hall, McLaughlin was a four-year altar boy and member of the Honor Guard.  He served on the Student Government as senior council secretary, and on the Council of Discipline under fellow Hall of Honor inductee, Fr. Arthur Shea, but of course, it was on the hardwood that Frank would truly standout.

McLaughlin graduated the Prep in 1965 as a unanimous selection to the ’65 All-City First Team.  A star guard, he had been a three-year varsity player and held the highest point-per-game average during each of those seasons.  As a senior, he had captained his team to an unprecedented 17-2 season.  And also on the record books, he had scored an astounding 41 points in a single game on January 29, 1965 against Iona.

Frank was — and is — a true Prep legend, and a true Prep friend as well.  Over a half-century later at the time of his 2019 Hall of Honor induction, he is known to keep in touch with scores of his fellow ’65ers — some on a daily basis.

The baller from Woodlawn would stay on at Fordham, earning his degree from the University in 1969.  Continuing to play at the historic Rose Hill Gym, McLaughlin once again rose to the rank of Ram captain during his senior year and was drafted by the New York Knicks after graduation.

Choosing a path in athletics that would lead to an illustrious career as a college coach and athletic director, McLaughlin took an assistant coaching position at Holy Cross only to return to Fordham as an assistant under Richard “Digger” Phelps during the Rams’ outstanding 1970-1971 season.  Following Phelps to Indiana, Frank was an integral part of Notre Dame’s basketball program for the next six years, an era of consistent national rankings for the Fighting Irish.

In 1977, McLaughlin was named head coach at Harvard where he would remain until his return to alma mater as athletic director in 1985.  During his distinguished Rose Hill tenure, Frank was an incredible force for Fordham athletics, overhauling programs and renovating facilities campus wide  — improvements that would benefit the Prep as well as the University.

Appropriate to someone who has been involved with Jesuit education for decades, Frank’s philosophy in athletic leadership has always been about tending to the needs of the whole person — cura personalis.  Rather than simply seeking to churn out well-branded sportsmen and sportswomen, he has always striven to build a successful educational framework where student-athletes are encouraged and supported in all their endeavors on and off the field.

On July 1, 2012, Frank McLaughlin was promoted to Fordham University’s associate vice president for athletics.  He retains the title of athletic director emeritus.

Frank has shared his many successes with his wife, Susan Picton McLaughlin, an alumna of St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.  Married in 1975, they are the parents of three daughters, Tara, Heather, and Colleen, all of whom have earned their own Fordham credentials as graduates of the University.  The McLaughlins reside in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

Down through the years, Francis Xavier McLaughlin has been honored by various institutions.  He is a member of the CHSAA Hall of Fame, the Old Timers Basketball Hall of Fame, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame, the Westchester Sports Hall of Fame, and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.

In 2017, Frank’s remarkable career was celebrated in a different way, as the very court in the Rose Hill Gym where he had played as and coached so many games was renamed the McLaughlin Family Court.  Of course, the McLaughlin Court honors not only Frank and his extraordinary tenure, but it is also a nod to the rest of the McLaughlins and their Maroon legacy as well: from Frank’s parents whose sacrifices set it all in motion, to his wife and her unfailing support, to his daughters who represent Fordham’s future, and of course, to his brothers, including Jackie, fellow Prep Hall of Honor inductee, whose enduring spirit will always remain in the heart of the Fordham family.