Players

Sterling Mahan

Year Inducted: 2002

Category: Players

Schools / Organizations: (Carol Stream) Glenbard North High School
(Westchester) St. Joseph High School
Southern Illinois University–Carbondale

Biography:

Sterling Mahan transferred from Glenbard North to St. Joseph at the start of his junior year and made an immediate impact on the varsity basketball team. The 6-foot, 190-pound Mahan became a starter and the team’s enforcer. He played forward and was continually called upon to defend bigger athletes and pull down his share of rebounds.

Mahan’s 1985 team won 29 games and the East Suburban Catholic Conference title. In his senior year, Mahan helped lead the Chargers to a 30-1 season (including a forfeit over Romeoville), an undefeated ESCC championship and a trip to the Class AA Elite Eight in Champaign. Mahan, one of the tri-captains, had a career scoring average of 14.5 and grabbed 5.6 rebounds. Twice he was an all-ESCC selection and he was named to the Chicago Sun-Times All-Area team as a senior. In 1985 and 1986 he shared team MVP honors with IBCA Hall of Famer Tony Freeman.

Mahan had an illustrious career at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where he made the switch to point guard. He led the Salukis to Missouri Valley Conference titles as an all-MVC pick his junior and senior years. Mahan also made the MVC all-defensive team in 1990. He scored 1,503 career points and was inducted into the SIU Hall of Fame in 2004.