Tres LaNaire McLaughlin

Class of 1981

Posted on: 1/7/2008 6:53:19 PM

I was not particularly close to Tres, but I thought he deserved a memorial on this site. The following is excerpted from his obituary in the Times Express dated October 23, 1985. "Former teammates and friends paid their final respects to Tres McLaughlin, age 23, who was shot to death outside a nightclub where he worked in El Paso, Tx. Among the mourners at the funeral was Tres' boyhood friend and ex-teammate, John Gay, Jr., who is the starting fullback at WVU. Tres and John were sensations at Gateway, Tres as a defensive back and John as running back. They both started Varsity as sophomores, the first sophomores to do so for Coach Antimarino since 1965. Both Tres and John also starred on Gateway's Track and Field team. Tres was offered a football scholarship to the University of Texas at El Paso and was a first string defensive tackle. He majored in Physical Ed and wanted to become a high school football coach. Tres was working as a bouncer to help supplement finances for the remainder of his education. He was killed by a bullet to the heart fired by drunk and disorderly customer he had escorted out of the bar." Tres was a funny, inspired, and thoughtful young man.