Darrell Darby

Darrell Darby was born Darrell Lawrence Darby in Ashland, Kentucky, on May 4, 1910, to Lawrence and Bertha Lewis Darby.  Darby was a member of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team during the early 1930s, a formative period in the program’s rise to national prominence under head coach Adolph Rupp. He played for the Wildcats from 1930-1933, contributing as a reserve during Rupp’s first three years at the helm.

Darby, a slender 150-pounder, played forward on the 1928 Ashland high school quint that went through 36 games undefeated and trimmed Carr Creek in the famous four-overtime battle for the state title. That same team to went on to win a national championship.  In 1929, Darby captained the Tomcat cagers and scored about a third of their points. Darby sparked the team to the state tourney semifinals.  Darby also won All-State honors in football.

Darny enrolled at Kentucky for the fall semester in 1929.  While there, he lettered three years in both football and basketball.  He was also a member of Alpha Tau Omega, a social fraternity.  Darby’s time at Kentucky coincided with the program’s transition into a more structured and successful era. Though not a major statistical contributor, Darby was part of a roster that helped lay the foundation for Kentucky’s dominance in the Southeastern Conference and eventual emergence as a national power.

Like many players of that era, his contributions were often overshadowed by the more prominent stars like Leroy Edwards, Frenchy DeMoisey, Carey Spicer and Aggie Sale, but his role in helping establish Kentucky basketball’s early legacy remains appreciated by historians of the program.  He was a member of Rupp’s first three teams.

After college, Darby toured the country with a basketball team led by the great Mildred (Babe) Didricksen.

He served with the Navy during World War II and worked for the Norfolk & Western Railway company in Williamson, W. Va. for 25 years.

Darby passed away on July 3, 1964, in Williamson, Virginia, at the age of 54.