James McFarland

James McFarland was born James Rowland McFarland on August 9, 1904, in Lexington, Kentucky, the son of James Edwin McFarland and Effee J. Rowland McFarland. He attended Lexington High School, now Henry Clay High School, where he starred on the celebrated “Blue Devils” team that won a national high school basketball championship in 1922. McFarland entered the University of Kentucky that fall, captained the freshman basketball team and also played freshman baseball before joining Kentucky’s varsity basketball squad for the 1923–24 season.

A quick and aggressive forward, McFarland became one of Kentucky’s leading scorers and was elected captain for the 1924–25 season. The 1925 Kentuckian described him as a “really great basketball player” whose dedication to training, aggressiveness and composure made him an effective leader. Among his best documented performances were 13-point games in victories over Washington and Lee and Centre, 11 points in a 39–10 rout of Centre and a late free throw that briefly gave Kentucky the lead over Georgia in the 1925 Southern tournament. He returned for a third varsity season in 1925–26, scoring eight points against Georgia Tech, 10 against Centre and nine against Georgetown. When his career ended, the Kentucky Kernel honored McFarland alongside Lovell Underwood and Chuck Alberts as dependable veterans who had represented Kentucky with distinction.

McFarland was also an accomplished tennis player. He competed on Kentucky’s varsity team during his sophomore, junior and senior years, helped the Wildcats capture the 1924 state championship and served as captain as a senior. His Kentucky career included victories in both singles and doubles against opponents such as Georgetown, Berea, Louisville, Cincinnati and the Covington Athletic Club. Away from athletics, he served as freshman class president and on the Men’s Student Council. He belonged to Sigma Chi, Keys, Mystic Thirteen and Omicron Delta Kappa, and he became a senior member of Scabbard and Blade while serving as adjutant in Kentucky’s R.O.T.C. program. Although listed as a senior and an A.B. candidate in the 1926 Kentuckian, he appeared among the College of Arts and Sciences degree candidates in May 1927.

After completing his playing career, McFarland remained at Kentucky as a coach. He directed the freshman basketball team through an undefeated 19-game season, crediting the players’ fundamentals, discipline and commitment to practice for their success. He later coached Kentucky’s varsity and freshman tennis teams as well. McFarland subsequently spent 42 years with the New York Bell Telephone Company on Long Island. He died June 6, 1987, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, at the age of 82.