24 Malcolm McMullen

Malcolm McMullen was born Malcolm H. McMullen on August 23, 1927, in Fostoria, Ohio, the son of Stephen A. McMullen and Marcela T. Wahoff McMullen. He attended Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio, where he captained the basketball team and scored 250 points during his senior season. The 6-foot-5 center joined Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky program in 1945 as part of a notable group of newcomers that also included Ralph Beard and Wallace “Wah-Wah” Jones.

McMullen saw varsity action as a freshman on Kentucky’s powerful 1945-46 team, which finished 28-2, went unbeaten in SEC play, captured the SEC regular-season and tournament championships and won the National Invitation Tournament. He was included in Kentucky’s traveling squad for the NIT at Madison Square Garden and also competed for the Wildcats’ golf team, pacing Kentucky to a 14-4 victory over Miami University in May 1946 with a round of 76. McMullen returned for his sophomore season in 1946-47 and continued to see varsity action before leaving Kentucky for Xavier in February 1947 after growing frustrated with limited playing time.

The move gave McMullen a larger role. By the following season he was Xavier’s first-string center, and in December 1947 he scored 10 points in a 44-43 upset of Purdue. McMullen eventually lettered three years in basketball at Xavier, captained the Musketeers as a senior and lettered three years in golf. He helped Xavier to a then-school-record 24-win season and the program’s first postseason appearance, a fourth-place finish in the NAIB Tournament, and averaged 12.0 points per game as a senior. He became the first Xavier basketball player to be drafted and play in the NBA and spent two seasons with the Indianapolis Olympians. Xavier inducted him into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.

McMullen ultimately made golf his profession, serving as the golf pro at Kokomo Country Club in Indiana for 32 years before retiring in 1992. A lifetime member of the PGA and past president of the Indiana PGA, he was inducted into halls of fame at Xavier, the Indiana PGA and in Butler County, Ohio. McMullen died April 11, 1995, in Kokomo, Indiana, at age 67.