UNK Singleton Yeary

Singleton Yeary was born August 7, 1925, the son of Singleton Joseph Yeary Sr. and Alta Elizabeth Jarratt. Formally named Singleton Joseph Yeary Jr., he grew up in Nicholasville and attended Lafayette High School in Lexington. Playing center, Yeary helped the Generals compile a 27–3 record and win the school’s first Kentucky state championship in 1942. Lafayette’s title run included a double-overtime regional victory over Kavanaugh and a 44–32 triumph over Harlan in the state final.

Yeary joined Adolph Rupp’s University of Kentucky program as a 6-foot, 155-pound forward-center. Before the 1944–45 season, he scored 13 points for Kentucky’s reserve team in a 77–17 scrimmage victory over Avon. He then appeared in five varsity games and scored 13 points for a Kentucky team that won the SEC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. By January, the unbeaten Wildcats had risen to national prominence and were being described as the nation’s top-ranked team.

His best documented varsity performance came in Kentucky’s season-opening 56–23 victory over Fort Knox. Coming off the bench, Yeary scored five points on a rebound basket, a free throw and a late field goal that completed the Wildcats’ scoring. Through Kentucky’s first five games, he had appeared twice and totaled seven points without committing a personal foul. He was also among the 17 Wildcats chosen for a December trip to Louisville to face Indiana.

At the end of the season, Yeary received a varsity numeral, separate from the letters awarded to 12 of his teammates. He returned to Kentucky for the 1945–46 season and was identified in the university yearbook as one of the returning members of the previous year’s squad. He practiced and competed for a place on a deep team that included several future members of Kentucky’s celebrated Fabulous Five, although he did not record another varsity appearance.

Away from basketball, Yeary was initiated into the Lambda Lambda chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity while a member of Kentucky’s sophomore class. After college, he became president of Yeary Lumber and Concrete Company in Nicholasville and also worked for Second National Bank. Yeary died unexpectedly at his Lexington home on November 15, 2000, at age 75. His career connected two notable chapters in Kentucky basketball history: Lafayette’s first state championship and the Wildcats’ rise toward national power.