Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1987
- Class:
- 1958
A Marshall team captain in two sports, Jack Freeman excelled indoors and out for the Thundering Herd as a basketball player and golfer. The Huntington High School standout was recruited to Marshall by Cam Henderson and played on basketball teams coached by Jule Rivlin with fellow Marshall Hall of Famers Sonny Allen, Leo Byrd, Hal Greer, Cebe Price, Charlie Slack and Paul Underwood. Freeman was co-captain of the 1957-58 squad that led the nation in scoring at 88.2 points per game, and he scored a career-high 27 points that year in a win over a Xavier team that went on to win the NIT.
As a golfer for Coach Whitey Wilson, Freeman and fellow Hall of Famer Linden Meade co-captained the 1957 team that became Marshall’s first to receive a berth in the NCAA Tournament, at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., where the team finished No. 24 in the nation. In that year’s Mid-American Conference Tournament at the Twin Lakes Country Club in Kent, Ohio, Freeman won the individual title with a two-round score of 149, beating Meade by one stroke.
Freeman then became a PGA professional and won the 1977 Kentucky Open championship. He served as the club pro at Bellefonte Country Club in Ashland, Ky., a club that was honored by Golf Digest for its role in developing junior talent for hosting the Bluegrass Junior Championships for over 30 years. Freeman was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.
