James Darrell McFarland (October 4, 1947 – November 27, 2020) was an American football player, lawyer, and politician.

Football career

McFarland was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player who played

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

for six seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the Buffalo Bills,

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

. In 1999, he was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. As of 2012, he ranks 44th on Nebraska's all-time single game receiving yards with 117 yards on 7 catches during a game against Texas A&M on September 28, 1969. He is considered to be one of Nebraska's top athletes and was considered for the Omaha World-Herald's list of top 100.

Law and political career

After leaving football, McFarland received his law degree from Cornell Law School in 1980. He practiced law in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

. McFarland was appointed to the

Nebraska Legislature The Nebraska Legislature (also called the Unicameral) is the legislature of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. With 49 members, known as "senators", the Nebraska Legislature is the sm ...

as a state senator for Nebraska's 28th district to fill a vacancy and was elected to the legislature in 1986, as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

and served until 1990. He later ran for governor of Nebraska. In 2017, McFarland retired from his law practice and moved to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. He received his master's degree in fine arts in creative writing, from

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

Death

He died of pancreatic cancer on November 27, 2020, in

, at age 73.

References

1947 births 2020 deaths American athlete-politicians American football tight ends Buffalo Bills players Cornell Law School alumni Creighton University alumni Deaths from cancer in Nebraska Deaths from pancreatic cancer Miami Dolphins players Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Nebraska lawyers St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Democratic Party Nebraska state senators People from North Platte, Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska {{Nebraska-politician-stub