James Jordan (May 26, 1925 – October 14, 1999) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played collegiately for the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

from 1944 to 1946. Although he originally attended

Mount St. Mary's University Mount St. Mary's University (The Mount) is a private Roman Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It includes the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. The undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Arts, ...

, where he was the team's leading scorer, the U.S. Navy transferred him to the

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

in Chapel Hill. Soon after arriving at UNC, Jordan became one of the best players on the team. He helped the University of North Carolina post a 22–6 record in 1945 and a 30–5 record for the national semi-finalist 1946 team. He was the only unanimous selection to the 1945 All- Southern Conference team. He was named second-team All-America in 1945 and first-team All-America in 1946. Because of his national accolades, Jordan's number 8 was honored by the University of North Carolina and currently hangs in the rafters of the Dean Smith Center. From 1946 to 1948 he attended the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

and played with the Wildcats' NCAA 1948 championship team. He received his master's degree in education from Kentucky that same year. Jordan died on October 14, 1999.

External links

Big Blue History
1925 births 1999 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Basketball players from West Virginia Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers men's basketball players North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players People from Chester, West Virginia American men's basketball players Guards (basketball) United States Navy personnel of World War II {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub