Few individuals can match the accomplishments of Edward "Bobo"
McFarland in two sports. Playing for the Polar Bears, he became the
school's all-time leading scorer in basketball and achieved such
prowess on the baseball diamond that he was drafted by a
major-league club.
A native of Scarborough, Maine, McFarland established his dominance
first on the hardcourt. He was the first Polar Bear to score 1,300
points, graduating with 1,356, and still holds the career scoring
average record, 21.9 points per game. A two-time Division III
All-East and All-New England performer, McFarland still holds the
all-time season-scoring average among Polar Bears for his 1968-69
season, even without the help of the three-point shot.
That season, under head basketball coach Ray Bicknell, McFarland
led Bowdoin to a school-record 16 wins against just five losses.
The year saw a pair of thrilling victories against the University
of Maine, including an 83-80 win over the Black Bears in the season
finale, earning the Polar Bears their second outright State Series
crown. That magical 1968-69 season saw McFarland average an
unprecedented 25.1 points per game - a mark that still stands more
than 30 years later. He was honored by United Press International
as New England Player of the Year.
McFarland's records have stood the test of time, as he still holds
Bowdoin records in single-season and career scoring, career field
goals (474) and career free throws (469). In addition, McFarland
was a stellar baseball player while at Bowdoin, earning All-New
England honors and batting .328 while serving as captain his senior
season. He was a two-time All-Maine selection and earned All-Star
status while playing in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 1968.
Following graduation, he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and
played in their minor-league system for several seasons. Maine
sportswriters in 1968 named McFarland winner of the Governor's
Trophy as Maine's outstanding athlete. In 1989, the Portland Press
Herald named McFarland to its Maine All-Time College Baseball Team.
McFarland has been inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame
(1989), the Maine Sports Hall of Fame (1993) and the New England
Basketball Hall of Fame (2003).
McFarland's father, Edward J. McFarland '48, was the captain of
Bowdoin's first-ever men's basketball team in the 1946-47 season.
Today, McFarland resides in Northborough, Massachusetts, with his
wife, Susan. They have three children and two grandchildren.
