Richard Dwight Farmer Jr. (born August 25, 1969) is an American former collegiate basketball player and Republican Party politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served as the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2004 to 2012 and was the running mate of David L. Williams in the 2011 gubernatorial election. After leaving office, Farmer was investigated for violating state campaign finance laws and misappropriating state resources and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison along with a concurrent 12 months in state prison.
A point guard, Farmer led Clay County High School to the 1987 Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) State Basketball Championship and, in 1988, was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball and Kentucky Associated Press Male High School Athlete of the Year after setting a championship game record with 51 points in a losing effort. Although he was popular state-wide and publicly stated his desire to play collegiate basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, Coach Eddie Sutton was reluctant to offer Farmer a scholarship. After Farmer announced that he would visit other colleges and issued a deadline past which he would no longer consider Kentucky without a scholarship offer, Sutton relented and Farmer joined the University of Kentucky.
Kentucky struggled during Farmer's first year, finishing with a 13–19 record, and by mid-season, fans were accusing Sutton of unfairly favoring his son, Sean, over Farmer at the point guard position. Sutton resigned in the offseason due to a pay-for-play scandal for which the NCAA banned Kentucky from postseason play for two years. Sutton's replacement, Rick Pitino, instituted a rigorous conditioning program and fast-paced style of play that improved Farmer's performance. After spending his junior season as a backup to Sean Woods, Farmer transitioned to shooting guard and became a starter in the middle of his senior year. Again eligible for postseason competition, the Wildcats won the Southeastern Conference tournament and reached the Regional Finals of the 1992 NCAA Tournament, losing in overtime on a last-second shot by Duke's Christian Laettner in a game regarded by many as the greatest college basketball game ever played. The team's seniors – Farmer, Woods, John Pelphrey, and Deron Feldhaus – were dubbed "The Unforgettables", and their jerseys were hung from the rafters of Rupp Arena following the 1991–92 season.
Farmer parlayed his status as a basketball icon into two terms as Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner from 2004 to 2012, winning both elections by large margins. In 2011, Kentucky Senate President David L. Williams tapped Farmer – considered a rising star in the state Republican Party – as his running mate in the gubernatorial election. They were defeated by Democratic Governor Steve Beshear and his running mate Jerry Abramson.
During the campaign, media reports alleged that Farmer had misused state funds and property as agriculture commissioner and Farmer's successor collaborated with the state auditor to investigate the allegations. As a result, the Executive Branch Ethics Commission charged Farmer with 42 ethics violations – the most against an individual in state history. Attorney General Jack Conway also charged Farmer with violating state campaign finance laws, and a federal grand jury followed with five indictments for abuses of power. Farmer initially contested the charges, but later agreed to a plea bargain. On January 14, 2014, Farmer was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $120,500 in restitution and $65,000 in fines. He served almost 20 months in a satellite camp of the United States Penitentiary, Hazelton near Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, before transitioning to a halfway house in Lexington, Kentucky, on December 18, 2015. He was released from the halfway house on January 21, 2016 and is currently residing in Clay County.
Early life Richard Dwight ("Richie") Farmer, Jr. was born on August 25, 1969, in Corbin, Kentucky, but grew up in the eastern Kentucky town of Manchester. He was the second of three children born to Richard and Virginia Farmer. Because of his physical maturity – he reportedly began shaving at age 12 and had begun wearing his trademark mustache by his junior year in high school – Farmer was frequently questioned about his age. The left-hander's vertical leap measured in high school. He credited his father, a transportation manager at a local coal mine and a standout point guard at Clay County High School in 1963, with developing his basketball acumen.
As an eighth grader, Farmer played basketball for his grade school basketball team, as well as the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams at Clay County High School. He played sparingly during the varsity team's regular season but received 68 seconds of playing time – scoring 2 points – during the Tigers' victory over Owensboro High School in the 1984 Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) State Basketball Championship. He also played football on a team that won the county championship that year. He eventually stopped playing football, but continued to play baseball – as a pitcher and first baseman – in addition to basketball until his senior year of high school.
High school basketball
Freshman and sophomore As a freshman, Farmer led his team in scoring during the regular season, averaging 16.4 points per game from the shooting guard position. He also led the Tigers in scoring in each of their three games en route to the 13th Region Kentucky High School Athletic Association basketball championship. In the opening round of the 1985 KHSAA state tournament, Farmer scored 14 points on 6 of 16 shooting in a win over Boone County High School. Then, in back-to-back victories against Metcalfe County High School and Doss High School, he led his team with 21 and 20 points, respectively, to help Clay County reach the tournament finals. Farmer scored 10 points in Clay County's 65–64 loss to Hopkinsville High School in the championship game. He was the tournament's second-highest scorer with 69 points, one behind Hopkinsville's Lamont Ware, and finished second in the voting for the tournament's Most Valuable Player, which went to Hopkinsville's Wendell Quarles. Only Apollo High School's Rex Chapman received more votes for the all-tournament team.
Clay County ranked only behind Owensboro and Scott County High School in the Lexington Herald-Leaders 1985–86 preseason coaches poll. During Clay County's 22–6 regular season, Farmer, who moved to the point guard position, averaged 18.6 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds per game. The Tigers won the 13th District Title, setting up a matchup with Pulaski County High School in the first round of the KSHAA state tournament. Farmer had scored 30 points in Clay County's regular season matchup with Pulaski County, but his team lost by one point in overtime. In the tournament rematch, Pulaski County held Farmer to 20 points and won 83–78; Coach Dave Fraley credited a defense centered on stopping Farmer for his team's victory.
Junior In the Lexington Herald-Leaders 1986–87 preseason coaches' poll, Clay County was ranked 14th in the state, and Farmer was named one of the state's best 25 players. Farmer led his team in scoring at 23.9 points per game, and Clay County finished the regular season with a record of 28–2 and again won the 13th Region tournament. Farmer scored 19 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in his team's 90–80 victory over Highlands High School in the KHSAA state tournament's opening round, but his performance was overshadowed by teammate Russell Chadwell's 43 points. In the quarterfinals, Farmer led the Tigers with 19 points, defeating LaRue County High School 62–56 in front of 24,041 spectators at Lexington's Rupp Arena, a record crowd for a high school basketball game. In the first half of Clay County's semi-final matchup with Madison Central High School, Farmer scored 18 and his younger brother, Russ, added 12 to account for 30 of their team's 39 first-half points. The Tigers' 17-point halftime lead grew to as many as 25 in the second half, and the elder Farmer again led his team with 24 total points in Clay County's 78–58 victory.
The win over Madison Central set up a title game between Clay County and Louisville's Ballard High School. Clay County had only one starter taller than , while Ballard started four players taller than , including star shooting guard Allan Houston. The game featured 24 ties and 15 lead changes; neither team led by more than four points during regulation. Farmer scored Clay County's last 9 points in regulation, including consecutive go-ahead baskets at 3:19, 2:46, and 0:30. Ballard's Leonard Taylor scored on a put-back basket at the buzzer to tie the score at 65 and force overtime. Clay County never trailed in the overtime, and Farmer's jump shot with 1:44 left put the Tigers in the lead for good. The 76–73 win was Clay County's first-ever KHSAA state championship. Farmer played all 35 minutes of the game and led all scorers with 27 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He was named to the all-tournament team, selected the tournament's Most Valuable Player, and given the Ted Sanford Award for citizenship, basketball ability, academic achievement, and sportsmanship. He was also the only underclassman named to the Lexington Herald-Leader'''s 1987 All-State First Team.
In the summer following his junior year, Farmer was named to the Kentucky Junior All-Star Team, which played exhibition games throughout Europe, including stops in Iceland, the Netherlands, and West Germany. After the European trip, he helped lead Clay County to a 15–0 record in Amateur Athletic Union play. It was the first AAU season which recognized the three-point field goal, and Farmer made 53 of his 73 three-point attempts. In July 1987, the Kentucky Junior All-Stars finished second to a team from South Carolina in the Kentucky Prep All-Star Festival at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington; Farmer sat out the championship game with a hand injury he suffered in the previous game.
Senior Clay County was ranked as the top team in the state in the 1987–88 preseason coaches' poll, and Farmer was voted the state's best prep prospect, garnering twice as many votes as second-place prospect Allan Houston. The Tigers started the year 8–0 before suffering their only regular season loss in the first game of the 1987 Beach Ball Classic against Eau Claire High School. In Clay County's next game in the Classic, Farmer broke the school's career scoring record, scoring his 2,193rd point in a 76–57 win over Tulsa, Oklahoma's Nathan Hale High School. Gary Gregory, who had held the record since 1974, was in attendance at the game. In the tournament's fifth place game, Farmer scored 33 points and broke the single-game record for assists with 16, besting Kenny Anderson's year-old record of 13. Clay County defeated Simi Valley High School 95–91, and Farmer was selected as the tournament's Outstanding Player and named to the all-tournament team.