After high school, he first attended Kansas City Kansas Junior College where he finally made the basketball team. The team went undefeated, although John only played sparingly. After one year at Kansas City Kansas Junior College he then transferred to the University of Kansas, where he learned the intricacies of basketball from the sport's inventor, Dr. James Naismith, who was the athletic director at the school. However, McLendon was not permitted to actually play college basketball, as the KU varsity team was segregated and would not suit up its first black player until 1951.