A Barnes County native, Dr. McCready graduated from Valley City State College in 1949 with a degree in business and physical education. He taught and coached in high schools before he was appointed, in 1958, as Assistant Professor of Business at Northern State College in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He then moved to Tempe, Arizona, and began a 20-year stay as Professor in the College of Business Administration at Arizona State University in 1980, he was a full professor and was awarded Professor Emeritus status after his retirement. Dr. McCready was inducted into the Faculty Hall of Fame, College of Business Administration, Arizona State University in April 1981. Dr. McCready has written several textbooks. He has a leather-bound book from the publication of his third edition in 1969, when over 100,000 copies of the volume were sold. The book is now in its sixth edition.