Tommy James (American football)

Tommy James

James during his Cleveland Browns career
No. 82, 42
Position:	Defensive halfback
Personal information
Born:	(1923-09-16)September 16, 1923 Canton, Ohio
Died:	February 7, 2007(2007-02-07) (aged 83) Massillon, Ohio
Height:	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school:	Massillon Washington High School
College:	Ohio State University
NFL Draft:	1947 / Round: 17 / Pick: 146
Career history
Detroit Lions (1947) Cleveland Browns (1948–1955) Baltimore Colts (1956)
Career highlights and awards
2× AAFC Champion (1948, 1949) 3× NFL Champion (1950, 1954, 1955) Pro Bowl selection (1953)
Career NFL statistics as of 1956
Interceptions: 36 Fumble recoveries: 5 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Thomas Laverne "Tommy" James, Jr. Nicknamed "Red".(September 16, 1923 – February 7, 2007) was an American football defensive halfback who played for Ohio State University and the Cleveland Browns in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born near Massillon, Ohio and attended Massillon Washington High School, where he played as a back on the football team under head coach Paul Brown. James was a key part of a Massillon team that went undefeated in 1940. After graduating, he followed Brown to Ohio State and played there as a halfback. Ohio State won its first national championship in 1942 when James was on the team.

After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army during World War II, James returned to play a final season at Ohio State in 1946. He then signed with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), where he stayed for a year before rejoining Brown, who had become head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). James spent eight seasons in Cleveland, playing as a defensive halfback on five championship teams, including two in the AAFC in the late 1940s and three in the NFL in the 1950s. He left football after playing briefly for the Baltimore Colts in 1956. Later in life, he worked as a salesman at a trucking company. He died in 2007.

James grew up in Genoa, a small community in between Canton, Ohio and Massillon, Ohio. The oldest of five children, one of his younger brothers included Don James, a Hall of Fame coach for Kent State and the University of Washington. He attended grammar school there through the eighth grade, but the town did not have a high school and students could choose to attend either Massillon Washington High School or the rival Canton McKinley High School. James at first decided to attend Canton, but Bud Houghton, an assistant coach of Massillon's football team, saw him playing in an informal scrimmage on a street corner and convinced him to come to Massillon. He played football there for three years under head coach Paul Brown. Playing as a back, James was part of a Massillon team that went undefeated in 1940. He scored a touchdown in a 28–0 victory over Toledo's Waite High School, the biggest game of the year; Massillon came into the matchup having won 30 games in a row, while Waite had won 18 straight.