High School and College
James grew up in Genoa, a small community in between Canton, Ohio and Massillon, Ohio. He went to 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.
James attended Ohio State University starting in 1941, the same year Brown was hired as the school's head football coach. He played on the freshman team in his first year, moving to the varsity team in 1942. Ohio State finished the season with a 9–1 win-loss record and won its first-ever college football national championship that year. James, who played as a halfback, was injured in a late-season game against the University of Illinois. This caused him to miss Ohio State's annual game against arch-rival Michigan, but he returned for the final game of the season against Iowa Pre-Flight, a military squad. James ran for a 54-yard touchdown on that game's first play and later added a punt return for a touchdown as Ohio State won 41–12.
James enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 and served for three years. He returned to Ohio State in 1946 and played on the varsity team again; the Buckeyes finished with a 4–3–2 record under coach Paul Bixler.
Read more about this topic: Tommy James (American Football)
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