Tommy James

Who was Tommy James?

Thomas Laverne "Tommy" James, Jr. 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, where he stayed for a year before rejoining Brown, who had become head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference. 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.