Atlanta Athletics Hall of Famer Dies

Atlanta Athletics Hall of Famer Dies

By Gordon Pynes

A Texas high school coaching icon passed away last week in Dallas. Freddie James of Atlanta, Texas, was a 1956 graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta. Freddie was a star football athlete who went on to play for Prairie View A&M. He entered the coaching field in 1964 and began coaching in various places until 1982, taking over the Dallas Carter High School football job. There he won a state championship and compiled a record of 123 wins, 22 losses, and 3 ties until retiring in 1995.  

His fame came when his team beat Odessa Permian, a powerhouse made famous by the movie and TV series Friday Night Lights. Upon retirement, Freddie was inducted into the first class of the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame (HOF) in 1996. Later, he was named to the Dallas Coaches HOF. Freddie became a key subject in two movies, Friday Night Lights 2004 and Carter High 2015. The latter portrayed him and his 1988 championship team.

Although I knew of Freddie James for his outstanding coaching career, I had never met him.  Then, in our second Atlanta Athletics class (2019), we selected him for our hometown HOF. We talked several times on the phone, and then I went to meet him in his South Dallas home. His wife had passed away not long before. We quickly enjoyed each other talking primarily about his boyhood in Atlanta and coaching career. Then he came to the HOF dinner in the Atlanta High School cafeteria. Though he had been honored in two major Halls of Fame previously, Freddie told me “My greatest honor is to be inducted into my hometown HOF.” Now enshrined with a black granite plaque as you enter Rabbit Stadium, Freddie James will be remembered as an athlete and iconic Texas High School Coach.