James Edward Fenderson Jr. (born October 24, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. Fenderson played college football at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

after transferring from Long Beach City College. An undrafted free agent, Fenderson played for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

from 2001 to 2003.

Early life and college career

Born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, Fenderson attended

Mililani High School Mililani High School is the only public high school located in Mililani Town CDP,2000 Map: - Compare to addresses of schools. City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. on the island of Oahu. Serving an enrollment of over 2,600 students in grade ...

in Mililani, Hawaii. Fenderson lettered in football, basketball, and track at Mililani High and graduated in 1995. Returning to California, Fenderson began his college football career on the junior college level playing at safety at Long Beach City College in 1996 and 1997. In 1999, Fenderson transferred to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he walked on to the

Hawaii Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes a ...

. He played at running back in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

under June Jones. In 1999, Fenderson played on 10 games primarily on special teams. He had 12 special teams tackles and two carries for 22 yards during a season where Hawaii went 9–4 and won the

Oahu Bowl The Oahu Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. Played on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, the Oahu Bowl was sponsored by th ...

. During that season, Fenderson slept in his truck or teammates' dorm room floors while working part time to pay for his living expenses. Being awarded a scholarship, Fenderson had a breakout senior season in 2000, leading the Warriors in rushing with 113 carries for 651 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. He also had seven receptions for 30 yards and a touchdown. However, Hawaii went only 3–9 in 2000.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2001 NFL draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

, Fenderson signed as a free agent with the

on April 26, 2001. He was waived on September 7 before being re-signed to the practice squad. On December 13, the Saints promoted Fenderson to the active roster. Fenderson played in the final four games of the season on special teams and made three special teams tackles. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Fenderson played in 16 games with one start, usually on special teams and as the backup to starting running back

Deuce McAllister Dulymus Jenod "Deuce" McAllister (born December 27, 1978) is an American former football running back who played eight seasons for the New Orleans Saints in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Ole Miss and was dr ...

. Fenderson had his first NFL carry on September 15, an 11-yard run against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. Fenderson finished the season with 13 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown, six receptions for 38 yards, two kickoff returns for 43 yards, and five tackles. Fenderson played nine games off the bench in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, this time with four carries for 14 yards, one reception for 5 yards, and six tackles. Following a foot injury, Fenderson was placed on injured reserve. On March 22, 2004, Fenderson signed with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. Following the preseason, he was released from the team on September 6.

References

External links

NFL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenderson, James 1976 births Living people American football running backs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Long Beach, California Players of American football from Hawaii People from Oahu Sportspeople from Honolulu County, Hawaii Long Beach City Vikings football players