Ronald "Po" James (born March 19, 1949) 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 ...

who played for four seasons in 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 ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

from

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

–

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. He was drafted by the Eagles in the fourth round of the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

Early years

James attended New Brighton High School in

New Brighton, Pennsylvania New Brighton is a borough in north-central Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Beaver River northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 5,719 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Histor ...

, where he lettered in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for three years. He started playing football during his sophomore year, rushing for 625 yards. He did not play as a junior, but as a senior, he rushed for 1,422 yards, along with 2,211 yards of total offense. He set the Beaver County scoring record for football with 200 points during his senior season, which stood for 22 years. He was a unanimous all-state selection during his senior season. He played in the

Big 33 Football Classic The Big 33 Football Classic is an all-star American football game featuring the top high-school football players in Pennsylvania. Played since 1957, the game is often described as the "Super Bowl of High School Football." Contests currently pit ...

as a senior in 1968. James was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. He was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) Hall of Fame in 2008.

College career

James played

. In his debut for the Aggies against

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, James rushed for 106 yards on 15 carries and had a 49-yard touchdown run. He rushed for over 100 yards in each of his first eight games during his freshman season, becoming the first freshman to do so. He ran for 185 yards against Lamar Tech. He rushed for 1,291 yards in his first season and earned honorable mention All-America honors. He set an NCAA freshman record for rushing yards with 1,291 yards, which was broken by

Tony Dorsett Anthony Drew Dorsett Sr. (born April 7, 1954) is a former American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. From Western Pennsylvania, Dorsett attended the ...

in 1973. In his sophomore season, he ran for 1,182 yards.

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

James was drafted by the

in the fourth round of the

. He led the Eagles in rushing as a rookie in 1972 with 565 rushing yards along with 20 receptions for 156 yards. He set a team rookie record for carries with 182. In

, he played in all 14 games and rushed for 196 yards on 43 carries and two touchdowns. He also had a team-best 4.6 yards per carry average. He caught 32 receptions for 267 yards and one touchdown. He returned 13 kickoffs for 311 yards and had a 23.9 average. He was waived on August 1, 1976 after the Eagles hired a new head coach,

Dick Vermeil Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Lou ...

Seattle Seahawks

James was claimed off waivers from the Eagles by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, which began its inaugural season in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. He was released prior to the start of the 1976 season.

After football

After he was released from the Eagles, James became the director of the Baptist Children's Services. He also worked for the Mobil Chemical Company in

Stratford, Connecticut Stratford is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. Stratford is in the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was settled ...

Shooting incident

James was shot six times on April 7, 1993, while in a sauna of the

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, right after an argument following a pickup game of basketball. He was shot twice in the abdomen and four times in the legs.

Personal

James' nickname, "Po", comes from the title character in the comic strip '' Pogo'', Pogo Possum. When asked how he got the nickname, he would often joke "because growing up, that's what we were - po!" He now resides in Delaware, where he enjoys fishing and recording with different artist from Philly. Po has one daughter, Danielle, who lives in Delaware who he loves to spend time with and he also has a son Todd D. Land who currently resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Po 1949 births Living people Players of American football from Pennsylvania American football running backs New Mexico State Aggies football players Philadelphia Eagles players Seattle Seahawks players People from New Brighton, Pennsylvania