Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame
Anthony James - Football and Track & Field - (1979-83)
Anthony James overcame the effects of a career-threatening injury to earn a place on the list of Western Carolina's greatest student-athletes. He was an All-Conference selection in football, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field, became the first WCU athlete to qualify for an NCAA national championship and was honored as Southern Conference Athlete of the Year in 1983. He is listed numerous times in the football record book including most rushing yards in a game (243) and established Southern Conference and North Carolina Intercollegiate records in the long jump. He suffered a lower back injury that required surgery in 1982 but returned to the football field for an all-conference season following five months of intensive rehabilitation. James was selected to the Southern Conference 100th Anniversary Team in 2021 for both football and men's track & field.
