Doug James is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player for the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 Wolverines (1980-1984) under coach Bo Schembechler

Bo Schembechler

Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler, Jr. was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1989, compiling a career record of 234–65–8...

. Since 1985 he has worked as a football color commentator on radio and television and in radio sales and management.

Football Player

James was an all state football player at DeSales High School in Louisville in 1979. After graduating in 1980, James joined former high school teammate William "Bubba" Paris at Michigan, where Paris went on to earn All American honors before winning three Super Bowl

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

s with the San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

. At Michigan James wore jersey number 73, and played multiple positions on both offense and defense at Michigan. He was a starter at three different positions including middle guard on defense, offensive guard and offensive tackle. He was honorable mention All Big Ten at offensive tackle in 1983 and second team All Big Ten in at offensive guard in 1984. In 1984 he was elected Michigan’s co-captain and was named most valuable lineman, and hustler of the year. During his career James earned 4 varsity letters while Michigan won two Big Ten Championships and played in five bowl games, including the Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl Game

The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...

, in 1981 and 1983, the Sugar Bowl

Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

, Bluebonnet Bowl

Bluebonnet Bowl

The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium from 1959 through 1967, and again in 1985 and 1986. The game was...

 and Holiday Bowl

Holiday Bowl

The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978. Beginning with the 2010 playing the bowl will officially be known as the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl after...

.

Considered an over achiever, Bo Schembechler told James he had “the worst body in the history of Michigan Football“. James once asked Schembechler if he had such a terrible body, why was he able to play so much, to which Schembechler responded, “because I’m a heck of a coach.” On November 17, 2006, Bo Schembechler passed away. It was on the eve of the showdown between Michigan and Ohio State which pitted the top ranked Buckeyes against the second ranked Wolverines. James recounted some of his favorite memories of his old coach in an ESPN.com article by Pat Forde

Pat Forde

Pat Forde is a sports journalist who currently serves as a national columnist for Yahoo Sports.- Work :Forde is currently a writer for Yahoo Sports. Forde left ESPN on November 1, 2011 to pursue a career with more journalistic freedom. Prior to leaving ESPN, Forde was a staple on radio and...

, ending with a poignant quote. "It's disappointing he's not going to be here for the game," James said. "But I guess he's going to have a better seat than all the rest of us."

Broadcasting Career

After graduating from Michigan in December of 1984 he worked briefly as a graduate assistant for Coach Schembechler. He started his radio career in 1985 in Flint, Michigan as a color commentator for Michigan Football on WTRX-AM

WTRX (AM)

WTRX is an American radio station broadcasting a sports radio format in Flint, Michigan. It is the Flint affiliate for the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Pistons, and the Michigan Wolverines, as well as ESPN Radio.The station first began broadcasting in 1947...

. In 1986 he began his career in radio sales at the same station. James returned to his hometown in 1988 and in 1990 started working for Clear Channel

Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

 radio as a sales person for WAMZ

WAMZ

WAMZ is a country music-formatted radio station located in Louisville, Kentucky. The station broadcasts on 97.5 FM with an ERP of 100 kW.-Station history:Experimental W9XEK began on July 22, 1944 at 45.5 MHz...

 radio. He joined the University of Louisville football

Louisville Cardinals football

The Louisville Cardinals football team represents the University of Louisville in college football as a member of the Big East Conference. Howard Schnellenberger started the program's rise to relevancy after winning the Miami Hurricanes' first national championship...

 radio broadcast team on sister station WHAS-AM

WHAS (AM)

WHAS, known by the on air branding as "84 WHAS", is an AM radio station broadcasting in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a 50,000 Watt clear channel radio station assigned to frequency 840 kHz. With clear channel status, its nighttime signal can be heard in most of the continental U.S...

 radio in 1990 when the Cardinals finished with a record of 10-1-1 under coach Howard Schnellenberger

Howard Schnellenberger

Howard Schnellenberger is an American football coach at both the professional and college level. He is currently in his final season as head coach of Florida Atlantic University, having announced his retirement on August 11, 2011, effective at the end of the 2011 season...

 and won the Fiesta Bowl

Fiesta Bowl

The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...

 over Alabama.

James advanced his career in sales and management at Clear Channel, ultimately earning the title of Vice President and General manager for three of that company’s stations, WQMF

WQMF

WQMF is a Classic rock radio station located in Louisville, Kentucky. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to the nearby city of Jeffersonville, Indiana and broadcasts on 95.7 FM with a effective radiated power of 28.5 kW.-Station history:95.7 signed on as WQHI in...

, WTFX and WQSH. He continued to broadcast Louisville football, and co-hosted a popular weekly football talk show on WHAS radio with Tony Cruise. During the 2000 football season, James left Clear Channel to work for Blue Chip Broadcasting in sales management. During the 2000 season, James began working as the color commentator for University of Louisville football on WDRB

WDRB

WDRB is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting locally on channel 41 as a Fox affiliate. Owned by Block Communications, the station's transmitter is located in Floyds Knobs, Indiana alongside sister-station WMYO...

 Fox 41 TV with Don Russell doing play by play. In his 21st year covering the Cardinals, James continues working as a commentator on WHAS 11 television

WHAS-TV

WHAS-TV channel 11 is the ABC affiliated television station in Louisville, Kentucky. Owned by Belo Corporation, the station's transmitter is located in Floyd County, Indiana, near the community of Floyds Knobs...

, an ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 affiliate, broadcasting with Drew Deener handling the play by play duties in 2011.

James served as Director of Sales and National Sales Manager for Main Line Broadcasting

Main Line Broadcasting

Main Line Broadcasting is an American media company, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Main Line Broadcasting owns 19 radio stations in four markets in the United States. The company is run by CEO Dan Savadove, a veteran Philadelphia broadcaster...

 in Louisville, which owns five radio stations including WDJX

WDJX

WDJX is a Contemporary Hit Radio radio station located in Louisville, Kentucky. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast on 99.7 FM with a effective radiated power of 24 kW.-Station history:...

, WGZB

WGZB-FM

WGZB-FM is an Urban Contemporary music formatted radio station licensed to Lanesville, Indiana, serving the Louisville, Kentucky area...

, WMJM

WMJM

WMJM, or Magic 101.3, is an Urban Adult Contemporary FM station licensed to Jeffersontown, Kentucky serving the Louisville area owned and operated by Main Line Broadcasting. It carries the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show, distributed through Reach Media....

, WLRS

WLRS

WLRS is a commercial radio station located in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, broadcasting to the Louisville, Kentucky area on 105.1 FM Broadcasting....

 and WXMA

WXMA

WXMA, also known as "102.3 The Max", is a Hot Adult Contemporary station located in Louisville, Kentucky. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast on 102.3 FM with a effective radiated power of 6 kW....

. He currently serves as Director of Sales at WBLS

WBLS

WBLS is an urban adult contemporary FM radio station in New York City, operating on 107.5 MHz. WBLS is owned by Inner City Broadcasting Corporation along with sister station WLIB...

 and WLIB

WLIB

WLIB is an urban contemporary gospel AM radio station located in New York City. WLIB is owned by Inner City Broadcasting Corporation along with sister station WBLS...

 Radio for Inner City Broadcasting Corporation

Inner City Broadcasting Corporation

The Inner City Broadcasting Corporation is an American media company based in New York City. ICBC is notable for being one of the first broadcasting companies wholly owned by black people...

 in New York, New York.

Personal

James has been very active in the Louisville community serving on the Board of Trustees for Jewish Hospital and St Mary’s Healthcare, DeSales High School Foundation, and Holy Rosary Foundation. He is also a member of the Advertising Federation, The Louisville Radio Broadcasters Association and The Kentucky Colonels.

He has received a number of awards including: DeSales High School Hall of Honors 1991 , AWRT Lifetime Service Award 2001, Mayor of Louisville Distinguished Citizen 2008, and Catholic Education Foundation Distinguished Alumni 2008.