Shelby James

Shelby James
Personal information
Full name George Roderick James Jr.
Born (1973-10-29) October 29, 1973
Orlando, Florida, United States
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
Role Racer
Rider type Off Road
Amateur team(s)
1980–1981 DG
1981 Oakridge Bike Shop
1981–1982 Oakridge Bike Shop/MCS
1983–1986 Profile
1986–1987 Murray/Jolly Rancher
1987 Now & Later/Murray
1987–1989 Mongoose
1989–1990 Vans/Free Agent
Infobox last updated on
March 31, 2009

Shelby James (born October 29,[2] 1973 in Orlando, Florida USA) was an Amateur American "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1982 to 1990. Starting at age six, it could be said that Shelby James was one of the best racers never to turn pro. From the first year of competition in 1979 he was winning titles. In part due to his large size for his age, he was already 5' 11" by the age of 13 in June 1988[3] and then 6'1" at 14 years of age, he was one of the most dominatant amateur racers since Richie Anderson (who was also for time larger than normal for his peer group). However, his first love was basketball and always had the intention to become a professional basketball player in the background of his mind. In 1990 after an injury during a race, he quit BMX to pursue that dream.

Racing career milestones

Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.

Milestone Event Details
Started Racing: April 1979[4] at six years old.[5]
Sanctioning body:
Sanctioning body district(s): American Bicycle Association (ABA): Florida District 1 (FL-1) (1987)
First race bike: A borrowed bike.[6]
First race result: First place[6]
First win (local): See above
First sponsor: DG
First national win:
Turned Professional: No Professional career.
Height & weight at height of his career (1988):

Retired: In early 1990 after suffering an injury to his chest in a crash at the NBL Easter Classic on April 15, 1990, James retired from BMX to pursue his dream of becoming a professional Basketball player.[7] This was practically confirmed by an April BMX Plus! article writing about another racer, Shawn Bone, when he quit the Robinson Products racing team giving up BMX for the Basketball court:

"....Shawn Bone quit the team to pursue a basketball career--aka:Shelby James syndrome.[8]

Career factory and major bike shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are used.

Amateur

Professional

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Pedal Sport Association (NPSA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

*In 1984 in addition to the District and State and National No.1 titles the ABA divided up the race season into three distinct points seasons and rewarded year end plates for it.

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

* Due to FIAC rules at the time James had to race in a year older class than his usual 14 Expert class because James had his birthday late in the year.[16]

Independent race series and Invitationals

Professional

Notable accolades

BMX product lines

Product Evaluation:
Product Evaluation:
Freestyle BMX June 1986 Vol.1 Iss.26 pg.52

Significant injuries

Racing traits and habits

Miscellaneous

Basketball player.

Post BMX career

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

BMX magazine covers

Note: Only magazines that were in publication at the time of the racer's career(s) are listed unless specifically noted.

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

Total BMX

Bicycles and Dirt:

BMX World (1990 version):

Bicycles Today' & BMX Today (The official NBL membership publication under two different names):

ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (the official ABA membership publication under three different names):

References

  1. BMX Plus! December 1988 Vol.11 No.12 pg.48
  2. American BMXer December 1989 Vol.11 No.11 pg.26 Inferred. Text states that after racing 15 expert for the last time on October 28, 1989 he would had raced 16x for the first time on the 29th if not for illness.
  3. BMX Plus! September 1988 Vol.11 No.9 pg.15
  4. BMX Action April 1989 Vol.14 No.4 pg.44
  5. Bicycles Today January 1985 Vol.7 No.1 pg.14
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 BMX Plus! December 1988 Vol.11 No.12 pg.48
  7. 1 2 BMX Plus! September 1990 Vol.13 No.9 pg.6
  8. BMX Plus! April 1991 Vol.14 No.4 pg.8
  9. BMX Plus! July 1988 Vol.11 No.7 pg.26
  10. BMX Plus! May 1981 Vol.4 No.5 pg.32 (photo caption)
  11. BMX Plus! September 1988 Vol.11 No.9 pg.28
  12. Total BMX September 1981 Vol.2 No.4 pg.65 (MCS advertisement)
  13. BMX Action February 1988 Vol.13 No.2 pg.15
  14. Super BMX & Freestyle April 1988 Vol.15 No.4 pg.17 (photo caption)
  15. American BMXer January/February 1990 Vol.12 No.1 pg.10
  16. Super BMX & Freestyle December 1988 Vol.15 No.12 pg.55
  17. 1 2 3 Super BMX & Freestyle November 1986 Vol.13 No.11 pg.40
  18. BMX Plus! November 1988 Vol.11 No.11 pg.78
  19. American BMXer December 1989 Vol.11 No.11 pg.26.
  20. 1 2 BMX Plus! August 1989 Vol.12 No.8 pg.18

External links

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