The Impact of G. Larry James

Stockton University is celebrating its 50th anniversary of teaching during the 2021-22 school year and that’s quite a milestone. Stockton Athletics has accomplished some milestones of its own during the last half-century as well. 

A golden anniversary offers the opportunity to reflect on accomplishments over those five decades.  Over the next 10 months we’ll look back on some of the greatest sports moments in Stockton Athletics history, and remember some of its greatest athletes.

You can’t mention Stockton’s sports history without talking about the late, great G. Larry James, who spent 36 years at Stockton as a coach, athletics director and dean and helped shape the positive identity of the sports programs and the school in general. 

The Stockton sports programs were club teams when James arrived on campus in 1972 to coach track and field. A member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic track team, he had won a gold medal in the 4x400 relay and a silver medal in the 400-meter dash. Nicknamed “The Mighty Burner,” James had starred in track and field at Villanova University where he won NCAA championships and set world records, but Stockton was in his blood.

A role model and competitor, in a 1974 interview in the New York Times James said he would sometimes challenge the Stockton men’s track team. 

“Occasionally, I spot the boys 20 yards in a 440 and, if I catch them, they have to do three more laps,” he told The Times. He usually caught them, he said.

James became athletic director in 1980 and spearheaded the development of Stockton’s athletic programs.

“I have extremely fond memories of Larry and believe that he created the landscape for much of the success that the athletics program there realizes today,” said Lonnie Folks, currently the director of athletics at Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri. Folks spent nearly two decades at Stockton and was director of athletic operations, director of athletics and recreation and director of student affairs. 

He recalls that James’ focus was intentional at all times. “He and I would talk about ‘playing chess’ with a project, where you’re making a move with a determined outcome several moves later as opposed to checkers when the next move is immediate. His focus was always on the program and the community that it served and not just our student-athletes but the entire campus community and the surrounding area.”

Folks said James loved talking to young people and asking them questions that made them think. 

“It was never a ‘hello, how are you, have a good day’ conversation. He would stop and stop you and really want to know. He set a standard of the 3G’s: Great Grades. Great Games. Graduation. And he always seemed to tie them all together. He redefined what winning meant without taking away the focus of excellence on the field of play.”

James died from cancer in November 2008, but his legacy lives on. Stockton’s track & field/soccer complex was renamed G. Larry James Stadium in 2007. When you look around campus and see the $17 million Sports Center (completed in 2000) and the expansion of the athletic department, you are also seeing the results of James’ passion and drive.

The G. Larry James Legacy Fund was created to benefit deserving students. A fund-raising bicycle ride is held each year at Stockton to raise funds for the scholarship and the G. Larry James 5K race is now part of the Atlantic City Marathon series, this year scheduled for Oct. 16. 

New Jersey Athletic Conference Commissioner Terry Small told the Press of Atlantic City after James died that he “always deflected the attention that he got and put his focus on building a great program at Stockton. He was so proud of this program and made sure that academic success was the focus for all of his athletes.”

James was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame and was posthumously inducted into Stockton’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 for Distinguished Service.

A few of the other stories planned to celebrate Stockton’s 50th year include: 

• The 2001 men’s soccer team which won the 2001 NCAA Division III men’s soccer title, the school’s only team national championship. The Ospreys set an NCAA record for victories, finishing with a 25-1-1 mark that included a 20-game winning streak and a 22-game unbeaten streak. That team was coached by Jeff Haines, who led the Ospreys to the NCAA Final Four in 1999 and Elite Eight in 2004.
•  The 1995 women’s soccer team is Stockton’s only female team in any sport to reach an NCAA Final Four. The squad, which went 19-2-1, also hosted an NCAA Final Four and finished the season ranked fifth in the Intercollegiate Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. Aundrea Tilly (Class of 1996) became the first All-American in the history of Stockton’s women’s soccer. She led the Ospreys to the first of two NCAA Tournament berths, including the program’s only Final Four appearance in 1995.
• Former men’s basketball coach Gerry Matthews is still the winningest coach in New Jersey men’s college basketball history with a 603-243 record in 30 years as head coach. The Ospreys finished as NCAA national runner ups in 2009, and advanced to the NCAA Final Four that year and in 1987. Three hoops teams in the program’s history are in the Stockton Athletics Hall of Fame, including the 1995-96 team, led by Hall of Famers Carl Cochran and Marty Small.
• Women’s volleyball has been a powerhouse with 12 appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament, 14 NJAC championships and one ECAC title and has featured Stockton Hall of Famers such as Stephanie Warner, Whitney Verduin, Tracy Smith and others.  Former coach Sue Newcomb, who coached four women’s sports teams at Stockton, won 362 matches, and both an NJAC title and ECAC title in 23 seasons as volleyball coach.

Take the journey with us over the next 10 months as we highlight these special teams, players, coaches and take a stroll down memory lane. Here's to 50 more years.