By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

In late June, former Illini wide receiver Chris James was hired as a high school head football coach. The new job for the Morgan Park alum puts him in a prime position to be a role model to students who are in a place he found himself in not so long ago.

While the job title is different, the duties and responsibilities this career move brings is very similar to the way he has been spending his time since graduation from the University of Illinois in 2010. James has dedicated his life to changing the trajectories of the futures of kids from the Southside of Chicago, a feat he lived and experienced first-hand.

His work over the past years with the HEROH Foundation has been a project of love for James, one that he will continue to dedicate himself to, even as his life dramatically changes this fall.

A Hero for the Kids of Chicago

Growing up as a kid on the south side of Chicago, Chris James admits that he was clueless about what the long-term future held for him. He was more focused on surviving from one day to the next.

Little did he realize how instrumental he'd become in helping shape the lives of kids like him. In essence, he'd evolve into a role model and a hero.

Flash back to Chicago's Robert Taylor Housing Project, 52nd and State Streets. During the summer months, the son of Kyle Greer and the late Charles James spent most of the day at the playground with his friends, playing basketball and other games. There was little, if any, food in the refrigerator at home, so James relied upon the box lunches from the park district and the churches.

"Me and my (fraternal twin) sisters, Khaliah and Kyeesha, were there bright and early each day to pick up sandwiches, applesauce and juice," said James. "Most days, that was the only thing we had to eat."

He remembers going to the gas station to pump people's gas for change or to the grocery store where he'd push their carts to their car for a dollar or two. Chris would use the money to buy chicken wings and fries.

"In many ways, I was raising myself," he says.

When James was in fifth grade, the family moved out of the projects and got Section 8 housing at 69th and Dorchester. However, when the winter months descended upon Chicago, there was no heat in their apartment.

"I remember getting up one morning and there were dishes frozen in the sink," Chris said. "We had to heat the water up on a hot plate to use in the sink or the tub. Man, that's the bottom!

His life changed dramatically at the beginning of his sixth-grade year when he moved in with his grandmother, Gwendolyn Parker.

"My grandmother is my everything," he said. "Without her, I don't know where I would have been. She taught me that you have to work hard every day. When I came home from high school with C's and D's, she got on me in the softest way possible. Grandma would say 'that grade doesn't affect me; that's your grade. The decisions you make, they affect you, not me. Don't think about disappointing me or making me mad. You just gotta do what you gotta do, even when you don't want to do it.' That was her message. After a while, I understood what she was trying to teach me."

Grandma allowed "CJ" to play football and basketball as an eighth grader. One of his teammates was future NBA superstar Derrick Rose. Throughout, his grandmother's support remained unwavering.

"She never missed one of my games," said James. "Every basketball game, every football game, no matter if it was four degrees or if a game was in Rockford. Grandma was always there."

He continued his sports career at Morgan Park High School. A plethora of talented players kept the young wide receiver in the shadows until his junior season. Eventually, James became one of the primary targets of prep superstar Demetrius Jones, the number-two-rated prep quarterback who eventually got recruited by Notre Dame.

"Once everyone got a hold of Demetrius's tapes," he said, "our exposure went from zero to one hundred."

Illinois football coaches Ron Zook and Reggie Mitchell were the first to offer James a scholarship, followed by Michigan State, Tennessee, Notre Dame and others. He eventually picked the Illini, lettering in 2006, '08 and '09 during an injury-plagued college career.

Adjusting from his life in the projects to the University of Illinois campus was, in his words, "weird."

"Honestly, it was a culture shock," he said. "I learned as much culturally and socially as I did in the classroom. It was a weird feeling being around different people and getting different perspectives and different points of view. When you get exposed to a new world, you view things vastly different."

Besides the Illini coaching staff, James credits a number of individuals on the support staff, including Shari Shaw, Kathy Kaler, Pamela Green, Terry Elmore and former U of I learning specialist Carla Suber.

Suber served as his advisor throughout his career at Illinois and she remains as one of his must trusted confidants today.

"The 'CJ' I met in 2006 was just a typical freshman football player," said Suber. "He came in with a chip on his shoulder and wasn't really open to the whole school thing. Over time, he began to realize how talented he was off the field as well."

The turning point in James's life, she said, is when he suffered a debilitating knee injury that put him on the sideline for an entire season.

"That forced him to reevaluate what his priorities were," Suber said. "He became almost like another coach and the Illini players looked up to him."

It was a proud day for Chris and his family in 2010 when he strode across the stage to accept his sports management degree from the University of Illinois.

"When they announced my name, I was like, 'Damn, I really graduated.' That was a big step for my family and it changed the cycle of what we had done."

Since graduating, James has held positions at Allstate Insurance, The Common Core Institute, Follett's and U.S. Foods, but he's now devoting his fulltime focus towards his first love, serving the youth of Chicago.

"I wasn't totally prepared for college and the other Chicago Public League guys who also went to college all felt the same way," he said. "I've always wanted to make the process easier for the kids."

So, in 2014, with the assistance of his older brother, Marlon James, Tim O'Halloran, Paul Szczesny, National Football League star Laquon Treadwell, and the financial support of former Illini teammate and NFL standout Josh Brent and others, James established the HEROH Foundation.

The mission of HEROH - an acronym that stands for Heroic Effort Rising Over Humanity - is dedicated to providing athletic training, academic support and mentorship to the youth of under-served communities.

The organization's goal is to inspire student-athletes, build meaningful connections, and to fuel both their academic and athletic successes in preparation for college and careers.

HEROH serves youth aged 13 to 18 from the south and west sides of Chicago, though a handful of kids also come from the south suburbs and other communities. James has partnered with several schools in Chicago and also takes coaches' recommendations.

"We have a tryout to test a kid's work ethic," he said. "We put them through a ton of drills to tire them out, just to see who's going to quit. We're not choosing kids based on athletic ability. We just want to know how far they're willing to go. Kids just have to be willing to be part of our organization and have a desire to be great. We're going to use their huge appetite for sports to lead them into other directions."

James receives valuable volunteer assistance from Kamilah Hampton, HEROH's Director of Academics. Hampton is in the midst of completing her principal internship with the Chicago Public Schools and earning her doctorate in educational leadership, but she still finds the time to connect with HEROH.

"The passion that Chris and I have for youth is very similar," Hampton said. "We do individualized tutoring, helping them build upon what they're learning in their schools. We'll help them prepare for their SAT and ACT tests, then provide skills to help prepare for what college is going to be like. HEROH tailors its resources to the needs of the students."

"Miss Kamilah plays a huge role in everything that we do," James says. "She's the one that changes the kids' perception of what school is supposed to be. She has devoted her time to us, so without her, a lot of what's been accomplished wouldn't have been possible."

HEROH currently uses area high schools and fitness centers for training, but James says the Foundation has recently acquired a building at 47th and State Streets to serve as its future home.

"Now I have to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate it," he said. "When it's done, we'll be able to do all of our athletic and academic training. My goal is to have a kid walk into the building at 3 o'clock then go home in the early evening. It will be a safe environment and serve as a place for them to be with like-minded young people."

One of HEROH's most prominent graduates is rising Illini sophomore receiver Ricky Smalling.

"When Ricky joined us as a sophomore, school wasn't important to him because he was so talented," James said. "But as much time as we spent practicing his craft, we'd spend more time to get him where he needed to be academically. We had just a ton of conversations about life, how you become a man, and how you deal with certain things."

Smalling had a great rookie season with the Illini in 2017, both on the field (31 catches for 510 yards and two touchdowns) and in the classroom (3.2 GPA).

"HEROH surrounds us with good mentors, but CJ changed my life the most," Smalling said. "He's not just there for me though, he's there for everyone. It's always been a dream of mine to play in the NFL and, thanks to Chris and the Illini coaches, I'm getting closer and closer to that goal everyday."

In 2018, about 150 participants are enrolled in the HEROH program and nearly a third of them will pursue higher education this coming fall. With its funding limited, it's necessary for the foundation to cap the number of kids who can engage.

"Turning kids away is the most frustrating thing now," James said, "but I feel like we're going to take a major step soon."

Dozens of James's former Illini teammates have contributed to HEROH.

"They've all been extremely generous to me," he says.

Brent, now a scout for the Dallas Cowboys, was happy to get the ball rolling.

"Anyone can donate money, but I give all the accolades to Chris for the time he's given to HEROH," Brent said. "I'm happy to partner with him and give as much as I can, but Chris still has to do a lot of fundraising on his own. These young kids are our most valuable resource and HEROH has established a blueprint for what needs to be done."

Another of James's teammates, Isiah "Juice" Williams, now a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch in Washington D.C., says CJ is positively affecting young peoples lives.

"He is sparking the motivation of these kids," Williams said. "If anyone can donate financially or through volunteering their time, I would highly recommend it."

James refuses to allow the thought of failure to enter his mind.

"Often, people are scared to do something because they are afraid of how people will look at them when they fail," he says. "Growing up in the situation I did, I didn't have that fear. I told myself, 'it can't get worse than this.' Some people look at the glass that's half empty, but if you have a glass half full attitude, you can do something special and help people. There is a risk, but the reward is way bigger."

James, whose family includes an eight-year-old daughter named Kambry, would eventually like to roll out new chapters of HEROH in New York City and Miami.

In time, he expects his students to become the driving force for his foundation.

"We want to create an expectation level," he says. "Eventually it's not going to be as much about me as it will be the standard that's being set by our kids."