High schools: Longtime Delta C-7 coach passes away

HAYTI — A beloved coach and teacher who left an indelible legacy on the Delta C-7 school district passed away Monday.

Douglas James was 81 years old.

He was born and raised in Bragg City, east of Kennett, the son of A.T. James and Mary Privett James.

Glen Cannon, left, shakes Douglas James right hand during the introductory portion of a gymnasium dedication on behalf of James dated Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, in Deering. James was a 43-year employee of the Delta C-7 school district. (File photo by Eric Viccaro, staff)

H.S. Smith Funeral Home of Caruthersville has been entrusted with the arrangements.

On Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, the Delta C-7 honored Coach James by renaming the gymnasium in his honor. The dedication ceremony lasted two hours, and featured an alumni game.

“I only had one losing season as coach,” James said during the dedication, which featured more than 300 people in attendance — some driving to Deering from other states, and as far away as Killeen, Texas, nearly 670 miles away.

James was a standout basketball player for then Deering School, once canning 100 straight free throws under Jim Swink.

He earned degrees from Southern Baptist Christian (now known as Williams Baptist) and Arkansas State University.

James, after a teaching stint in Greenway, Ark., returned to Delta C-7 in 1978 when his mother Mary became ill.

For the next 30 years, he served as a physical education instructor and coached basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball at all levels.

“We were all his favorites,” Dr. Kelly Wilkerson-Dullenty, a Class of 1996 graduate and school board president, said during a speech at the dedication. .

In most recent years, he was a bus driver and kept scorebooks in both basketball and volleyball.

“I am sad to hear (about his death),” said current Southland and former Delta C-7 head basketball coach Tyre Washington. “He was my clock keeper for two years.”

In the dedication program, it said: “His love and dedication to his students and players has been evident throughout his 43 years of service to the school and community. There is, and will only ever be, one ‘Coach’ here.”

James had been residing at Southgate Living Center in Caruthersville.

The funeral service will take place at 2 p.m. Monday in the Coach Douglas James Gymnasium in Deering with Brother John Brown officiating. There also will be visitation for one hour prior to the funeral.

He will be interred at Maple Cemetery, next to his son Brian James, who predeceased him.

The sports editor wrote a column on James which appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, edition of the Delta Dunklin Democrat.