Myles James

Ex-Navy football player remembered by professor as someone who possessed ‘moral courage’ and challenged his classmates

Myles James was the first high school player Robert Green recruited after being hired as an assistant coach with the Navy football program.

Mr. Green traveled from Annapolis to meet with Mr. James at his uncle’s house in a suburb of Atlanta. They hit it off immediately due largely to shared experience: Mr. Green, who played football for Navy from 1994-97, grew up in the Atlanta metro region.

“I remember Myles being very mature for his age and [he] quickly grasped the value of a Naval Academy education,” Mr. Green said. “He had one of the bubbliest personalities of anyone I ever recruited — such a huge smile.”

That broad, beaming smile was what many remember about Mr. James, who was found unresponsive June 23 while on leave from the Naval Academy. The 22-year-old senior was an English major and a member of the 9th Company.

Michael Myles James was born on Sept. 8, 1998, and grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, the son of a single mother. Stacey Welch thought her eldest of two sons needed a strong male presence during high school and sent him to Hiram, Georgia, to live with her brother.

“It’s a very tight-knit family, and I think they just wanted to get Myles out of New Jersey and away from bad influences during his teenaged years,” Mr. Green said. “Georgia is a big football state and the family also felt playing down there might provide more exposure to college coaches.”

Mr. Green also traveled to New Jersey to meet with Mr. James’ mother and grandparents. He recalled the grandfather being a veteran who was very proud of his military service.

Linwood Welch Sr. became a father figure and mentor for Mr. James, who earned all-county and all-region recognition after recording 104 tackles as a junior at Campbell High. He transferred to McEachern High in Powder Springs as a senior.

“Myles was an undersized linebacker with a bulldog type of mentality,” Mr. Green said. “He was a typical Navy prospect — undersized, overlooked, underrecruited.”

Mr. James cited a strong relationship with Green as a big reason why he chose the Naval Academy over scholarship offers from several schools in the Mid-American Conference. He was particularly impressed that Mr. Green made the effort to meet his mother in New Jersey.

“Our relationship is amazing. He and my mom made a connection — that was one of the biggest things, for Navy and for him, that stood out to me,” Mr. James told Rivals.com in 2016. “I just feel like [Green] really has my best interests at heart.”

Mr. James was recruited as an inside linebacker and played that position at the Naval Academy Prep School. However, he arrived in Annapolis having bulked up from around 220 pounds to 250. Having grown out of the position for which he was recruited, Mr. James was switched to defensive end.

While Mr. James had the bulk for that position, he did not have the length required and was subsequently switched to fullback. After emerging from spring practice deep on the depth chart, he left the football team to focus on academic and military responsibilities.

“Unfortunately, Myles was kind of a tweener, and we were unable to find a position that really fit well for him,” Mr. Green said.

Mr. Green recalls that Linwood Welch Jr. and other family members encouraged Mr. James to transfer and continue to pursue his dream of playing college football. By then, Mr. James understood the benefits of a Naval Academy education too well to leave.

“It was a very mature decision because he realized that playing football was not as important as graduating from the Naval Academy and securing his future,” Mr. Green said.

Mr. James remained close to members of the football team, especially classmates such as Marcel Gleaton. The two received their nominations to the Naval Academy from U.S. Rep. David Scott on the same day. The Georgia natives bonded during the long year at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, Rhode Island.

“Myles was a very, very confident person,” Mr. Gleaton said. “He could bring light to any room and had an amazing way of making people get to know each other.

“Myles was always smiling and joking — I just remember that little smirk on his face.”

As plebes relegated to the junior varsity and watching home games from the stands of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium along with the rest of the Brigade of Midshipmen, they spent weekend liberty at the home of sponsors Steve and Kate Riggs.

Mr. Gleaton, Mr. James and fellow freshman football player Camren Taylor would order pizza and wings on Saturday night and talk about the latest Navy football game or life as a plebe at the academy.

“Myles might have been the life-of-theparty type, but he was also very caring,” said Mr. Gleaton, who is expected to be one of Navy’s top wide receivers next season.

“He was always willing to do whatever necessary to help you out.”

While Mr. James stopped playing football, he remained involved with the program by working in the recruiting department. Omar Nelson, in his fifth season as director of player personnel for Navy football, had Mr. James giving recruits campus tours during unofficial visits or help maintain the massive recruiting database on which the coaching staff relied.

“Myles enjoyed still being part of the program. It gave him a sense of purpose,” Mr. Nelson said. “Myles was very pleasant to be around. He never brought in a bad attitude. He was always upbeat.”

Mr. James joined the Navy rugby team as a sophomore and was a natural at the “prop” position because of his background as a football player and standout high school wrestler. He operated in the front row of the scrum and understood how to gain leverage to give the Midshipmen a strong push forward, coach Gavin Hickie said.

“Myles was a big, big man and was phenomenally powerful,” Mr. Hickie said. “He could be devastating in the scrum with his power and strength.”

Mr. James played rugby during the 2018 season and was contemplating rejoining the program next fall. Mr. Hickie cited that infectious personality when saying that Mr. James made a “significant impact” during his one season with the team.

“All the guys loved Myles straight away.,” Mr. Hickie said. “He made a very positive impact on our program in a pretty short space of time.

“Whenever I think about Myles — and I’ve been doing that a lot the last couple days — the first thing that comes to mind is that amazing smile. It was the greatest smile you’ve ever seen, filled up his whole face.”

Mr. Gleaton recalled that his close friend had a passion for photography and filled his Instagram feed with all sorts of artistic shots he had taken.

“Myles was really, really good at taking photos,” Mr. Gleaton said.

Temple Cone is an English professor at the Naval Academy who was touched by Mr. James. After taking a course with Mr. Cone, Mr. James decided to become an English major and routinely stopped by Mr. Cone’s office to say hello or ask about various course offerings.

Mr. Cone will never forget the day last summer when Mr. James brought him the autobiography of Gucci Mane, a rapper from Atlanta.

“Sir, last semester you challenged us and made us uncomfortable with unfamiliar stories and ideas,” Mr. James told Mr. Cone. “I just wanted to return the favor.”

Mr. Cone also recalled the time Mr. James spoke up in class during a discussion about why non-Black midshipmen were reticent to participate in the Midshipmen Black Studies Club. The lone white student in the class admitted he thought the cultural gap would be too vast to bridge.

Mr. James told the student that one needed to sometimes take risks and noted that Black midshipmen had to cross that cultural gap every day.

Following the murder of George Floyd, Mr. James wrote an essay that he sent to Mr. Cone for editing prior to posting to social media. It was a moving account of a time when Mr. James was harassed by police during an encounter back home in Atlanta.

“Myles had moral courage,” Mr. Cone said. “He was a warm, happy, big-souled man with an ebullient sense of humor and ton of personality. I know he must have brought joy to everyone in his life.”

Mr. Gleaton said members of the Navy football team, especially the seniors, are leaning on each other to get through the death of another teammate. In February 2020, former Navy football player David Forney died of cardiac arrest in his dormitory room of Bancroft Hall.

“These past couple days have been really rough on me. Fortunately, I’ve got a whole bunch of brothers checking on me and looking after me,” Mr. Gleaton said. “I’ve had moments when I’ve cried, then I realize that if Myles was here, he would ask why I was crying. He wouldn’t want me to be down and sad.”

Services were held Friday at Shiloh Baptist Church in Plainfield, New Jersey.

In addition to his mother and uncle, Mr. James is survived by siblings J.C. Thomas III and Briana Thomas; and grandparents Linwood Sr. and Alcenia Welch;.

Former Navy football player Myles James played rugby, had a passion for photography and majored in English.