James Washington was born March 14, 1980 to Lorena Washington in Moss Point, Jackson County. He weighed in at 10lbs and 8oz and Lorena offered a silent prayer that she would be good enough for him as soon as she set eyes on him. He was walking by 8 months and running by 9. Although Lorena was a single parent and James (known to all as Jamie) an only child, older kids in the neighborhood took Jamie under their wing and he learned early to catch, to fight, to climb and to throw.

Lorena worked whenever she could. There wasn't a great deal of money for luxuries, but with Lorena's work and the kindness of friends and her sisters she kept a roof over their head and Jamie was always cared for. When he started school many teachers noticed his athletic prowess, but few noticed that beneath the strength and agility lurked an equally fertile brain. His mother did her best to ensure Jamie learned to read and write properly, she could see how much his physical development was advanced and wanted also to make sure his academic development didn't suffer. Jamie was happy doing most things, he liked the challenge of school and classes and he also loved sports and playing. He was seldom in trouble and was generally happy.

When he was 8 he began to ask about his father. Lorena told Jamie she moved away from his father before he was born. Jamie accepted this, but it troubled him. He could never quite work out why his mother didn't want him to have a father. Most of the time he didn't even give his father a thought, but if he was ever scolded by his mom, he'd take a pair of scissors to the corner of the carpet under his bed and cut away a small piece while he thought about his father.

Jamie started to attend the nearby Grace Independent Baptist church on a Sunday with Lorena at around the age of ten. The minister was new, and Lorena decided it was time she started attending again after a number of years in which she'd felt ashamed and afraid to so because of her unmarried single mother status. Jamie loved church, he loved the sound of the minister's voice and the sermons, and he loved the sense of belonging he found there. Jamie's appreciation for religion was due in large part to the minister who shared Jamie's passion for football and other sports as Jamie moved into his pre-teenage years. They'd argue about whether one player was better than another, who would make an all star team and so on.

By his high school years it had become obvious that Jamie was very talented in athletics and in particular football. He was quick and strong and handled the ball well. His coach said Jamie probably only had one weakness, and that was in his decision making. Because he was such an early developer, he'd always found it easy to use his strength just to run through opposing players. As Jamie got older those other players started to catch up with him and sometimes he'd choose to run into a pack rather than taking a safer option. He never considered he'd be stopped and never once thought about any risk to himself. Occasionally he'd get hurt, but nothing serious. He went out on a few dates at high school but found his athletic commitments and his studies didn't leave him much time for romance.

With his solid all-around academic performance and his stellar football career, no one was surprised when Jamie was offered a full athletics scholarship to Ole Miss at the end of high school and he began in the fall of 1998. He had been hoping for a chance at a scholarship during his final year at high school but he couldn't understand why Lorena never seemed too pleased for him. He knew she was always pleased he was good at sports but he also knew if she didn't like any man she met the first insult she would think of would be to call him "a jock". It was a contradiction to him and sometimes he felt like she would have been happier had he been awarded a scholarship for something more academic. Coach Reginald Tunney at Ole Miss liked the raw talent and bravery of his pupil, but again picked up on the risks Jamie took when making split second decisions about what to do on the field. Jamie for his part played with the same abandon he always had. He enjoyed being part of the team but for the first time he understood more his mom's dislike of "jocks" -- some of his team mates were a crude and obnoxious and had few interests outside parties, girls and sport. At college Jamie joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes because his relationship with God was important to him. He made a good friend there called Andrew Wylie.

In 2000, in his sophomore year, and while playing in the famous Red-Blue game at the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Jamie broke his left femur in an on-field collision which left him screaming in agony. After several days at the hospital recovering from having the break set, Jamie returned back to campus and a summer of recuperation. Later that year Jamie started a training regime devised by Coach Tunney to get him back fit and playing as soon as possible. Jamie found it difficult to tell anyone how much the break had hurt him inside. For the first time when he was playing ball he was thinking about getting hurt and he didn't feel able to put his all into it. Coach Tunney picked up on this change in Jamie and rode him even harder to try and get the kid back on track. Once fit again Jamie would often leave sessions with Tunney with his ears ringing to the sound of abuse and vitriol.

In the spring of 2001 Jamie had his scholarship withdrawn by Tunney, who attributed the decision to Jamie's lack of dedication to his sport. Jamie was forced to find work to replace the lost scholarship funding and managed to secure a position in the college library where he was a general assignment clerk. He was still interested in sports but sensed now that a career in pro-football was probably not going to be for him. He shifted his focus to his academic studies and changed his course from health, exercise science, and recreation management to business studies and began contemplating an MBA.

This change of focus for Jamie also coincided with an improved relationship with his mother Lorena. Jamie felt there was a tacit disapproval of his sports scholarship and once he started to talk to her more about his academic studies and an MBA she was more interested in his life again.

He was still playing ball, but now as a reserve wide receiver, not as part of the first team. He started to take more of an interest in girls too around this time and from the end of October 2001 he dated a fellow student named Yvonne Bremer. Jamie fell hard and quickly for Yvonne and even helped fund her fencing interests as she was a member of the fencing team at Ole Miss. He managed to keep up his increased academic workload but found his attendance at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes slipped, along with his friendship with Andrew Wylie.

Between his studies, reserve team football, working at the library and his relationship with Yvonne he didn't feel he had time for much else. He occasionally went to the movies with other friends if he did have free time and was still an avid sports watcher if not such a determined player.

Jamie and Yvonne broke up at the end of March 2002. It was her decision and his friends noticed he was hurt deeply. He had just learned he had been called up to take part in the Red-Blue game coming in April following an injury to another player and he felt like it was a shot at redemption in his final year. He was nervous in the run up to the game but come April 18 2002, in front of a good crowd at the stadium he played well. Towards the end of the game, and in the pouring rain he scored a touchdown which helped his team to victory and he had never heard a crowd go wild like that before.

Jamie's remains were found buried in the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium by construction workers involved in renovations on July 8, 2006. An investigation into his death is ongoing.