There are a lot of stats that can tell James Starks’ story and why he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
But one statistic that can not be quantified is the number of kids he has helped through his charity work in Niagara Falls. Whether it was seven seasons in the NFL or his current life as a real estate agent in Texas, Starks’ mind never left the city that raised him.
Starks has helped fund his brother, Sanquin’s 716 United travel basketball team, and helps with the Boys and Girls Club in Niagara Falls. The Starks brothers and Wayne Ollison started the program, and while Sanquin and Ollison run the program, it was James who came up with the funding.
“Without James, we’re not able to show people what it can do,” Sanquin said. “… When the kids traveled, needed uniforms, needed sneakers, whatever else they needed, James was the person who gave that to us. When everybody else saw how much of a positive impact it had, then everybody else kind of rallied around it. But without James, we probably never get off the ground.”
When he was a freshman, Starks’ then-junior varsity head coach Don Bass and Starks developed a strong relationship that continues to this day. Bass uses Starks as an example in team talks, while having Starks speak to his varsity team on occasion.
In one pointed piece of advice that Starks gave a Niagara Falls student after he came back to talk to the school after winning the Super Bowl. A kid assumed Starks was popular with women because of his status. Starks responded by saying that the kid chases his dreams, the girls will then chase him.
The decades-long relationship between Starks and Bass has translated into the former Packer regularly speaking with Bass’ football team.
“Buck has always reached out to the kids and offered any kind of advice,” Bass said. “He’s stayed in contact. He did video chats, Zoom meetings, talk over the phone and he also developed relationships. He’s very accessible to the kids. I just tell them the same thing I tell anybody else: all things are possible. … You got to work harder than everybody else.”
Two current Niagara Falls players that Starks has talked to are quarterback Michael Taylor and wide receiver Darryl Smith. Taylor was the team’s starting quarterback and leader, like Starks was before moving to running back for the University at Buffalo, and Smith is the first Wolverine to receive an FBS scholarship offer since Starks in 2005.
During his senior season with the Wolverines, Starks threw for over 600 yards and ran for 1,048 yards. He was also the North MVP in the 2005 Kensington Lions Club All-Star Game and was a key contributor to the 2005 Niagara Falls basketball team that won a state championship and was ranked by MaxPreps as one of the best high school teams of the 2000s.
Bass knew Starks was a special talent as a freshman. But the play that comes to Bass’ mind first is a 92-yard run against Lockport in 2004, juking and stiff-arming players the entire way down the sideline.
“I said this kid’s different,” Bass said. “He just stood out. He was the same size but he was just more athletic, more elusive. So probably about a week into our double sessions I called him over and I said to him … ‘I said Buck, if you lock in, keep your grades up, don’t let the streets get you or the girls mess you up, you won’t pay for college.’”
Despite only being his coach for Starks’ one season on the Wolverines junior varsity team, Bass did not have to think very long about whether Starks was the best athlete he ever coached.
“He’s the best player in Niagara Falls that I’ve ever seen,” Bass said. “… But talent-wise, he’s light-years above anybody that I’ve ever seen. I feel confident saying that.”
Starks went to the University of Buffalo from 2005-2009, where a position change altered his career trajectory. He started his career as a safety, redshirting his first season. But then he was moved to running back.
He ran for 3,140 yards and 34 touchdowns in two seasons, both of which were school records when he left. Starks, who helped the Bulls to the program’s only MAC championship in 2008, sits in the top-five in seven different categories and was inducted into the UB Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.
“The reason why I came to UB was for other people from our community who don’t see a lot of people from the same area go and do special things,” James told GNN Sports in 2023. “… There’s a select few that’s a name, so for them to see it close up and the work that they put in and how to get better each year and constantly see them in the neighborhood and see how they act. … Helping the community is why I did everything I did.”
After his four years with the Bulls, Starks was drafted with the 193rd overall pick in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, compiling 3,523 scrimmage yards and 15 touchdowns in 76 games. And he has a championship ring, rushing for 52 yards on 11 attempts in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
“It’s motivation, like James, like Jonny Flynn, like Paul Harris and some of the other athletes that the guys have been able to use as examples,” Sanquin said. “It’s a positive role model that our kids can look up to. … So it’s that I-can-do-anything-no-matter-where-I’m-from kind of thing and it’s great for our kids to have.”