James Donaldson, author of STANDING ABOVE THE CROWD

James Lee Donaldson III (born August 16, 1957 in Heacham, England) is a retired professional English-American basketball player who grew up in California and played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association.

Donaldson, a 7’2″ center, starred at Luther Burbank High School and Washington State University in the late 1970s before being drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979. However, he spent his first professional season abroad, with the Italian Serie A’s 3A Antonini Siena.

Donaldson played three seasons with Seattle, San Diego (later Los Angeles) Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and Utah Jazz.

During the 1984–85 NBA season, he led the league in field goal percentage at 0.637 — still one of the ten highest percentages in NBA history.

In the early 1990s, injuries forced James to retire from the NBA with 8,203 career points, 7,492 career rebounds and 1,267 career blocks.

Upon retiring, James settled in the Seattle area, where he runs a physical therapy business. He is also a motivational speaker.

In 2009, James ran for the non-partisan office of Seattle mayor and came in fourth among the candidates.

In 2010, James joined the College Success Foundation as the Director of the Tacoma College Success Foundation.