2019-20 Georgia Tech Everyday Champions Issue #3

MEN’S BASKETBALL

BY MATT WINKELJOHN BIG ON THE BASKETBALL COURT, AND BIG IN LIFE, JAMES BANKS’ BASKETBALL JOURNEY IS JUST BEGINNING CENTER OF ATTENTION F or quite a while, James Banks III couldn’t keep pace with his mother, who became quite a runner, and neither could his older in order the four high schools where he grew from a very tall neophyte with minimal basketball experience to a force. There’s a lot to process with Banks, and it starts

sister, Marissa. Even the family dogs struggled to stay with Mom when she went running on the pathway from Stone Mountain toward Atlanta. James was in elementary school then. Now, Mom can’t walk, and it’s hard to keep up with James as he drives toward the finish of his college basketball days at Georgia Tech, with the goal of playing in the NBA. Tracking his hoops story isn’t so easy either. He’s been centering the Yellow Jackets for two seasons, after languishing on the bench for two at Texas, and you’ll be hard pressed to keep

with Sonja Banks prohibiting him from playing basketball when he was a kid. James says, “Mom over-protected me as a kid,” and Sonja, who is now a paraplegic, “will tell you that’s no lie.” James Jr., his Dad, died in a motorcycle accident on North Avenue, behind what is now Ponce City Market. The big little guy (James is a solid 6-feet-10 now, with a standing reach of almost 9-feet-4 toward the goal) was four. James III didn’t get to play, “because I didn’t want him to go down the wrong path,” Sonja admits. “I

12   EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS | SPRING 2020