James Roberts

James Roberts is one of the greatest footbag players to come out of Texas. He helped promote the sport not only in his home state, but internationally as his footbag career grew.

James started playing footbag in 1982, ten years after the sport was invented by Mike Marshall and John Stalberger (another Texan in origin). His hometown was Kingsville, Texas, but he would live several places in the Lone Star state, settling in Dallas for many years.

Just as many players, Roberts initially was a casual kicker, playing as a hobby with his friends. As time went on, he evolved into freestyle footbag, which was in its fledgling state in the 1980s. As James’s passion for the sport grew, he made connections with many footbag comrades he remains in contact with today.

James began competing in freestyle in 1987, and remained undefeated in Texas footbag events throughout the 1990s. In 1992, he became a World Champion in Golden, Colorado for footbag golf with a three-day course record. That year he also made finals in freestyle routines, taking 7th place. He took 4th place in team freestyle that year with an outstanding one-drop routine with World Champion Peter Irish.

In the early 90s, Roberts traveled to Malaysia and demonstrated freestyle footbag to the local Takraw team there.

In 1999, James was the Men’s Overall Champion at the World Footbag Championships in Chicago, Illinois.

In 2000, Roberts was flown to Mexico City where he performed demos for junior high and high school kids. He signed nearly one thousand autographs during that time, and on his final day, he kicked on the Temple of the Sun, a popular tourist attraction there.

His noted inspirations in footbag were fellow Hall-of-Famers Tim Vozar, Kenny Shults, Rippin’ Rick Reese, Tuan Vu, and Peter Irish.

James organized two well-known footbag clubs; Twisted Dimensions and the Dallas Footbag Club. They ran various footbag events over the many years, lasting until the 2000s.

Aside from singles and doubles freestyle footbag and footbag golf, James played footbag net throughout his career. During his run in footbag, he attended a great many tournaments and promoted the sport in North America and around the world.

James's greatest takeaway from the sport was meeting his wife at the popular Louie’s Backyard on South Padre Island in Texas on May 25th, 1986. He was kicking on the beach when a woman approached him and said “You’re the Hacky Sack boy.” From here, a relationship bloomed that continues until this day. All because one of serendipitous moment playing footbag on the beach.

For James Robert’s tireless devotion to the sport, he was inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame in 2008.