In the spring of 1985, when James Law emerged as the fastest Class 2A high school sprinter in Pennsylvania, the Beaver County Times featured his exploits in a story with the following headline: "Law of the land: No one out-runs James".

That's basically the way it was for James as a junior and senior at Rochester High School, where James ran track under coach Jim Ebersberger, a fellow Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame inductee. Not only did James win, he won with ease. Rarely was James even challenged. Often, he sprinted his way into the record books in the various meets in which he competed. There are so many accounts of runners who James beat offering up their praise for him. James was noted for his sprinting shoes, which were marked on the back with a "The" on the left shoe and a "Law" on the right shoe.

In the 1985 WPIAL track and field championships, James won his first four WPIAL gold medals by winning the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 400 meter-dash in Class 2A and running a leg on the 400-meter relay team. A few weeks later at the PIAA championships at Shippensburg University, James won his first two state championships by winning the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. It was more of the same a year later. James repeated as WPIAL champion 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 400 meter-dash. Then, at states, James repeated there as well in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 400 meter-dash. In 1987, James won a Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame Special Achievement Award for his 1986 sprinting.

Among the records James has held include: the WPIAL 100 meters (10.5 seconds in 1985), the WPIAL 400 meters (48.5 seconds in 1986), and the PIAA 200 meters (22.00 seconds in 1985).

After finishing his high school career, James accepted a track scholarship at Odessa Junior College in Texas. Later, James played football and track and field at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. To this day, James is still in the national junior college record books as a member of Odessa's 4x100 relay team (38.86 seconds).

James later started at defensive back for three seasons for the semi-pro Pittsburgh Colts in the North American Football League, helping his team reach the championship game in 1997.