James Tanniehill is a member of 5 Halls of fame for wrestling and has been known, predominantly for his wrestling history. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1945, the third born of 5 children to a coal miner. He was raised during the time of segregation, remembers special water fountains and special seating in movie theaters, where he developed an early love of movies and imagination. He was in school when the freedom riders came through, he remembers having to leave school to run home to get a radio to bring back to class so that the teachers could hear what was going on. Even though he had moved by the time of the church bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, the neighbor boy from across the street from where he lived in Birmingham, of the Ware family, was killed that same day. When his parents divorced at the age of 15, he moved to Minnesota with his mother, Mozel Tanniehill, and sisters, Diane and Vivian. It was here that he was introduced to wrestling. It was also a big culture shock for him because there was no segregation in Minnesota at the time. One of my favorite stories he tells from those days is when he first went in to the wrestling room, after trying his hand at several other sports, and thinking wrestling was "wrastling" like he would see on tv. So when the coach said, "get out there and let's see what you have," James started slamming kids and stomping on them, and behaving generally as a WWE wrestler when the coach had to stop him and knew at that moment he had some work to do. Coach Bergstedt said, " it's not that kind of wrestling, it is 'scientific' wrestling we do here." James took to wrestling right away. He has a special propensity for it and by his senior year, he was completely hooked. A small coal miner's kid from Alabama, he never had any imaginings about any college or advanced studies beyond high school. However, by senior year, he was a conference, district and regional Champion and placed 3rd in the state. By this time, he had met and was working with Coach Alan Rice of Minnesota Wrestling Club. He received a lot of offers to go to college and with encouragement from his coaches, he chose Winona State College. Coach Robert Gunner recruited him and sold him on that school by promising he would receive an education. He received his BA degree in Art, and his wresting accomplishments were amazing. He won 52 of 56 dual meets, 48 by pin. He was the first black NIC Champion for all 4 years. He was Midlands Champion, NAIA 4 time place winner, NCAA Division I- 2 time All American. His overall record was something like 115 wins and something like 13 losses. Coach Gunner was with him his first two and a half years, and then Coach Fran McCann took the helm. He still to this day uses their guidance and technique in his every day life. He helped to introduce Black History studies in Winona State and was the first black person to teach a class about African American artists and their contribution to the world of art. He got married and had 4 children. After college, James couldn't fathom the idea of being done with wrestling so he joined the Army! In the Army, he was known as Abdul Raheem Ali and he continued to accumulate accomplishments. He was a 9 time Inter Service Champion in both Freestyle (4 times) and Greco (5 times). He was also Silver Medalist in both Greco and Freestyle and 6 time National Champion all in the military. After the military, James returned to college, this time Graduate School at Indiana State, where his former coach Fran McCann offered him an assistant coaching position. He continued to wrestle, even into his early 60's. At the age of 63, James took second in the world at the World Championships in Martigny, Switzerland. James has been a coach for many of those years. He has coached at Indiana State with Coach Fran McCann, this is where he met and worked with Bruce Baumgartner, two time Olympic Champion. James was the first African American to coach wrestling at Terre Haute South High School in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he had 2 state Champions and the team placed second in the State. He ran Top Notch Wrestling Camps for a number of years where he has touched many lives. Most recently, he was Head Coach at Pike High School, then he formed a youth program for at risk youth in the inner city of Indianapolis with co-founder, Laura Rader, called Take Down Crime. He then went back to Pike High School as assistant Coach and is now heading up the youth program for Pike Township. James is the first African American to win in four different weight classes on the Senior Greco level. He was the first African American to win 12 National Titles, He continues to highlight the history of wrestling to his youngsters in addition to the moves and techniques. He brings in history makers like Bobby Douglas, Butch Keaser, and Fran McCann. His heart beats wrestling and he loves to instill that passion into kids every day.