In 1950, James Ferguson began wrestling in junior high school, and as a senior in 1955 he won the Oklahoma State High School Championship for Claussen High School by defeating the defending State Champion, Jim Kinyon, at 154 pounds. He then attended Michigan State University where he won the Big Ten Championship at 167 pounds. In his senior year, he also won the AAU National Championship at 174 pounds, became the Pan American Games Champion, and toured with the U.S. National wrestling team in Eastern Europe, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and France. After moving to California, Ferguson wrestled for the San Francisco Olympic Club, which is the oldest athletic club in the nation, from 1960 to 1968, serving as the Captain of the wrestling teams that won five National AAU Wrestling team titles. During his first year representing the Olympic Club in competition, James won the AAU National Championship, took first place in the U.S. District Olympics tryouts, won the Naval Training Center Championship, and won the Far Western Championship. In his second year of competition, he not only retained his titles, but he earned the opportunity of becoming a member of the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team that competed in the World Championships in Japan. In 1962, Ferguson won another AAU National Championship at 171.5 pounds and placed third in the World Championships. In 1963, he won his second Pan American Games Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a member of the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team that year, he toured Eastern Europe and Germany, wrestling against the best in the world. In Sweden, he participated in the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Tournament. James earned All-American Freestyle Wrestling Honors in 1959, 1960 and 1962. Ferguson was inducted into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, and in 2012 he was also inducted into the San Francisco Olympic Club Hall of Fame for wrestling. James had a 30-year career as a firefighter with the City of San Francisco Fire Department. He was elected by his peers as President of the San Francisco Fire Department Local 798 Union, a position he held for 23 years. In 1994, Ferguson was elected as the l0th District Vice President of the International Association of Fire Fighters where he works advising locals in California, Arizona, Hawaii and New Mexico.