Gabriel James Memorial Scholarship Fund

On Monday, May 22, 2003, our son Gabriel died in a single-car crash in Hurt, Virginia. He was on his way back to Greensboro, NC, where he was a Senior Engineering student at North Carolina A&T State University.

Gabriel was a leader in all of his spheres of influence. In high school, he was a basketball player and a captain of the basketball team. He was a great basketball coach too, both in high school and then in college as an intramural basketball coach.

Gabriel crossed the burning sands of Omega Psi Phi in Spring 2023 and had already begun serving as the Chaplain of the chapter (leading prayer at chapter meetings), at the time of his death. He was also a US Army Reservist, a top ROTC cadet of the NC A&T Aggie Battalion, and the president of the Society of Pershing Rifles (a prestigious military fraternity that Gabriel re-chartered at NC A&T in spring 2023).

Gabriel loved gospel music. He loved to dance. He loved to sing. He loved to play basketball, lift weights, and exercise. He loved family game nights. He loved spending time talking to friends and family. He was fearless, and rebellious, and kind, and strong, and faithful, and faith-filled. He gave the greatest hugs.

Our family is so proud of the life Gabriel lived and the man that he had become.

My name is Chidi James, the beneficiary and Gabriel's father, and we want to establish a scholarship in Gabriel's in honor of Gabriel and the amazing life he lived. The scholarship will be awarded annually to deserving high school seniors who have been admitted to North Carolina A&T State University, Gabriel’s alma mater.