Born on the 4th of April 1896, James Atkinson began his senior football career with Fitzroy in the VFL in 1913.
He held his place in the Fitzroy team rising to the captaincy in 1924 and 1925 before departing the mainland to come to Tasmania to take up the coaching position at Lefroy in 1926.
He was a high flying, hard hitting centre half back who, because of his determination to get the ball first, had nearly every bone in his body broken at some time or another including his windpipe.
He captain/coached Lefroy from 1926 to the end of the 1929 season when he was forced to retire through injury.
In 1926 he travelled with a TANFL team to Melbourne to take on a Victorian second 18 but the team were beaten by 10 goals. It was one of the largest crowds the team had ever played before with nearly 19,000 football fans present. Snowy was named as one of the best players for the side.
He represented Tasmania at the 1927 ANFC Carnival in Melbourne.
Despite Tasmania not winning a game the team was not disgraced.
"Snowy" also played Sheffield Shield cricket for Victoria and captained numerous Tasmanian cricket teams.
One could arguably say he was Tasmania's finest cricket captain, leading the State side on 18 occasions between 1929 to 1934.
He was the first batsman to score 1000 runs in club cricket in three successive seasons1927-28 and 1930-31.
He was six foot tall, an orthodox right hand batsman who excelled on wet or turning pitches, a useful change bowler, and an agile "close to the wicket" fieldsman who took 33 catches.
He was an outstanding Australian Rules footballer and cricketer.
He was licensee of the Royal Oak Hotel in Launceston for 15 years and died at Beaconsfield in 1956 on 11th June aged 60 years.
James Atkinson is a member of the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame along with other Tasmanian Football Legends such as Laurie Nash
, Darrel Baldock
, Rex Garwood
, Horrie Gorringe
, Bruce Carter
, Terry Cashion
, Roy Cazaly
, Royce Hart
, Peter Hudson
, Arthur Hodgson
and Ian Stewart
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James "Snowy" Atkinson - A Tasmanian Football Legend
