Personality+: James Lockhart Jock of All Trades

By Cara Sievers

Many people claim to be sports nuts, but rarely do they have the experiences James Lockhart does. When James isn’t busy working as president of telecom consulting firm Telecom Management Inc., he is most likely to be found around a course, on a court or even at the top of a mountain.

“There’s nothing better than being on top of a mountain at 12,000 feet on a sunny, cold, clear day,” said James, who began snow skiing in the third grade at White Pass in central Washington. He spent almost every weekend of his youth on the powder, skiing occasionally with Phil and Steve Mahre of the U.S. Olympic skiing team during his high school years.

On weekends during college, James worked as Ski Patrol at Schweitzer Ski Resort in Sandpoint, Idaho, with some friends from Washington State University. He said one of his best memories was skiing down a Double Black Diamonds on the North Face of Schweitzer at night holding road flares instead of poles for the resort’s annual winter festival. “Advice from the head ski instructor in preparation for this was, ‘Don’t fall! And don’t mess up the show,’” James recalled.

James still gets to ski a couple of times a year, “when his knees will allow,” but he still believes the steeper the hill, the better.

James also applied this passion to the sport of racquetball, which he played and taught for 18 years, during eight of which he got paid to travel the country and play professionally. At the time, James was training three to four hours per day, seven days per week and had ranked 24th on the IRT (International Racquetball Tour), thanks to having two former players, Lynn Adams and Mike Ray, as coaches.

Some of James’s biggest matches included a win over the No. 6 player in the world, Rocky Carson (currently No. 2), and wins over the No. 9 and No. 10 players in the world. “I was lucky enough to play against almost every pro and played doubles with a few legends of the game,” said James, who won eight Nebraska State Championships, two U.S. Regional Championships and two third-place finishes at Nationals, along with winning a few satellite pro events.

Today, James said his real passion is golf, and he practices and plays about six or seven times per week from March to November. He has qualified for three Nebraska State Amateur Championships, has had three holes in one and also claims a course record at Crooked Creek in Lincoln with a 10 under par, 62.

“No matter what I shoot or how I play, all I want to do is practice more, play more and get better,” said James, who also collects golf course logo balls from every course he plays. “I don’t consider any sport a hobby. If you’re gonna play, you might as well try to be the best.”

Biggest wish: “More time and more knowledge! More hours in the day, more days in the week, more weeks in the year, more years in the life to learn and do all that I want to.”

Words to live by: “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job!” — Jim Rohn

Thoughts on telecom: “The industry is rapidly changing — from the products offered to the vast capabilities of those products. Big companies are consolidating, while there seem to be more startups than ever before, offering very unique products and services marketed through the channel. And the channel is adapting and changing the way it brings these new offerings to their clients.”

Do you know someone who has Personality+? We’re looking for interesting characters in telecom to take the spotlight! Please send nominations to Cara Sievers at [email protected].