Donnelly was born on December 9, 1881 in Clinton, Massachusetts. Donnelly was the oldest of seven children born to John E. Donnelly and Mary Ellen Corcoran Donnelly. His father immigrated from England and was a machinist in Clinton. His siblings were: John W. Donnelly, Charles Francis Donnelly, Joseph Alyosius Donnelly, Mary ValentineDonnelly Campbell, Ralph Edward Donnelly, and Kathleen Louise Donnelly Crowley. James graduated from Classical High School in Worcester, where he had starred in football.
College career
He attended Dartmouth College where he graduated with an A.B. in 1905. He excelled in football where he played end on the first Dartmouth football team to beat Harvard. In 1904, his final year, he lettered under coach Fred Folsom. That year, he helped the Dartmouth eleven to an undefeated record of 9–0–1 with a scoreless tie to national power Harvard. Donnelly played alongside three Walter CampAll-Americans, Joseph Gilman at guard, Ralph Glaze at end and James Vaughn at halfback. The team out scored its opponents by a combined score of 143 to 13. After graduating from Dartmouth, Donnelly attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1907.
Legal career
After graduating from Harvard, he was admitted to the bar in 1908 and became a lawyer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Early in his career, he clerked in the law office of Thayer & Cobb, where he worked with Webster Thayer, later the judge in the Sacco and Vanzetti Trial. In 1908, he became law partners with Charles F. Campbell. In 1931, he was appointed as a judge in the Superior Court in Worcester by Governor Joseph B. Ely. His appointment was aided partly by the political connections of his family and his law partner but was hailed by the legal community because he was known for his consistency and fairness.
Coaching career
In the fall of 1905 he began coaching local high schools and colleges in the area. During the period from 1905 to 1909 he was the football coach of one or two teams per season including ones at Worcester High School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Highland Military Academy of Worcester. In 1910 he took the head football job at Howard College in Birmingham, Alabama. His team finished the season with a 1–8 record only scoring 10 points to their opponents' 304. In 1911 he returned to coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute until he was hired for the 1912 football season as an acting professor of physical education and football coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In the three years as head coach at Miami he had a combined record 14–8–2. Donnelly was replaced as head football coach for the 1915 season by Chester J. Roberts. At the time Miami was changing their philosophy of athletics by moving to an all-year athletic coach. Donnelly was unable to be in Oxford for the entire school year since he could only take a limited amount of time off from his law practice in Massachusetts.
Head coaching record
College
Personal life
He married Mary O’Reilly of Worcester on October 21, 1920 and they had three children: James, Jr., Rosemary, and Elizabeth Ann. Judge Donnelly was killed in a traffic accident in Ashland, Virginia on the way back from Florida on March 24, 1952. His car was hit head on by a truck. His wife and his daughter, Rosemary were also in the car at the time of the accident, with Rosemary also being killed.
