James Hines was a member of the famed Texas Southern University Flying Tigers Track Team. His outstanding accomplishments resulted in his being selected as a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team.

In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Hines blazed to a record-setting 9.9 victory in the 100 meters and ran the anchor leg on the United States 400 Meter Relay Team that posted a startling 38.2 victory, as the TSU sprinter earned two coveted Olympic gold medals.

Hines and former TSU teammate Clyde Duncan were the only two people to run on TSU's world record Indoor Mile Relay Team and the two record-tying 440 yard relay units. The mile relay team set an indoor record of 3:11.1 in the 1965 Mason-Dixon Games.

In 1979, Hines was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in Charleston, West Virginia.