Lofton played college football at Stanford University. As a senior in 1977, he received 57 passes for 1,010 yards with 14 touchdowns, and was an AP & NEA second team All-American selection. Lofton was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity, and earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1978.
Track and field
Lofton won the long jump at the 1978 NCAA Track and Field Championships with a wind-aided jump of 26 feet 11¾ inches. He won the long jump at the 1974 CIF California State Meet with a jump of 24 feet 3½ inches after placing sixth in this meet the year before. He was also a sprinter of note, with a best of 20.5 in the 200 meter. He has been an active participant in Masters track and field since 1997.
Professional career
Lofton was drafted in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. He was named to the NFL Pro Bowl eight times. He was also named to four All-Pro teams. He also played in three Super Bowls during his career with the Bills. Lofton was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. In his 16 NFL seasons, Lofton caught 764 passes for 14,004 yards and 75 touchdowns. He averaged 20 yards per catch or more in five seasons, leading the league in 1983 and 1984 with an average of 22.4 and 22 yards respectively. He also rushed 32 times for 246 yards and one touchdown. Lofton is the first NFL player to record 14,000 yards receiving and was the second to score a touchdown in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. During his nine seasons in Green Bay, Lofton played in seven Pro Bowls and left as the team's all-time leading receiver with 9,656 yards. On the retirement of Steve Largent, Lofton became the NFL's active leader in receiving yards at the start of 1990, through to his retirement in 1993. In 1991, Lofton became the oldest player to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season. On October 21, of that same year, Lofton became the oldest player to record 200 yards receiving as well as 200 yards from scrimmage in a game. He is also the 2nd oldest player to have 200+ all purpose yards in a game behind Mel Gray,. Lofton wore #86 while with the Buffalo Bills in 1989. After the 1989 season, and the departure of Flip Johnson he switched to #80.
Coaching career
Lofton became the wide receiver coach for the San Diego Chargers in 2002 and continued that role until he was fired on January 22, 2008. Lofton was later announced as a candidate to become head coach for Oakland Raiders in 2007 but the job would later go to Lane Kiffin. In 2008, the Raiders hired him as their wide receivers coach. On January 13, 2009, Lofton was let go by the Oakland Raiders and replaced by Sanjay Lal.
Lofton and his wife, Beverly, have three children, including David who is a football player who most recently played for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Lofton's cousin, Kevin Bass, was a Major League Baseball player. In October 1984, a dancer at the Marquee Club in Milwaukee accused James Lofton and his Packers teammate Eddie Lee Ivery of sexual assault. Lofton and Ivery asserted that the acts were consensual. Neither player ended up being charged in the incident due to a lack of evidence. Two years later, Lofton was charged with second-degree sexual assault following an incident in the stairwell of a Green Bay nightclub. He was found not guilty of that charge.
