‘He’s so relaxed when he’s performing, and people pick up on that,’ says ‘American Idol’ contestant’s former English teacher. By James Montgomery Before he became the most unlikely of “American Idol” finalists, Casey James was just another student at Millsap High School, a tiny cluster of buildings located some 30 miles west of Fort Worth, Texas. He was, by all accounts, a quiet, well-mannered kid who played on the school’s tennis team, excelled in the theater program and absolutely, positively loved music. A decade later, James is still the same silent, polite guy with the winning smile. The only difference these days is that he may very well end up being crowned “Idol” champion. Which, for those who knew him back in his Millsap days, wouldn’t be all that shocking. The Casey James they remember was certainly a nice guy, but he was also fiercely independent and determined to succeed in the music industry his way. “He was a good student, very polite and kind,” Millsap High English teacher Beth Adkins said. “The thing I remember most about him is that, in high school, you always have your cliques, but it was very important to him to be himself … he got along with everybody else, but he never fit into one clique. He was not a jock, even though played tennis … he was mostly interested in his music.” Adkins not only taught James, she lived in the same tiny town he grew up in: Cool, Texas, a hamlet of less that 200 that, as Adkins puts it, “is just a blinking caution light” off U.S. Route 180. And, not surprisingly, she knew of James’ talents long before he became a student at Millsap. “It’s a very small town, so I always knew he was interested in music,” he said. “I remember that he had a band, and he would play for all the different nursing homes with his mother and his brother. There was nowhere else really for them to play. The nearest places would probably be Fort Worth, or maybe Mineral Wells.” And though it’s been a decade since James sat in Adkins’ classroom (“People keep asking me for stories about him, but, to be honest, I can’t remember any!” she laughed), she can still see traces of her former student in the studly, scruffy man he’s become. Though she’s more of a Michael Bubl
