James Ballard (1923-) is a retired Catholic parish priest from New Orleans. He was an associate of Lincoln Clay during his rise to power in 1968, although he cut his ties to Clay after Clay took over the city, not wanting to associate himself with Clay's crimes.
Biography[]
James Ballard was born in the Delray Hollow neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, and he served as a US Army medic during World War II. He served in the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion in Europe (winning several medals for his service at Climbach in eastern France, where he took out two German tanks and sixteen men), and, upon returning home, he worked several odd jobs before attending seminary. After being ordained as a Catholic priest, he worked at Saint Michelle's Orphanage, where he met Lincoln Clay, becoming an uncle figure to him. In 1958, he was appointed to Saint Jerome's Catholic Church upon the orphanage's closure, and he stayed at the church until his retirement in 2002. During the 1960s, he became Lincoln Clay's spiritual adviser and looked after him during his recovery from his near-death experience caused by the Marcano crime family. He was reluctant to associate himself with Clay and his criminal activities, but he helped him if Clay needed humanitarian assistance for victims of the Marcano family.