James Gazaway Ryals Jr. (1855–1885) was an American educator and university president.

[1][2] James Gazaway Ryals Jr. was born in 1855 in Bartow County, Georgia.

James G. Ryals, a Baptist preacher who also ran a school for young men.

[3] His brother Thomas Edward Ryals was a lawyer and a member of the Georgia General Assembly.

[7] He died on April 18, 1885, in Jacksonville, Alabama, from pneumonia, while he was serving as the school president and was succeeded by J. Harris Chappell.