James Walter Kynes Jr. (August 31, 1928 – October 14, 1988) was an American college and professional football player, lawyer, political appointee, and corporate executive.

[7] The National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers selected Kynes in the fourteenth round (178th pick overall) of the 1950 NFL draft.

[8] Kynes chose to play center for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for a single season in 1950.

Kynes stood for a full four-year term in the 1964 Democratic Party primary election in May 1964, but was defeated by 599 votes out of 938,677 cast.

He was executive vice president, secretary, and general counsel of its successor companies Hillsborough Holding Corporation and Walter Industries, Inc. Kynes died of stomach cancer at his home in Tampa in 1988; he was 60 years old.

[11] The university awards the annual $10,000 scholarship to a former Gator student-athlete, who has demonstrated exceptional character and high academic achievement, in order to pursue a graduate or professional degree.