James Madison "Red" Roberts was an American football player and coach. He played football for the Centre Praying Colonels in Danville, Kentucky. Roberts was thrice selected All-Southern, and a unanimous choice for the Associated Press Southeast Area All-Time football team 1869-1919 era. After college Roberts, played in the early National Football League (NFL) for the Toledo Maroons and the Akron Pros. He also played in the first American Football League for the Cleveland Panthers. Roberts served as the head football coach at Waynesburg College—now known as Waynesburg University—in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, for one season, in 1923. He later made a run for the office of Governor of Kentucky as a Democrat in 1931, losing in the primary to Ruby Laffoon who went on to win the election.

The College Football All-Southern Team was an all-star team of college football players from the Southern United States. The honor was given annually to the best players at their respective positions. It is analogous to the All-America Team and was most often selected in newspapers. Notable pickers of All-Southern teams include John Heisman, Dan McGugin, George C. Marshall, Grantland Rice, W. A. Lambeth, Reynolds Tichenor, Nash Buckingham, Innis Brown, and Dick Jemison.