Eastern Washington University Athletics

Adams was a highly-honored football player for Eastern and was also a runner-up finisher at the national championships in track and field before embarking upon a successful career as a collegiate athletic trainer. Originally from Manson, Wash., he lettered in football in the 1964 and 1965 seasons at Eastern. He earned first team All-Evergreen Conference honors in 1964 as a cornerback and the following season was honored on the NAIA All-District 1 squad. In a 36-20 victory over Puget Sound in 1964, he had three interceptions and returned one of them 47 yards for a touchdown. He also played flanker on offense and was among the top punt returners in NAIA as a senior in 1965. Eastern finished 5-4 in 1964 when he won team MVP honors, then he helped EWU win the school’s first Evergreen Conference championship in 15 years a year later. In track and field, Adams placed fifth in the triple jump at the NAIA Championships in 1965 and then finished second in 1966. He won the NAIA District 1 title (45-10) in 1966 and was the team's most inspirational athlete. His career-best of 47-11 1/4 the triple jump stood as a school record for nine years. He received his bachelor’s degree from Eastern in 1967 and his master’s degree the following year. Adams went on to serve as long-time athletic trainer at the universities of Hawaii and Oregon, and was inducted into the Northwest Athletic Trainers Association (NWATA) Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1997, he received the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) 25-Year Award and was the initial NWATA Meeting Coordinator from 1982-1990. Adams was the head athletic trainer at Hawaii from 1968-1979 and at Oregon from 1980 to 2003. He retired in 2003 but continued to work part-time at Oregon until January of 2004. He was selected by the Eastern Athletic Department to the “100 for 100” All-Time Football Team, which was honored on Sept. 27, 2008, to commemorate Eastern’s 100th year of football.