For 38 years, Atmore native Floyd Adams devoted his life to his wife, Betty, their children and hundreds of student-athletes in Alabama and Florida.

Adams began his coaching career near Birmingham at Springville High School in 1959 and retired from coaching right down the road at Northview High School in 1997.

During his time coaching, he had players drafted by Major League Baseball teams with 18 signing professional contracts and four reaching the MLB. One of those players, Jay Bell, went on to play in the MLB for 17 years and won a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. The franchise’s first.

Adams won 303 games as the head coach of the Jefferson Davis Warhawks baseball team with six of those teams being ranked nationally.

While coach at JDCC, Adams won several Coach of the Year awards, a Fred Waters Award for Outstanding Service and Contributions to the Sport of Baseball and a Jacksonville State University Award for Contributions to the Game of Baseball.

For all of his work and success, Adams has been selected for induction into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Jan. 20 in Birmingham.

This type of career and honor would put some men or women at new heights with some of them letting the success go to their head.
Adams, however, will not have any of that type of arrogance. Upon learning about his induction, he waited until he was sure they had not called the wrong man before telling people.

Until a story in the Saturday edition of The Atmore Advance, several people were still unaware of the honor that he has earned.

It’s an honor that he credits to the players due to the hard work and success they had on the field.

Adams said he is “honored and humbled” for being chosen for this Hall of Fame. He sees his accomplishments as less than others he is joining.

His accomplishments are not less though, they might even be more. He might not have won as many games, but with the passion he coached his players. Floyd Adams is deserving of this award and our congratulations.

He deserves it not just for his success on the field, but the reasons he decided to coach and how well he contributed to the lives of the athletes that were lucky to call him their coach.

Congratulations, coach Adams. You deserve it.

Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123 or by e-mail at sports@atmoreadvance.com.