Alf Adams
Vanderbilt Commodores
PositionEnd
Guard/center (basketball)
ClassGraduate
MajorLaw
Personal information
Born:(1898-01-08)January 8, 1898
Nashville, Tennessee
Died:December 4, 1982(1982-12-04) (aged 84)
Nashville, Tennessee
Weight175 lb (79 kg)
Career history
CollegeVanderbilt (1915–1920)
Career highlights and awards

Alfred Thompson Adams (January 8, 1898 – December 4, 1982) was an attorney and an American football and basketball player and coach. He played for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University.

Early years

Alfred Thompson Adams was born on January 8, 1898, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Adams Gillespie Adams, II and Sue Howell.[1] He was the sixth son, and his father died early in Adams' life.

Vanderbilt University

At Vanderbilt he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He graduated with a B. S in 1918 and an LL.B from Vanderbilt Law School in 1921.

Football

Adams was a prominent member of Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football teams. Adams was selected as an All-Southern end in 1917 and 1919.

1917

He was captain of the 1917 football team, the last non-senior to be such until 2003.[2] Adams was selected All-Southern in 1917, a season which featured the south's first national champion in Georgia Tech. Tech gave Vandy its worst ever loss, 83 to 0. Adams praised Tech: "Tech's magnificent machine won easily over Vanderbilt. It was simply the matter of a splendid eleven winning over an unseasoned, inexperienced team. "Tech played hard, clean football, and we were somewhat surprised to meet such a fair, aggressive team, after the reports we had heard. I think that Vanderbilt could have broken that Tech shift if we had had last year's eleven. Being outweighed, Vanderbilt could not check the heavy forwards, or open up the line. Thereby hangs the tale."[3]

Basketball

1919–1920

Adams played on the 1920 SIAA championship team with the likes of Josh Cody and Tom Zerfoss.[4]

High school football

In 1920 he coached the Hume-Fogg High School football team.

Legal career

Following his passing the bar, Adams entered practice with his uncle R. B. C. Howell and former Vandy quarterback Myles P. O'Connor.[1]

External links

References

  1. ^ a b "Nashville Bar Association Memorial to Alfred Thompson Adams" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "Vanderbilt Trio of Underclassmen to Captain 2003 Squad; Team Without Senior Captain for First Time Since World War I". June 9, 2003. Archived from the original on November 26, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  3. ^ "What "Alf" Adams Says" (PDF). The Technique. November 6, 1917. p. 5.
  4. ^ Traughber, Bill (March 14, 2012). "Vanderbilt SIAA champs in 1920". Vanderbilt Commodores Athletics. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
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