Paul Adams | |
Birth Date: | 5 April 1921 |
Death Place: | Miller Lake, Ontario, Canada |
Player Sport1: | Football |
Player Years2: | c. 1940 |
Player Team2: | Baldwin–Wallace |
Player Sport3: | Basketball |
Player Years4: | c. 1940 |
Player Team4: | Baldwin–Wallace |
Player Positions: | Quarterback (football) Guard (basketball) |
Coach Sport1: | Football |
Coach Years2: | 1949–1950 |
Coach Team2: | Muskingum (assistant) |
Coach Years3: | 1951–1953 |
Coach Team3: | Baldwin–Wallace (assistant) |
Coach Years4: | 1954–1957 |
Coach Team4: | Baldwin–Wallace |
Coach Years5: | 1958–c. 1980 |
Coach Team5: | Baldwin–Wallace (assistant) |
Coach Sport6: | Basketball |
Coach Years7: | 1949–1951 |
Coach Team7: | Muskingum (assistant) |
Coach Years8: | ? |
Coach Team8: | Baldwin–Wallace (assistant) |
Coach Sport9: | Cross country |
Coach Years10: | 1958–1983 |
Coach Team10: | Baldwin–Wallace |
Coach Sport11: | Track |
Coach Years12: | 1951–1983 |
Coach Team12: | Baldwin–Wallace |
Coach Sport13: | Tennis |
Coach Years14: | 1950–1951 |
Coach Team14: | Muskingum |
Overall Record: | 8–25–1 (football) |
Paul L. "Sparky" Adams (April 5, 1921 – July 4, 1986)[1] was an American football, cross country running, and track and field coach. He served as the head football coach at Baldwin–Wallace College—now known at Baldwin Wallace University—in Berea, Ohio from 1954 to 1957, compiling a record of 8–25–1.[2] In 1958, he stepped down to become an assistant football coach, so he could focus his roles as the head cross country and track coach at Baldwin–Wallace, positions that he held until his retirement in 1983.[3] Adams was also and assistant basketball coach and a swimming coach at Baldwin–Wallace.
A native of Newark, Ohio, Adams attended Baldwin–Wallace, where he lettered in football, basketball, and track, before graduating in 1943. He served in Third Army of the United States Army, led by Gernal George S. Patton, during World War II, earning a Purple Heart before his discharge in 1945.[4]
Adams died at the age of 65, on July 4, 1986, of an apparent heart attack while on vacation in Miller Lake, Ontario.[5]