Mike Adams

Mike Adams began teaching in Washington during the 1971-1972 school year and coached 8^th grade boys basketball during the 1978-1979 school year. He also coached girls softball and girls track for many seasons.

His 8^th grade basketball coaching years extended to 26. One of Mike’s unique practice strategies was bringing in high school boys and ICC students to scrimmage with his young players on Saturdays and during school breaks. This gave his players confidence to match up against other 14-year-olds on game days.

His most embarrassing and humorous coaching memory happened one night on the road. He bent down to straighten a damp towel for cleaning the players’ shoes in front of the bench. Unfortunately, the seat of his pants ripped out completely. Thankfully the school had a Home Ec. department. He was handed a needle and some thread and had to make emergency repairs. He received a standing ovation by District 52 fans when he returned to the court in time for the start of the 7^th grade game. The fans had learned of the incident from the talkative team manager.

During his 26 years coaching at Washington Middle School, his teams had a 403126 record. Mr. Adams coached two Final Four teams, two Elite Eight squads, seven Sweet Sixteen teams and won 12 regional championships. Throughout that time, District 52 also earned 15 conference titles. The 8th grade team always practiced with the 7th grade squad. Combined together, they won 805 games in those 26 seasons.

In 2006, in recognition of over 45 years of service to the Washington Park District as manager of the Washington Park Pool and then later working as a summer groundskeeper, the former Washington Middle School was renamed the Mike Adams Gymnasium.

In 2010, Mike was given the great honor of being inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame.

Mike remained a friend of basketball in his retirement. He has volunteered every year at the Tournament of Champions at WCHS. For 14 years he has volunteered at the Men’s NCAA basketball tournaments at various West, Midwest and Southeast tournament sites. Also, for the last 13 years he has volunteered at the Missouri Valley Arch Madness tournaments. In 2019 Mike was inducted into the WCHS Hall of Fame for 40+ years as a volunteer on the football statistics crew.

Mike has certainly had a positive and lasting impact on sports in Washington.