Clark, Adams Mentor Bobcat Student-Athletes
5/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
A little more than five years ago, James Clark stopped in
Bozeman while taking a Greyhound Bus from his home in Milwaukee to seek his basketball fortune at a junior college in Bremerton, Wash.
"From the bus station, (Bozeman) seemed like such a small place to me," recalls Clark, who specifically remembers thinking that the town seemed so little that it couldn't possibly include a college or university where basketball was played.
Half a decade later, Clark knows that not only is there a university in Bozeman, but Montana State University has been a positive and pivotal force in his life. Now an assistant basketball coach with the MSU program, the former Bobcat point guard says he hopes he can give something back to the university that has helped him achieve so much.
Clark and Alton "Junior" Adams, Jr., the Bobcat grid great who is now an MSU assistant football coach, have started Focused and Motivated Minorities, or FAMM, a mentoring group for MSU African-American thletes. Adams and Clark are the first MSU African-American student athletes and graduates who have been hired as MSU position coaches in their respective sports. They both remember what it felt like to be a young, urban African-American newly arrived in Montana and know first-hand the sorts of social and academic difficulties faced by young black athletes.
"We don't preach; we just provide information," says Adams, who set up the weekly meetings in fall semester attended by anywhere from two to 30 athletes who talk about everything from classes and how to conduct themselves to being homesick. "They're basically kick-it sessions." Josh Perkins, former 'Cat player and a 2002 business graduate who is now a successful businessman in Bozeman, also helps with the groups.
"We talk from experience," Adams said. "And, we're walking examples that you can turn it around."
The two have done more than just turn it around. According to Mike Kramer, MSU head football coach, Adams is a great addition to the 'Cat staff.
"Junior Adams is an amazing story of resiliency and attention to detail," Kramer said, adding that Adams brings to the staff a natural coaching talent that he inherited from his late father, Alton Johnson Adams. Kramer said that even though the elder Adams "wasn't a trained coach, he helped thousands of kids in Fremont, Calif." before he died during Adams' junior year at MSU.
"Junior has a tremendous amount ambition supported by a foundation of daily hard work," Kramer said.
Kramer adds that both the MSU football and basketball programs have benefited from having Adams and Clark on staff and their work with young athletes from diverse backgrounds.
"That's really been a cool thing for us," Kramer said. "Their life experiences serve as a model for a lot of kids who come to our program from diverse backgrounds. The parents appreciate it and the kids have an immediate kinship with them. As former players, James and Junior see the program from a double perspective and they enable the young guys the benefit of the wealth of experiences that they have gone through."
Mick Durham, MSU head men's basketball coach, said that Clark, who helps coach the Bobcat perimeter players, has been an assistant with the 'Cats for about 18 months. "It's nice because he's from our program and he understands how we do things in our program.
"He's a young guy that can relate to the players in different ways," Durham said, adding that Clark "has a real bright future" in coaching.
Both Adams and Clark say they have profited from learning from personal adversity.
Adams was a rising star at Oregon State before he was derailed by an assault conviction that stemmed from an incident at a summer party. Determined to redeem himself with a second chance at MSU, Adams demonstrated a legendary work ethic, a gregarious personality and celebrated talent. He forever will be remembered for scoring the electrifying winning touchdown at Washington Stadium in Missoula that ended MSU's 16-year grid drought against archrival, the University of Montana.
"James was one of the first people I met on campus," recalls Adams. MSU was a world away from his native Fremont, Calif., and while Adams was gifted with natural athleticism and a vibrant personality, he struggled academically, working hard to complete his degree last spring.
"I let (the athletes) know that not everything will be easy for them, but if they work hard, they can make it, too," Adams said.
Clark said he got into some trouble while he was in high school and as a result took the bus to Seattle to live with an uncle in nearby Bremerton, where he played at Olympic Junior College. Former assistant basketball coach Jerry Olson saw the Chicago native play and recruited him to MSU, where the frenetic point guard was key to MSU's 2002 Big Sky Championship season.
"When I got (to MSU), I felt like a king," Clark recalls. "Everyone was so nice."
Clark said he and Adams know that not all the young athletes will hear what they have to say, but they hope they can be positive models.
"I never thought I would graduate from college, that I would get married (he is married to Dana Ricci Clark of Livingston) buy a car and now buy a home," Clark said. " There are so many opportunities here that I wouldn't have received at other places."
"Everyone here is a family," Adams says of the MSU Athletic Department. "What happened for me here is a miracle. The support of the staff and others on campus means a great deal to me, and also to my mother. I love
it. My life has changed here, and it's a place that I will always come back to."
Bozeman while taking a Greyhound Bus from his home in Milwaukee to seek his basketball fortune at a junior college in Bremerton, Wash.
"From the bus station, (Bozeman) seemed like such a small place to me," recalls Clark, who specifically remembers thinking that the town seemed so little that it couldn't possibly include a college or university where basketball was played.
Half a decade later, Clark knows that not only is there a university in Bozeman, but Montana State University has been a positive and pivotal force in his life. Now an assistant basketball coach with the MSU program, the former Bobcat point guard says he hopes he can give something back to the university that has helped him achieve so much.
Clark and Alton "Junior" Adams, Jr., the Bobcat grid great who is now an MSU assistant football coach, have started Focused and Motivated Minorities, or FAMM, a mentoring group for MSU African-American thletes. Adams and Clark are the first MSU African-American student athletes and graduates who have been hired as MSU position coaches in their respective sports. They both remember what it felt like to be a young, urban African-American newly arrived in Montana and know first-hand the sorts of social and academic difficulties faced by young black athletes.
"We don't preach; we just provide information," says Adams, who set up the weekly meetings in fall semester attended by anywhere from two to 30 athletes who talk about everything from classes and how to conduct themselves to being homesick. "They're basically kick-it sessions." Josh Perkins, former 'Cat player and a 2002 business graduate who is now a successful businessman in Bozeman, also helps with the groups.
"We talk from experience," Adams said. "And, we're walking examples that you can turn it around."
The two have done more than just turn it around. According to Mike Kramer, MSU head football coach, Adams is a great addition to the 'Cat staff.
"Junior Adams is an amazing story of resiliency and attention to detail," Kramer said, adding that Adams brings to the staff a natural coaching talent that he inherited from his late father, Alton Johnson Adams. Kramer said that even though the elder Adams "wasn't a trained coach, he helped thousands of kids in Fremont, Calif." before he died during Adams' junior year at MSU.
"Junior has a tremendous amount ambition supported by a foundation of daily hard work," Kramer said.
Kramer adds that both the MSU football and basketball programs have benefited from having Adams and Clark on staff and their work with young athletes from diverse backgrounds.
"That's really been a cool thing for us," Kramer said. "Their life experiences serve as a model for a lot of kids who come to our program from diverse backgrounds. The parents appreciate it and the kids have an immediate kinship with them. As former players, James and Junior see the program from a double perspective and they enable the young guys the benefit of the wealth of experiences that they have gone through."
Mick Durham, MSU head men's basketball coach, said that Clark, who helps coach the Bobcat perimeter players, has been an assistant with the 'Cats for about 18 months. "It's nice because he's from our program and he understands how we do things in our program.
"He's a young guy that can relate to the players in different ways," Durham said, adding that Clark "has a real bright future" in coaching.
Both Adams and Clark say they have profited from learning from personal adversity.
Adams was a rising star at Oregon State before he was derailed by an assault conviction that stemmed from an incident at a summer party. Determined to redeem himself with a second chance at MSU, Adams demonstrated a legendary work ethic, a gregarious personality and celebrated talent. He forever will be remembered for scoring the electrifying winning touchdown at Washington Stadium in Missoula that ended MSU's 16-year grid drought against archrival, the University of Montana.
"James was one of the first people I met on campus," recalls Adams. MSU was a world away from his native Fremont, Calif., and while Adams was gifted with natural athleticism and a vibrant personality, he struggled academically, working hard to complete his degree last spring.
"I let (the athletes) know that not everything will be easy for them, but if they work hard, they can make it, too," Adams said.
Clark said he got into some trouble while he was in high school and as a result took the bus to Seattle to live with an uncle in nearby Bremerton, where he played at Olympic Junior College. Former assistant basketball coach Jerry Olson saw the Chicago native play and recruited him to MSU, where the frenetic point guard was key to MSU's 2002 Big Sky Championship season.
"When I got (to MSU), I felt like a king," Clark recalls. "Everyone was so nice."
Clark said he and Adams know that not all the young athletes will hear what they have to say, but they hope they can be positive models.
"I never thought I would graduate from college, that I would get married (he is married to Dana Ricci Clark of Livingston) buy a car and now buy a home," Clark said. " There are so many opportunities here that I wouldn't have received at other places."
"Everyone here is a family," Adams says of the MSU Athletic Department. "What happened for me here is a miracle. The support of the staff and others on campus means a great deal to me, and also to my mother. I love
it. My life has changed here, and it's a place that I will always come back to."
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