The Adams Family ‘I’Ll Do Whatever It Takes To Make Kids Happy’

Below thinning, curly blonde hair, the innocent face of Ron Adams has two different looks - pure joy or complete amazement.

Most of the time Adams is smiling as his life swirls around basketball. The surprise comes when he realizes his love has become his life.

These days, Adams, 48, is known as the force behind the Spokane Stars, an AAU girls basketball club that is one of the most recognizable in the country. In the past he was simply a terrific basketball player and later a coach before his niche became an empire.

The Stars began as an open gym on Sunday afternoons where Adams would help high school players hone individual skills. A nationally competitive 18U team soon followed. This year’s team is the 15th straight to attend nationals, leaving Wednesday for the tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., along with 17U and 16U teams.

And now the high schoolers are preceded into the gym each Sunday by grade school and junior high hopefuls who pay for instruction and fill the rosters for 15U, 14U, 12U and 10U teams.

“It’s fresh, it’s energetic, it’s real. That’s Ron Adams,” according to Jim Webster, a Seattle stockbroker, who heads an AAU girls program on the West Side. “Obviously, that’s what makes him tick.”

That is the crux of Adams, giving back to the sport he loves. That he happened to gain a name and some fame - become a girls basketball guru - is incidental.

“I’m amazed. I’m shocked,” Adams said of the growth of his program. “I don’t know where it’s going. I’ll do whatever it takes to make kids happy. Blame Jack. Without him, I wouldn’t ever have gotten involved in the girls’ game. I would have gotten into the boys game if the opportunity had been there.”

It all started innocently more than 20 years ago when Central Valley girls coach Jack Blair asked Adams to help out.

Adams had the credentials. He was the leading scorer (about 22 points per game) and Most Valuable Player in the City League his senior year of 1967. He led CV to a 23-2 record and third place in the State AAA tournament, becoming a unanimous all-state pick.

He went on to earn honors at the College of Southern Idaho for coach Eddie Sutton and the University of Idaho for Wayne Anderson, averaging in double figures throughout his career.

Adams never used his education major or music minor because he found a job that allowed him to play AAU basketball.

Then he met Blair.

The pair founded the Stars basically to give CV girls and a few others a chance to play competitively in the summer.

“Just the fact he was interested in getting kids to play in the summer was huge,” said Janet Skaife, who played for the Stars and later coached at Ferris. “If Ron wanted one of the Ferris girls, it was a blessing.”

However, after one look at outside competition the base was increased to include the best players in the Northwest.

“If you’re going to go to nationals you have to have big kids,” CV coach Dale Poffenroth said. “As a coach, I’ve never had a problem with him taking my kids.”

The second team, in 1983, included future Texas All-American and Olympic gold medalist Andrea Lloyd of Moscow, Idaho. The team finished seventh and that began a long string of top-eight finishes.

“I didn’t know anything about it until (Adams) called my mom,” said Lloyd, who has helped Adams coach on a couple occasions. “I got into it because I wanted to play at a higher level. Anytime you play against competition at a higher level you improve… . I think it’s great.”

After five years together, which included GSL co-coach of the year recognition, Blair moved on to Lewis and Clark, where he was activities director until he passed away 2-1/2 years ago. Adams devoted his time to the Stars program. His recruiting stretched across the state and into Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Shannon Cate, an assistant coach at the University of Montana, was about to begin a career at UM that would end with her as the all-time leading scorer, male or female, in Big Sky Conference history when Adams lured her from Billings, Mont., for the 1988 team.

“Montana didn’t have AAU programs so that was completely alien to me,” Cate said. “Ron was a total stranger. I didn’t know anything about him or anyone who knew him … but he was just wonderful as far as the development and confidence in my game. He let me know how competitive I was on a national level. Being from Montana, I didn’t know I could play with players from all over the country. It was a great experience for me.”

A rangy 6-foot-5 forward, Adams was always known as a shooter. The reputation began when he was a pencil-thin Greenacres Junior High student who twice made the Elks Hoop Shoot state finals.

“Anybody that’s having a slump offensively, can’t get the ball to go down, I’d send them to Ron,” Poffenroth said. “He has the ability (to explain things) so they know what they have to do. He’s excellent at doing that. He gives up his time and he doesn’t expect things back. He just does it because the kids need it.”

The Stars never turned away a Sunday camper this year, eventually working in everyone on a waiting list. Of the approximately 400 registered, Adams’ secretary, Penny Wohrle, couldn’t guess how many never paid.

“He never says no to anybody,” said Wohrle, who began helping Adams more than 10 years ago. “He’s always giving things away. I’ve seen him completely pay for a girl to go to nationals. A lot of money comes out of his own pocket. For all the work he puts into it, he doesn’t get anything. He busts his butt.”

When Adams started, his hobby took 10 hours a week for a couple months. Now it’s 30 hours a week year-round and there was a long pause before he remembered his last vacation, a trip to Hawaii in 1988 or ‘89.

It would be easy to say Adams eats, drinks and breathes basketball, but he does have his job as a metal stocker at Kaiser, where he has worked almost 25 years. However, even then his thoughts are probably bouncing between girls and colleges as he tries to get scholarships for his players who aren’t slam-dunk prospects.

Although the Stars’ program has become known as a place for a girl to land a college scholarship, that wasn’t the original intent. The best players on 18U teams are going to have scholarships. However, by the time the 16U team was added, Adams had an endless line of contacts developed at the national tournaments and from schools his previous players attended and he was willing to help anyone who asked.

Cate, the head recruiter for UM, said, “I’m really impressed with Ron’s knowledge of the game, his ability to run his offense around his most talented players and get the best out of everyone. He’s really good at adapting to the players. For us recruiting in the Northwest, he usually has the best players in the area.”

Adams made two goals early - win a national championship and bring the national tournament to Spokane. He accomplished the latter as area basketball fans got to see some of the best young female basketball players in the country last summer. As for the former, the desire is waning, although Adams admits he may have been obsessed after the 1987 team finished second. He promises another national tournament for Spokane, but said he would give up coaching to concentrate on the camps once he has enough coaches working with his program.

“The camp is more important than the tournament (teams),” Poffenroth agreed. “He teaches them things they need to know. He’s filled a need that’s there. Someone needs to work with the kids and get them excited about the game. It’s a real positive thing.”

Camp, scholarships, national contenders, individual instruction, Adams would do anything for anyone who wanted help with their basketball game.

“One thing about Ron that sets him apart from other coaches is he loves women’s basketball. He’s dedicated to it,” Cate said. “There are not a lot of people out there who have been in it that long for all the right reasons.”

“He’s going to die broke, but he’s going to die rich in friends,” Webster said. “That’s his reward. There’s no agenda. What you see is what you get, a smile and a basketball.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ADAMS’ ALL-STARS Ron Adams’ all-time Spokane Stars teams: First team Small forward - Shannon Cate, Billings, Mont., 1988. Power forward - Allie Nieman, Sandpoint, 1994-95-96. Center - Andrea Lloyd, Moscow, Idaho, 1983. Shooting guard - Kate Starbird, Tacoma, 1993. Point guard - Stacy Clinesmith, Mead, 1996.

Second team SF - Regan Fruen, Mead, 1993-94. PF - Trisha Stevens, Oregon, 1987. C - Karen Deden, Missoula, 1986-87. SG - Colleen Flanigan, Mead, 1991-92. PG - Darla Williamson, Colville, 1987-88.