James Frederick "Ace" Adams IV (April 10, 1928 – November 10, 2019) was an American

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

coach. He served as the head coach at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He was inducted into the

National Lacrosse Hall of Fame The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, is located in Sparks, Maryland at the USA Lacrosse headquarters. Prior to moving to its present location in 2016, the hall of fame and museum was located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood campu ...

in 1975.

Early life and college

Adams attended St. Paul's School in

Brooklandville, Maryland Brooklandville is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States near the intersection of Jones Falls Expressway and the Baltimore Beltway. The general area is a part of Lut ...

, where he was a four-year letterwinner on the varsity lacrosse team.James F. Adams IV
, National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, retrieved July 11, 2010. He then went on to college at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, where he played lacrosse as a midfielder, football as an

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, and basketball as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Adams played on the Blue Jays' national championship teams in 1947, 1948, and 1950. The

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsi ...

named him an honorable mention All-American midfielder in 1948. The following season, the USILA named him to the USILA first team, and in 1950, to the third team. Adams participated in the 1949 and 1950 North/South Collegiate All-Star Games.

Coaching career

Adams began his coaching career at the St. Paul's School, where he served as the head lacrosse and football coach from 1951 to 1953. He also taught five classes each day, and from 1952, also served as the school's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

. After his stint at St. Paul's, Adams began working as an insurance salesman. He also continued playing lacrosse with the

Mount Washington Lacrosse Club The Mount Washington Lacrosse Club is an amateur field lacrosse club based in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the most successful and well-known lacrosse clubs in history, at one point it dominated the sport at both the collegiate and club level. Th ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

from 1951 to 1956. In 1957, he served as the club's head coach. In 1958, he became the head coach of the Army lacrosse team at the

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...

, after its previous head coach, F. Morris Touchstone, died of a heart attack. Adams coached the lacrosse team from 1958 to 1969 and also worked as an assistant athletic director. In his first season, he led the Cadets to a perfect record and Army was selected as the 1958

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

. Against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Adams played 33 different players in a failed attempt to hold down the score. Army won, 21–2.Army Stickmen Rout Duke, 21-2
''The Baltimore Sun'', May 11, 1958. In 1961, in the first nationally televised lacrosse game, Army upset

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, 10–8, to capture a share of the national championship alongside the Midshipmen. That season, Adams was awarded the

F. Morris Touchstone Award The F. Morris Touchstone Award is an award given by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association to the nation's most outstanding NCAA Division I lacrosse head coach. The award was first presented in 1958. The award is named after F. Mo ...

as the USILA Coach of the Year. In 1969, the Cadets again defeated Navy to clinch a share of the national co-championship in Adams' final game at Army. The result was a 14–4 rout at

Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an open-air stadium located off the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Opened in 1959, it serves as the home stadium of the Navy Midshipmen college football and lacrosse team ...

in front of 16,056 spectators. After his daughter graduated from high school in 1969, Adams wanted to work close to where she attended college. They considered the

and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, eventually choosing Penn because it offered a free tuition and $14,000 salary for its lacrosse coach. Adams was the head coach at Penn from 1970 to 1978, which was a significant change from Army. He said, "I went from a squad that had two first-team all-American attackmen to a team that consisted of mediocre players. They were all nice kids, but they just didn't have a lot of talent." g His initial years at Penn did result in Adams raising the level of recruiting as he had excellent contacts in both Baltimore and Long Island. This improved the roster during the last 4–5 years he was at Penn. In 1977, his last year, Penn had three first-team All Americans. Adams managed to guide the Quakers to several top-ten rankings, including the No. 4 position in his final year, as well as two NCAA tournament quarterfinal appearances. While working at a lacrosse camp in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, a

alumnus called Adams and asked why he had not applied for the school's vacant head coach position. Adams responded that he had not known it was open, and after applying, was hired as Virginia's head coach. He remained in that position at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

from 1978 to 1992, reaching the NCAA finals in 1980 and 1986. During his tenure there, he led the Cavaliers to 12 NCAA tournament appearances and four semifinals appearances, while they twice finished as runners-up. At the time of his retirement from coaching in 1992, he had the most wins of any active Division I lacrosse coach.'Adams era' ends; Retiring coach provided many successes
''The Cavalier Daily'', June 25, 1992. Adams was inducted into the

in 1975. He died on November 10, 2019 at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Jim 1928 births 2019 deaths Basketball players from Baltimore Lacrosse players from Baltimore Players of American football from Baltimore Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse players Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football players Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's basketball players Mount Washington Lacrosse Club players Army Black Knights men's lacrosse coaches Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse coaches Army Black Knights athletic directors American businesspeople in insurance American men's basketball players Forwards (basketball)