Former Globetrotter deliver's positive message to students in Hemingway

HEMINGWAY—Put a former member of a basketball team famous for their trickery and humor in a gym full of high and middle school students and what do you get? Motivation, inspiration and a whole lot of fun.

Melvin Adams, a retired member of the world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, addressed students and faculty during an assembly March 19 in the high school gymnasium, discussing the importance of leadership and making positive choices.

Adams, who retired from professional basketball in 2000, shared a number of stories with students as well as a few basketball tricks, which included several demonstrations of ball handling skills and making a shot backwards from half court.

Adams said his work in youth outreach could be traced back to the positive influence of two teachers in his early years, which is why he says he continues to speak at schools across the country.

“We go to schools all over the world, all over the United States,” Adams said. “Because two teachers told me I could be anything I wanted to be, told me I was awesome, it catapulted me to want to go around the world to reach kids and let them know that they have value, because if they realize they have value, the sky’s the limit to what they can become.”

The former NBA player and Globetrotter cracked jokes with students and staff in-between encouraging those present to become leaders in their school and communities. Adams said he has been traveling to speak with students for twenty-years and that while youth continue to evolve and develop their own cultures with each generation, he said his goal is to communicate solid moral values in a way students of today can relate and encourages parents and teachers to do the same.

“I always say we have an eight-track school in an odd-part society,” he said. “This is a hip-hope generation, hip-hop is the number one selling music, but yet we don’t know how to relate to the kids… You have to understand their culture, not go away from the values of the past, you’ve got to keep the values but realize it’s a different generation.”

Part of getting his message out includes a number of jokes and lots of audience participation. Adams pulled students from the crowd to help him demonstrate examples of social situations, assist in trick shots and teach them fancy passing and ball handling skills. In addition to telling students about staying positive, striving for their dreams and becoming leaders, Adams said he hopes to reach parents and teachers as well and let them know how they might communicate with the youth a little better.

“I think its also teaching the parents and the teachers that this is a different generation,” he said. “This is a generation that wants to talk about everything that (the previous) generation didn’t. So, we’ve got to realize what we’re dealing with.”

Other highlights from Adams basketball career includes being a two-time NCAA III All-American basketball player from his alma mater of San Jose Christian College, where he still holds records for all-time scoring, assists and steals. Adams professional career included time in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs and with the Globetrotters until 2000, when he retired to focus on his youth outreach.

To learn more about Adams and his program, visit him online at www.melvinadams.org.