A lifetime Oregonian as an athlete, teacher and coach, Barry Adams (1936 – September 14, 2024) impacted the lives of thousands of students and athletes over five decades.
Adams was a multi-sport athlete at Lake Oswego High School and Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University), where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and track.
After college, Adams took his degree and guided kids in the classroom, teaching history, economics, and government, all while building his reputation as one of the most highly regarded high school coaches in the state. His first coaching job was at Nestucca in 1960.
Barry Adams coached basketball for a total of 40 years at five different high schools and was once the winningest coach in Oregon high school history. Adams has 653 total career wins and led two teams to state basketball titles: Glencoe in 1983 & South Salem in 1996. Adams has been named Oregon Boys Basketball Coach of the Year four times. He also coached football for 19 years.
Adams always showed a steady intensity, never yelling, but always in control. His mantra “get the ball inside” was passed down to a generation of coaches.
The coaching trail took Barry to Lebanon and then Hillsboro. When he moved across town to one-year old Glencoe High School, Adams’ first two teams ripped off back-to-back seasons of 22-2 and 24-1. The 1983 team took home the state championship led by a future coach himself, Dave Immel. There were a lot of coaches that got their start either playing for or coaching with Barry Adams.
It was a bit of a surprise when Adams headed down I-5 to take over at South Salem in 1985. But that was good news for Saxon Nation. South never had a losing season in Barry’s 15-year tenure and a very talented team led by the one-two punch of Thalo Green and Mike McShane, both college bound, won the 1996 Oregon State championship.
Outside of coaching, Adams founded some of the state’s most successful camps and ventures, including the Cascade Sports Camp, which boasts 60,000 camp graduates. Adams was the co-founder of the Les Schwab Invitational Tournament. He retired from coaching in 1999 but continued his mentoring and leadership roles for another twenty years.
Barry Adams has been inducted into four other halls of fame; South Salem High School, Western Oregon University, the NAIA, and the National Coaches Association.