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BARNEY ADAMS - CLARKSON ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

CLARKSON
ATHLETIC HALL of FAME
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BARNEY ADAMS '62
Class of 2012 Inductee

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A three-sport athlete during his time at Clarkson, Barney Adams certainly had a passion for sports. He turned that fervor, specifically in the sport of golf, into a multi-million dollar endeavor that has made him one of the most successful former student-athletes in the history of the University.

Adams, a native of Marcellus, NY, got his start in the golf world while caddying at the Onondaga Country Club near Syracuse in 1952. It was there that he first noted the love affair between golfers and their equipment, something that would guide him later in life.

During his time at Clarkson, Adams competed in golf, soccer, and basketball. His soccer playing was limited to a single season, one in which he served as goalkeeper, and had an outstanding game against Hobart College where he made 35 saves. But it was basketball and golf where Adams truly excelled while at Clarkson. Over the course of 51 career basketball games, Adams scored 352 points, including 226 during his final season in which he averaged 13.3 points per game. He scored a career-best 24 points against Norwich and led the team in scoring seven times in 17 games during the 1960-61 season leading the team with of 52 free throws made and ranking second with 87 field goals made. Adams spent several years with the Golden Knights golf team as its top competitor, averaging a 76 while dueling other team’s top golfers. His best remembered round was a season-low of 73 against the University of Vermont in 1960 as Clarkson had one of its best season’s ever, finishing at 7-3. Ever modest about his golf game, Adams once remarked in his own recurring Clarkson
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Integrator piece “Knights in Armor,” that he spent “a little too much time in the woods looking for stray shots.”

After using his business degree, acquired in 1962, in numerous jobs in the corporate world, Adams heard a siren call of sorts to get back into the golf game for real in 1982. However, it wasn’t until 1987 that he founded the eponymous Adams Golf. Despite some expected lean years in the beginning, his brand took off in the mid-1990s when he designed the Tight Lies fairway wood. With word of mouth and cutting edge marketing, Adams Golf became a household name in the difficult world of golf club manufacturing, converting a small outfit into one of the industry’s leaders. Adams Golf currently is the leader in several golf club varieties and its hybrids have been the most played on the PGA Tour since 2008.

In 2008, Adams published his success story in “The WOW Factor,” where he discussed his life, beginnings in the world of golf, and ultimate accomplishments. Combining a self-deprecating sense of humor and his desire for consumer satisfaction, Adams became a favorite of many in the world of golf, and he gained a tremendous honor in 2010 when he was named the recipient of the Ernie Sabayrac Award for lifetime contributions to the golf industry. Though he had a late start in the world of golf club design, his pioneering ways have created a behemoth in the world of golf manufacturers.