Adams: From below average student to leader

By Charleston Southern on July 22, 2009 - 5:56 am in Leading / no comments

As Dr. Hal Adams Jr. flipped through his 1969 Baptist College annual, pictures of Michael Harmon, Billy Bedenbaugh, Jim Raborn and Phil Bookter brought back a flood of good memories. But memories of playing dorm room football with roommate Billy Mew are by far the sweetest. “Billy was a big guy, and we’d challenge any two guys willing to play football with us. In order to score you had to get both knees on one of our beds, serving as end zones…and no one ever did. We never lost a game, never tied a game,” laughed Adams. “There was great camaraderie in the dorms, and I made lifelong friends there.”

Prior to coming to BCC, Adams spent two years at Clemson where he had struggled academically. A former Clemson roommate, Ron Parnell, had transferred to Baptist College and talked Adams into coming for a visit. In the summer of 1967, Adams visited Parnell and the BCC campus. Later he met with Registrar David Stone who agreed to admit him on academic probation, and Adams transferred to BCC in fall 1967.

The first night in the new dorm Adams woke up to a loud commotion and the sound of rushing water. According to Adams, a pipe between the second and third floors had burst, and everyone was evacuated. Making the best of a bad situation, Adams pulled his car up and blasted the radio drawing a crowd not only to hear the music but also to admire his 1967 Plymouth Barracuda. One of the students Adams befriended that night was Jim Baker from Kingstree. Baker later introduced Adams to his sister, Cookie, who was a student at Columbia College. A long-distance romance began, and the two were married in 1971.

Adams enjoyed campus life but was serious about academics. His focus was on learning how to study, getting good grades, and graduating. He had many professors who influenced him along the way. Among them were Silas Garrison, English; Doug Donehue, journalism; Charley Brassell, speech; Frank Gay, economics; Dr. Royce Breland, business; Ada Johnson, Spanish; Dr. John Barry, philosophy and religion; and Helen Barry, psychology.

His first semester at BCC, Adams took English 102 with Professor Patricia Allen. His first assignment: to write an autobiography. When the graded papers were returned, he was shocked and angry – he had made an “F.” The following paragraphs, excerpted from the December 2000 graduation speech he gave when he was awarded an honorary doctorate in business administration from Charleston Southern, tell the rest of the story.

“I returned to my room and for about half an hour blew off some serious steam. I then decided to return to the professor’s office and discuss the grade, although I had to muster up all the courage I could to go…

Calmly, the professor asked me to read the theme again and asked me what it really said. I told her that it was my life to date – an autobiography, exactly what she had asked me to write. She then explained that I had been very critical of myself, and that while the theme was technically nearly perfect in structure, its content was a formula for certain failure.

She went on to spend a good deal of time with me, helping me understand that I was not as bad as I had held myself out to be in the theme, and that I had potential. I left her office nearly an hour later with the instructions to write the theme over. As I did, I was first only relieved to have a second chance for a better grade. With time, though, it began to dawn on me that her words were making a difference in my life and that I could see things in perspective and could make a difference to others. Two years later, I was no longer the below average student that I thought myself to be, and was excelling academically.”

Attending a liberal arts college gave Adams a wide range of knowledge and experiences. In 1969 he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business administration with emphases in marketing and management and a minor in English. He continued his education as a graduate student at the University of South Carolina master’s program in business administration from 1970-71.

Adams has had a successful career in the insurance industry for 38 years. He began his career in 1970 with the Dana Insurance Agency in Columbia. The firm handled insurance for several nonprofit organizations and various religious denominations. In 1977 Adams was approached by several Southern Baptist missionaries about property insurance coverage. “I grew up in a very missions-oriented church and family and realized the importance of their need,” explained Adams. He followed up with, what was then, The Foreign Mission Board, and after a two-year process of gathering information and finding an underwriter, they were able to offer the insurance to foreign missionaries.

Adams remembers, “The program grew slowly, but the missionary community began to respect the program as having the missionary needs at heart and that we could put together the kind of programs they needed.” Soon after, other denominations began requesting coverage as well, and in 1982, the company added volunteer missionary insurance.

In January 1980, he founded Adams Eaddy & Associates and began its International Division. Adams served as president of the firm until the International Division had grown substantially enough that it was necessary to spin off on its own in June 1992. This
change created Adams & Associates International, Ltd., with Adams as chairman and owner. He and his staff were now free to devote their full attentions to providing all insurance lines to not-for-profit organizations who have operations and personnel located outside of North America.

As the business became profitable, Adams wanted to give back to the missionary community. In 2000 he established the Adams and Associates International MK Endowed Scholarship at Charleston Southern, and in 2003, the Adams and Associates International MK Endowed Scholarship II was established. To date, there have been 47 MKs (missionary kids) who have received the financial benefits of those scholarships.

Adams is currently area president of Adams & Associates International – Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services after the November 2006 merger with Arthur J. Gallagher. He continues to focus his energies on the nonprofit, charitable and missionary communities developing and implementing insurance products designed to meet the specific needs of these organizations.

Looking back, Adams experienced many highlights throughout his career. “Creating products and services from scratch is my second most rewarding highlight. The most rewarding has been having eight interns, all foreign, over the past 10 years. Mentoring them at this stage of their lives then seeing them develop academically and vocationally following their tenure with me has been most rewarding,” reflects Adams, who in February traveled with his wife to France, Spain and Switzerland for reunions with five of these interns. He has also received numerous professional awards as the result of his involvement and dedication to the insurance industry and is a member of many professional and civic organizations.

Adams and his wife are now empty nesters. They have two daughters, Dorothy and Alice. Dorothy is a middle school teacher and lives in the Charleston area. Alice is a finance professor at the University of Kentucky. She is married to Matthieu Bonaimé (another former intern) and has a 3-year-old son, Luke, and is expecting another child in June.

“I could just go on and on about my experiences there at school,” said Adams. I will always be indebted to CSU for my education, and I still wear my class ring proudly. And always, always ask people, ‘What can you do to help Charleston Southern?’ This school has really helped me, so I am committed to helping it.”

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