By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
St. Patrick’s Day is a special day for Ron Adams.
Ron Adams in his law office.
Not necessarily a good day – but one he’ll never forget.
“It was exactly 45 years ago on St. Patrick’s Day, 1977,” the Erlanger-based attorney told the Northern Kentucky Tribune.
That was the day a coal mining accident left him paralyzed at the age of 19.
Ron Adams, 64, was a 6-2 point guard for the Dawson Springs Panthers.
“It was a small school, with about 200 students,” he said. “One of the most famous alums is former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, who was elected in 2007 and 2011.” His son, Andy, was elected governor in 2019.
You may want to add Ron Adams’ name to that famous alum list.
“During my junior and senior seasons with Dawson Springs,” he said, “we won forty games, which was more than the Panthers had won in ten years. I was one of five starting players in my junior year, along with Kenny Smith, Scott Summers, Billy Chappel, and Jeff Eli.”
In fact, Adams started 81 varsity games from his sophomore year – and he had dreams of playing professional basketball for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA.
He was a member of the Louisville Courier-Journal’s All-State High School Basketball Team, chosen by a board made up of coaches, sportswriters and other officials from around the Commonwealth.
“I averaged over twenty-four points, nine rebounds and nine assists per-game,” he recalled.
And the colleges started to call.
He signed a national letter of intent with James A. Faulkner State Community College in Alabama.
“But,” he added, “when Cumberland College made a similar offer, I jumped at the opportunity.”
All the dreams ended – on that March 17th day.
Or, maybe they just began.
Quadriplegia is the most physically traumatic condition that a person can survive with for decades, Adams wrote in his recently-released book, Coal Mine to Courtroom: A Quadriplegic’s Memoir of Relentless Faith, Courage and Eternal Success.
The house where he grew up in Uniontown.
There are other debilitating conditions, like multiple sclerosis (MS), Lou Gehrig’s disease, and others, but people who have them generally do not live long.
“The whole time I worked in the coal mine,” Adams wrote, “I never felt as claustrophobic as I did in that hospital bed with a contraption around my neck, unable to move.”
Yes – basketball was over for Ron Adams – he suffered a broken neck.
“I had partial use of my arms,” he said, “I was able to hold a fork to feed myself, but I had to be careful because the least little thing could cause me to lose control and jab the roof of my mouth, often causing it to bleed.”
The Craig Hospital in Denver was founded in 1907, as the “Tent Colony of Brotherly Love” in Lakewood, Colo., to treat indigent tuberculosis patients.
Thanks to antibiotics, tuberculosis was largely under control by 1955, so Craig’s focus shifted to the treatment of other medical conditions, including spinal cord injuries.
Ron Adams and Andy Furman
Ron Adams paid a visit in late October, 1977.
“I was able to learn to transfer from my wheelchair to a bed by myself,” he said.
It was time, he thought, to move along with his life.
Ron Adams, wheelchair and all, learned to drive – and earned a business degree at Murray State University.
There’s more.
He received his JD/MBA at the Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.
Today, the Ron Adams Law Office in Erlanger specializes in bankruptcy, uncontested divorce and social security disability.
The Panthers basketball team.
“I want people to see that every person has hardships,” he said. “If you can see mine, you can succeed, too.”
He has.
“In sports,” he says, “you know where the end is. You have the two-minute drill. In life, we just don’t know where is the end.”
So why write a book?
“I felt like God told me,” he said. “It takes tough situations sometimes, to make good things out of them.”
Life is just beginning – again – for Ron Adams.
He has book signings scheduled, including one held at Roebling Point Books and Coffee in Covington and March 21st at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati.
Ron as an athlete:
