Pat Adams scholarship campaign launched

Two scholarships will be offered to Lethbridge students, in memory of a former Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Ram and Lethbridge College Kodiak.

Pat Adams was a member of the Rams basketball team at LCI in the 1980s, who went on to play for the college.

He died this fall after a two-year battle with cancer, at age 52.

Now friends and family members have launched a “GoFundMe” campaign to create an ongoing scholarship at each location. Officials at the college and school will set the award criteria.

“Although Pat moved away from Lethbridge many years ago, his ties to the community run deep,” says Terry Whitehead, a close friend since their school days.

Apart from his years on the basketball court, he says Adams was also well known as a doorman at the Paramount Theatre.

After completing his Communication Arts program at the college, Adams went to work at Microsoft in Seattle, later becoming a technical writer for companies in Silicon Valley and Napa Valley in California.

He later moved to northern Idaho, where he leaves behind his wife, Suzie and two children, Olivia and Jack.

“A lot of friends and former teammates are in southern Alberta,” including his brother Dave Adams, a basketball coach at the University of Lethbridge.

He and Whitehead are now working to raise the scholarships, inviting friends, sports fans and others across the community to add their support.

It’s “early days still, and we have reached a third of our goal,” said Whitehead.

Southern Albertans who want to help create scholarships in his name may link with www.gofundme.com/pat-adams-scholarship-fund.

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