To the IDSers and Bookers of yesterday, today and tomorrow,

It is at times like these that I feel particularly far away from home, though hearing sorrowful news from past stomping grounds is never easy, wherever it finds you. It came in an email from another friend it had been too long since I had heard from, and on top of the guilt of not keeping in touch over the years was another feeling…Dave wore shoes too big for just anyone too fill. Though at times I think my life down here in Manizales, Colombia (I’m still teaching English and I’m working now as an Educational Advisor (what would Dave think now, me, an advisor…) promoting US Higher Ed), is like a different world compared to the rolling hills of IU’s campus…even the FEEL of the universities down here is different, there are moments I will never forget in the hallways of Ernie Pyle’s School of Journalism and lessons I will always carry with me. Come to think of it, those trips to Kansas, well outside the confines of the yearbook office are some of the most telling…

So I send you all this greeting to say something simple, a feeling I know a lot of us J School rats feel, Dave Adams holds a place in our past I talk about with gleaming eyes these days, a man that will not be forgotten in the hearts he touched over the years.

My most sincere condolences,

Kathryn
 

–
Kathryn Griffin
kathryngriffinphotography@gmail.com

Dave Adams was, as we all know, missing a tooth.

“Look,” he mumbled, poking his tongue in an out of the hole like a gopher. “It’s gone! The tooth is gone!”

As I munched on a Kit Kat in his office, a chocolaty offering from his ever-flowing candy dish, he went on to explain how it had happened. While he was sleeping, the tooth had somehow managed detach from his smile, the one beaming as he dreamed of yet another unconscious trip to land of Oz.

“I’m getting a new one,” he said to me, “A brand new tooth. And I can’t wait….this hole just feels so awkward. It feels strange.”

Suddenly, the world as we know it feels strange, as the man with the missing tooth is now missing from the newsroom. His sudden and untimely death has left a hole at the IDS, a gap in the collective smile of IU students and faculty.

So much of the career success I have had at IU has been a direct result of the wonderful guidance and support of Dave Adams. His constant encouragement helped me excel in my writing. His letter of recommendation helped me earn a scholarship that has already helped shape my career path.

Dadams has, very literally, changed my life.

About a month before his passing, I attended a fundraising dinner Dave had hosted at his home. It was there that I got to see his infamous Wizard of Oz room, tales of which had been passed around the newsroom for years.

As I marveled all of the memorabilia – the Tin man figurines, the Oz snowglobes, the Yellow Brick roadsign – he sat on the couch smiling, sipping a Coke from a straw placed in between the gap.

“Hold on,” he said suddenly, “This is my favorite part.”

He flicked off one set of lights, darkening the room, then immediately flicked on another. An illuminated rainbow burst onto the wall.

He stood directly below the rainbow, wearing the arc of colors like a hat.

“Isn’t it cool!” he said proudly, his eyes as big as the Dorothy snowglobes. “I got it on Ebay.”

He loved that room. He loved his job. And above all, he loved his students. I have no doubt that wherever Dave is now, he looking down at all of us, wearing an oversized Hawaiian shirt while smiling from a full set of teeth…somewhere over the rainbow.

We’ll miss you Dave.

     In the little contact that me and Dave had, he meant alot to me. He was always very encouraging and helpful to me as a writer and a student. We met at a college journalism conference 4 yrs ago and he encouraged me to transfer to IU and for that i am grateful. I just think of how much he meant to me in the contact that we had and one can only imagine the impact he had on other lives. You will be greatly missed here on earth, but heaven has a good man.

Unfortunately, I don’t know Dave as well as everyone else here does, so I don’t have any of the heartwealming personal stories that many of you guys have, but I do know what Dave represented. Even through short conversations that I had with him I always knew that he fully had the back of the journalists who helped made the IDS what it is today.

Although I never personally was involved in some of the “controversial” stories that we ran over the years, I always knew that we as a group and a family would be all right because Dave as publisher knew the importance of the first amendment. He knew that the only way to learn from your mistakes was to actually take risks and make them. That is such an important message to learn and advocate. Dave made sure of that.

When I was back home in New York this past March I had the privilege of attending a national meeting of the College Media Advisers. After a session that was centered on journalism and the law I had a discussion with the moderator of the meeting. Once I told him that I was a student from IU and on the staff of the IDS, he asked if I knew Dave Adams. I said I did. He proceeded to tell me a story which took place in Kansas (where the moderator was from) back in the 1980’s when Dave personally defended a small college newspaper’s right to free speech. I think it was a case that was similar to the supreme court case that he was also involved in. Later that month, I found out that Dave was president of the College Media Advisers. Nothing this man ever did amazes me.

I regret that I didn’t take advantage of Dave’s knowledge of this industry and of life in general as much I should have.He was readily available as a mentor and I took that for granted. As I get ready to embark in the real world post-graduation, not talking to him more and picking his brain remain the two things that I regret the most here while at IU. As the man I talked to in New York said, Dave is a gentle giant and has a huge heart. I agree 100% with that sentiment as well as what everyone else is saying about him.

I am getting misty-eyed right now, but goodbye Dave and thanks for everything you did to make sure that directly or indirectly we as a staff, whether it be a part-time writer, a “small-time” City and State reporter like myself, a columnist or an editor, became better journalists and better people. You are truely the man.

Sincerely,

Drew Smith
Proud IDSer from 2003-2006

These are the times we will miss…

Rebekah Spivey and Cory Schouten share a laugh with Dave after the newsroom trashed Cory’s office. (04/02/2007)

 It’s never easy to cover the unexpected passing of someone, and it’s even more difficult when that person was especially close to you and everyone around you.

Dave Adams, the publisher of the IDS for nearly two decades passed away last night unexpectedly.

Many IDS readers may not be very familiar with Dave since he rarely made his presence known in the pages of the paper, but to those of us in the newsroom, his constant support will be sorely missed.

Dave was not just the publisher of the paper, but a good friend to all of us. Whether you needed advice about a story or life in general, Dave was there to lend an ear. In years past he was known to bail staffers out of jail and show up with them at court hearings.

When I came to the IDS as a freshman, Dave would go out of his way to tell me I was doing a good job, and when I came back to the paper after taking several months off, he was the first one to welcome me back. Dave loved life and loved people, and his encouragement and passion for the First Amendment touched everyone he came into contact with.

He will be missed.