Fall 2007 Editor-in-Chief senior Trevor Brown feels the loss of Dave Adams is going to leave something missing. \n“There will be a big hole that will be hard to replace,” Brown said. “Adams played such a huge part in college media and allowing the students at the paper to grow.” \nAdams, 59, was discovered unresponsive at his home on Saturday night. Ambulance, fire and police responded to a call at 9:55 p.m. that Adams was unresponsive in his backyard pond, said Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Faron Lake, reading from a report. \nWhen officers arrived, Adams’ partner, Chunming Chou, said he tried to resuscitate Adams and get him out of the pond. Chou stated that, earlier in the night the two had been drinking and he told Adams that he had been drinking too much, according the report. \nJack Dvorak, neighbor and friend of Adams, said since Chou is native Taiwanese, when he called 911 he was hysterical and his English was broken, so he couldn’t effectively communicate with the dispatchers. \nChou went to Dvorak, who lives two doors down, to try to help Adams out of the pond. \n“Within a few minutes, I heard the medics coming,” Dvorak said. “And they took over and did their best.” \nDvorak said the medics worked on Adams for about 45 minutes. \nAn autopsy will occur Monday morning in Terre Haute, and Adams’ remains will be sent to Allen Funeral Home on East Third Street. The cause of death is still unknown. \nDave came to IU in 1989 after leaving a tenured professorship at Kansas State University. He came to IU to teach journalism courses and supervise the Indiana Daily Student and the Arbutus Yearbook. \nDave Adams’ son, John Adams, 33, said students have always been an enormous part of his father’s life, and he can remember students from 20 years ago with whom he still kept in touch.\nHis passion for journalism didn’t stop with the newspaper or the yearbook. He extended his generosity to students as well. \nIn February of 2006, current IDS City and State Editor Alberto D. Morales and five other students sat in a teachers lounge at Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J. Dave, who was on the task force for the College Media Advisers, was visiting to investigate First Amendment violations regarding the firing of Viking News Adviser Karen Bosley.\nBosley met Dave through the College Media Advisers committee and has known him for 35 years. \n“He’s a warm and friendly person,” Bosley said. “He was a person I cared very much about.” \nMorales said Dave proudly showed the room full of students at OCC a copy of the IDS. Dave, who reached out to students who were passionate about journalism, gave Morales his business card and contacted him regarding his writing. \nDave told Morales to consider applying to IU when he was done with OCC. Morales simply replied, “Trust me, I’m done with OCC.” \nMorales transferred to IU in the spring of 2007. Morales said that if it weren’t for Dave, he wouldn’t even be at IU. \n“He gets close to people in situations like these,” Morales said. \nMorales explained that Dave was like a father to him. He would sit him down if his grades were poor and tell him they needed to get better. \n“(Dave) went beyond his job title,” Morales said. \nEven when Dave wasn’t recruiting new talent or fighting for the First Amendment, he was helping students in the newsroom. \nSpring 2007 Editor-in-Chief Kacie (Foster) Axsom said she became close with Dave during the spring semester. \n“If I didn’t know what to do, he’d help present different options for me,” Axsom said. “(He) took me in as more than an editor. We were friends.” \nDean of the IU School of Journalism Bradley Hamm said that he always heard of Dave because he was so well known in college media. Hamm said he met with Dave about a week ago to talk about projects with student journalists. \n“What I relate Dave to is energy and passion,” Hamm said. “He applies that to everything related to students and journalists.” \nHamm explained that he believes it is impossible for most people to comprehend what a force Dave was. \n“He was inducted into the College Media Advisers Hall of Fame when he was in his forties,” Hamm said. “That’s just unheard of.” \nHamm added that Dave had done so much by the time he was 50 that he had become a legend in student journalism. \n“The thing to me that captures Dave is just the general excitement in his voice about what students were doing and how they were developing,” Hamm said. \nDvorak, who is also a professor and director of the IU High School Journalism Institute, explained that Dave had an enormous amount of energy and was an excellent educator and a very dynamic person in terms of his profession. \nHe said that Dave left an imprint on the Indiana Daily Student because of all the things that he accomplished. \n“The IDS won all sorts of national recognition,” Dvorak said. “It speaks volumes about his leadership and about the talent at the paper.” \nVince Filak, faculty advisor of the Ball State University Daily News and executive director of the Indiana Collegiate Press Association, said Dave was always proud of the IDS, and he really did believe it was the best college paper in the country. \nFilak said three years ago the ICPA held an awards ceremony in Bloomington, and the IDS won top newspaper, top online newspaper and Arbutus won \nbest yearbook. \n“There’s a picture of Dave (after the awards) with a bunch of kids – I’ve never seen a man smile bigger.” \nFormer Dean of the IU School of Journalism Trevor Brown (no relation to Editor-in-Chief Trevor Brown) said he worked very closely with Dave during his tenure and continued to stay in touch with him after Brown retired. \nBrown explained that Dave was interested in making both the IDS and the Arbutus more financially secure. \n“Dave came to the IDS and took a strong role in leadership of Arbutus and the IDS,” Brown said. “Both (publications) were struggling financially.” \nBrown said one of Dave’s defining characteristics was how caring he was, as well as how willing he was to share his private difficulties with students to help them through their own struggles. \n“They’re not an easy set of accomplishments to replace,” Brown said. \nIU President Adam Herbert released a statement regarding Dave’s death. Herbert said Dave was more than just a teacher. He was a mentor, a coach and a friend who had a very special impact on two generations of students. \n“Indiana University has had cause to be enormously proud of the quality and professionalism of the newspapers and yearbooks produced by Dave’s student staffs over the years,” Herbert said. “We will all miss him dearly.” \nAnd though he wasn’t born in Indiana and came to the state later in his life, his step-mother Betty Adams said Dave Adams died a Hoosier. \nDave recently lost a tooth eating popcorn, she said, recalling one of her favorite stories about her step-son. One of the last times Betty Adams, 79, saw Dave, he smiled broadly, showing the space in his teeth. \n“And he said joking, ‘Mom, I’m a real Hoosier now,’” Betty Adams said. \nDave had a good sense of humor about the missing tooth, but hadn’t been able to get it fixed it yet, she said.\n“And now, bless him, he’s gone to his grave as a Hoosier,” she said.\nDave Adams is survived by his partner, Chunming Chou, son John Adams, brother Charlie Adams and step-mother Betty Adams. \nFuneral arrangements are pending.
-Staff writers Michael Zennie and Kaitlin Shawgo contributed to this story.
