Bluffton High says goodbye to longtime AD Dave Adams

“This is not my funeral!” longtime Bluffton High School athletic director Dave Adams said, addressing a crowd of friends and colleagues at a goodbye ceremony Friday afternoon.

But seeing the misty eyes and hearing the choked up voices inside the school’s gymnasium, one would be forgiven for assuming that was the reason for the ceremony.

Adams, who is taking over as head football coach at Hilton Head Prep next season, was a fixture at Bluffton High, serving as a coach or athletic director since the school opened in 2004.

“Its going to be weird looking out at the fields next year and not seeing him out there,” Julia Rathke, president of the school’s athletic booster club, said. “He’s been here since the beginning.”

Adams recalled his first year at the school, a year when he coached the football team to a winless season.

Despite the team’s 0-10 record, “that first football year was the greatest year,” he said.

The reason: The town’s willingness to embrace the new school and the new team.

“The stands were packed every game,” Adams said. “The score didn’t matter because everybody was happy to be home in Bluffton.”

Before the cake was cut and Adams was presented with a custom Bluffton High Bobcats jersey Friday, his friends took an opportunity to thank the coach and wish him well.

John Hollman, former Bluffton High wrestling coach, remarked on Adams’ dedication to the school.

“He was involved with everything. He’s one of those guys that you always saw around — anything athletic that the school had to offer, he was there,” Hollman said.

“The hours that (Adams) put in are immeasurable,” he said. “If a job like his was paid hourly, he’d be a multimillionaire.”

Bluffton High’s baseball coach Bryant Kitty said Adams helped “mold me into the man I am today.”

Adams said he is proud of his work at Bluffton High and will miss the school dearly, but he is excited about the move to Hilton Head Prep — a homecoming of sorts.

Adams, who replaces new John Paul II football coach Kevin Wald, coached at May River Academy — which became Hilton Head Prep — from 1977 until 1986.

“I’ve got guys on the (current Prep football) team who I coached their daddies,” Adams said. “It’s a very familiar place.”

Rich Basirico, Prep’s current athletic director, coached alongside Adams at May River Academy.

“We’ve had a lot of wonderful moments together, and this just kind of completes the cycle,” Basirico said of Adams’ return to Prep.

“We’re very excited about him joining our staff. Its (Bluffton High’s) loss, but our gain,” he said.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Bluffton High says goodbye to longtime AD Dave Adams."