Over 40 student-athletes attended Adams’ online meeting to have a safe place to ask questions and get real answers.
With emotions running high following recent events in our nation, Ferrum College Head Football Coach and alumnus Cleive Adams ’02 decided to take action.
Adams reached out to Athletic Director John Sutyak with an idea: he wanted to invite student-athletes to an open Zoom meeting to provide support and raise awareness about social issues.
His goal was to give Ferrum’s student-athletes a safe place to gain information and perspective, ask questions, and receive real answers.
Sutyak gave Adams his wholehearted support.
“Because I have access to a large number of student-athletes, we thought that it would be a great start to help with healing and understanding our feelings moving forward,” Adams said. “I really believed if I stepped out to take this on with my team, it could possibly start a positive trend for other teams while helping my young people deal with the issues, as well.”
Adams invited Ferrum College Police Chief Jim Owens to speak during the online meeting, held June 4, 2020 at 7 p.m. “We didn’t want it to be overly formal so we agreed that I would handle the introduction and the purpose,” said Adams. “After the introduction, the chief provided us with a breakdown of his experience as a law enforcement officer, as well as his department’s vision and mission.”
More than 40 student-athletes attended the Zoom call, along with Sutyak and all of Adams’ staff members.
“We had some good questions, but we hope the next opportunity we get together, the student-athletes will be more open to sharing their feelings,” said Adams.
“I am incredibly thankful for Coach Adams and Chief Owens coming together to collaborate and meet with our team,” said Sutyak. “These are the types of interactions we want to encourage in an effort to come together, listen and work toward meaningful change in society. I look forward to more dialogue in the future.”
Get to know Adams here.
To learn more about Ferrum College Athletics, visit here.
Adams stands with President David Johns during Adams’ 2019 induction into the Ferrum College Sports Hall of Fame.
Athletic Director John Sutyak has announced the hiring of alumnus Cleive Adams ’02 as the new football coach at Ferrum College.
“I am excited to welcome Cleive Adams back to Ferrum as our new head football coach,” said Sutyak. “It was critical that we identified someone who is of high character, that can positively mentor our current and future football student-athletes and who not only knows Ferrum, but embraces who we are and can effectively recruit and retain high level students and football players to the college. Cleive fits those traits and has a proven record of success in his tenure as the head coach at Averett. We are excited that he will be leading the Black Hats into the future and work toward our ultimate goal of competing for the ODAC championship.”
Prior to his stint at Averett, Adams served two stints as an assistant coach at Ferrum, from 2003 to 2004 and again from 2007 to 2013. During his second stint, Adams served as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator. He was an assistant football coach and special teams coordinator at fellow Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) member Washington and Lee University from 2005 to 2006.
“It’s an absolute honor to be named head football coach at Ferrum,” said Adams. “To be a part of a program with such a rich tradition represents an awesome opportunity. I’m looking forward to a new beginning with my alma mater and a productive partnership with the Ferrum Athletics department and campus community.”
A native of Radford, VA, Adams played football at Ferrum under legendary Coach Hank Norton in 1988 and 1989. After stepping away from school to start a family, he returned to Ferrum in the late 1990s to resume work on his degree, eventually earning a Bachelor of Science from Ferrum in recreation and leisure with a minor in psychology in 2002. In 2019, Adams was named to the Ferrum College Alumni Sports Hall of Fame.
Adams will succeed Rob Grande, who stepped down earlier this month to accept a position with the Iowa State University football coaching staff.
Ferrum College will hold an introductory press conference to formally announce Adams’ hiring on Wednesday, April 1 at 1:00 p.m. The event will be streamed live here.
Read more on the Ferrum College Athletics website.
The Service for Grateful Memory for Hank Norton will be held in Vaughn Chapel on the Ferrum College campus at 2 PM on Saturday, February 2, 2019. The memorial service may be watched live online here. The service will then be archived and may be viewed at a later date by following this link and choosing the “On Demand” tab.
January 17, 2019: On Wednesday, January 16, Ferrum College bid farewell to a Panther legend. Former football coach and director of athletics Hank Norton passed away at the age of 91.
“Ferrum College mourns the passing of Coach Norton, whose influence on our community and on generations of young athletes was monumental,” said Ferrum College President David Johns. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have watched Panther football this past season with Hank and to hear his many stories of games and players through the years. We send our heartfelt condolences to Coach Norton’s family.”
Ferrum Junior College President, Dr. Ralph Arthur, hired Wilbert Henry Norton, Jr. in the spring of 1960 as the College’s fourth head football coach. Within his first few seasons at the helm of the program, Norton transformed Ferrum into one of the top teams in the country. The Panthers joined the National Junior College Athletic Association in 1961, and Norton took the team to the 1965 and 1966 Shrine Bowl. Norton’s Panthers won NJCAA national titles in 1968, 1974, and 1977.
Norton led Ferrum College into NCAA Division III athletics by the 1985-86 school year and became a member of the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which is now the USA South. Panther football was immediately successful, with post-season playoff runs in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990. Under Norton’s direction, the team also won NCAA South Region titles in 1988 and 1989.
Ferrum College enjoyed Norton’s strengths as head football coach for 34 seasons until his retirement in 1993. More than 50 of his former players went on to play professional football, including National Football League All-Pro running back Chris Warren. Billy Wagner and Eric Owens, both baseball players at the College during Norton’s coaching days, also went on to play major league baseball. In all, Norton coached 46 All-Americans while at Ferrum College. His teams won 15 NJCAA Region X titles and six Coastal Conference crowns.
During his career, Norton was named Coach of the Year three times by the NJCAA in 1965, 1968, and 1974. In 1979, Norton’s name appeared on the Virginia Sports Wall of Fame. He is also a member of the Ferrum College Alumni Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Lynchburg Sports Hall of Fame, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Junior College Athletic Association Football Hall of Fame.
Norton is a household name at Ferrum College and in the Ferrum area. The section of Virginia State Route 40 that stretches from Rocky Mount to the Ferrum, approximately 10 miles, is named in his honor. Norton was a dedicated leader, a fly-fisherman, and a genuinely caring coach who was tough but believed in his athletes.
“Coach Norton meant so much to so many people,” explained Ferrum College’s Director of Athletics Abe Naff, who was hired by Norton in 1981 as the assistant football and baseball coach. “It’s hard to put into words the impact Coach Norton has had on Ferrum College, the Panther athletic program, and Franklin County, Virginia.”
Norton attended Marshall University and Concord College. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Lynchburg College in 1951 and then served in the Army as a physical recondition instructor in medical field school, where he also played on the Army Black Knights football team from 1951-52. Prior to his arrival at Ferrum College, Norton served as football, basketball, and track coach at Powhatan High School from 1954-59, where he also taught history and science. Norton obtained his master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia in 1956.
Norton is survived by his three adult children, Patty and her husband David Gunter, Will and his wife Jodie, Jack and his wife Kristi, 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
A memorial service will be held for Norton at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 2, in Vaughn Chapel on the Ferrum College campus in Ferrum, Va.
Samuel Richmond Webb
February 2, 1926 to December 1, 2018
On Saturday, December 1, the Ferrum College community bid farewell to the coach who started the institution’s first competitive football program.
Samuel “Sam” Webb, hailing from Bluefield, VA, was born on February 12, 1926. He graduated from Concord College in 1951 and arrived at Ferrum College in 1955 as the head coach of the intramural six-man football team. Webb began the competitive football program by making recruiting calls from then-Ferrum College President Ralph Arthur’s office. The College also received generous donations of football equipment from University of Richmond; Virginia Tech; Virginia Military Institute; and Washington and Lee University; and Panther football was born.
During his time at Ferrum College, Webb also served as head basketball coach, head baseball coach, and athletic director. Health concerns forced him to resign after the spring of 1957 and he began a career in masonry and sales at Riverton Corporation in Salem, VA. Tom Berry, a 1957 Ferrum College alumnus, described Webb as “a mentor, friend and father figure to us all. He wore so many hats: football coach, basketball coach, baseball coach and athletic director. I don’t know how he did it all. It’s hard to describe the impact he’s had on my life. He was such a good person.”
Gary Holden, Ferrum College’s sports information director, along with President David Johns, visited Webb in Salem two days before he passed. “I got to know Sam fairly well a couple of years back when I was writing a book,” remarked Holden. “He was so humble and cared about others. I was able to talk with him privately a couple minutes before we left. I needed to say some things to him and I’m glad I did.”
Webb is survived by his son, Charlton Webb of Knoxville, TN, and his daughter and son-in-law, Whitney Webb Maddox and Rob Maddox, of Vinton, VA.
Read more about Coach Webb on Ferrum College’s athletics page here: https://www.ferrumpanthers.com/general/2018-19/releases/20181201gi3cb2 and at The Roanoke Times here: https://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/founding-father-of-ferrum-football-passes-away/article_a367d610-5fc4-5ad6-b4f6-19d104d89eee.html.
