A young Chattanooga native was looking for a change from Knoxville College after seeing more than 20 running backs report for the Bulldogs pre-season workouts. In the fall of 1977, Ken Adair looked to follow his high school backfield buddy and pal since early childhood Alvin Nance and transferred to wear the Orange and Garnet. He chose to change schools after he was recruited out of Brainerd High School by Coach Ken Stinnett. He had a strong rapport with the MC coach as he helped Head Coach Steve Fickert develop the Scots football program.
Ken began his career as a Scot running back behind the line of Eddie West, Steve Serotte, Dave Evans, Keith Martin, and Kevin Reilly. Coach Fickert would spend a great deal of time praising this group for opening holes for Wall of Fame member Alvin Nance and today’s inductee Ken Adair.
In 1978 this bruising back scored a 14 yard touchdown in MC’s win over Millsaps. He combined for 335 rushing yards with Nance in a victory over St. Leo College in Florida. Adair lit up St. Leo for 210 yards on 37 carries while reaching the end zone on two occasions.
When November rolled around, Adair tallied 120 yards and a score in a win over Southwestern. Baptist Christian felt his thunder when he finished with 107 yards with two romps to pay dirt. This effort was the third consecutive week that Adair and Nance both ran for over 100 yards in a game.
Against rival Centre, Adair scored two touchdowns and an extra point conversion to ring the victory bell. He finished the game with 134 yards on 27 carries.
The Scots finished the season 8-1. Their only loss was to the University of Evansville a 1AA team by the score of 3-0.
Adair finished the year with 634 rushing yards and was named as an All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference selection.
This 1978 squad was only the 8th team in Maryville College’s 116 year history to win 7 or more games in a season. And is only the 4th team on record to win 8 games.
Along with the strong offensive line and potent attack of Adair and Nance, MC’s defense was ranked #1 in the nation allowing the fewest points in the NCAA Division III.
Ken’s senior season began with a trip to Carson Newman. The fans had designed T-shirts depicting an Eagle attacking a Scot. Although Coach Fickert was quoted as saying he wanted one of those shirts to motivate his troups, he did not need it as MC tamed the Eagle 15-7. Ken was a steady force in field possession and attacked Carson-Newman’s defense on 13 occasions for 68 yards.
Adair’s attacks were a consistent force in MC’s next three victories. 132 yards in a 28-15 win over Bridgewater, 87 yards against the dreaded Wasps of Emory & Henry, and 99 yards in a 17-9 win over Lane College.
The Highland Echo reported that over 15,000 fans attended MC’s game at Central Florida. It was thought to be the largest crowd to ever see the Scots play. The Golden Knights snapped MC’s 17 game winning streak with a 10-7 victory.
The Scots would continue their dominance on Honaker Field with their 17th straight home win over Southwestern 29-6. Adair finished with 118 yards.
Ken would conclude his career with 125 yards and a score in a 55-21 trouncing of Washington and Lee and 169 yards to seal a 14-6 win over Centre.
Adair would finish his senior campaign with a 7-2 record and an amazing 902 yards, ranking him 6th in Scots’ all-time rushing seasons. He was rewarded with his second All-ODAC selection and was nominated as an All-American.
As a stellar running back, Ken accumulated 1,536 career yards ranking him with the fourth most career yards of any Scots running back. He also tallied 15 career touchdowns while splitting duties in the backfield with current Wall of fame member Alvin Nance.
“I never knew where I stood in the record books until present Head Coach Tony Ierulli informed me at the 2007 Homecoming game” , stated Adair. “The individual records do not mean anything to me. The important stat is the fact that our teams won 21 games and never lost a home game in my Maryville College career!”
Ken’s favorite moment as a Scot was in 1978 when Maryville was predicted to lose to Southwest of Memphis (now Rhodes). MC dominated and rang the victory bell 55-36.
In a Highland Echo interview, Head football coach Steve Fickert is quotes as saying, “Every coach dreams of having a 1,00 yard rusher pace their offense. We have a pair of potential 1,000 yard backs in Adair and Nance and I’ve never seen two better backs on one team at our level. Their skills are special.”
After graduating Maryville College in 1981, Ken put his Business Management Degree to work at Kinney Shoes for three years. He later became finance manager of Prebul Auto Group in Chattanooga, Tennessee and has been there for the past 23 years.
Ladies and gentlemen, please let me introduce one of the greatest rushers in the 116 year history of Maryville College Football, 2009 Wall of Fame Inductee Ken Adair.
