After the article about Spencer and Dad, that same reporter, Mark, was inspired to do an entire series on our family he is calling "Blended Heritage." Below is the full-page article he wrote about me and dad which included 6 or 7 pictures.
Football Dreams
CELEBRATING FOOTBALL BOND BETWEEN DAD AND DAUGHTER
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
FARMINGTON — In the
midst of difficult circumstances, Mike Adams managed to keep his daughter’s
football dreams alive.
Meredith Adams-Pettigrew, now 27, daughter of
Farmington head football coach, Mike Adams, has not let those things define
who she is.
Homecoming Day Tragedy
Pettigrew has known the sting of a child’s
disappointment and the perplexity of trying to comprehend the death of her
birth mother, Diane Adams.
Pettigrew was riding in a car with her mother
when they were involved in an accident that killed Diane on Oct. 13, 1989. They
had been on their way to get Pettigrew dolled up as part of the Homecoming
court where her dad coached at Charleston.
What she does have is memories of family and
those associated with her father’s connection to football helping shape the
woman she has become. According to Mike Adams, a seat belt saved his daughter
but also was the cause of her broken arm.
“After the accident and when my arm was in a
sling, I remember one of my dad’s football players bringing me a gigantic gray
teddy bear that was bigger than I was,” Pettigrew said. “I loved it but
eventually my dad had to give it away because we found out I was allergic to
it.”
Family Football Structure
Mike Adams found football was something he
could fall back on. The structure he had learned to operate in as a coach now
helped him as a single parent with Meredith and her younger brother, Spencer,
who was 18-months-old at the time of the accident.
“It came to being really well-organized,”
Mike Adams said, noting Charleston had just one little grocery store at the
time and big grocery shopping trips required traveling to Fort Smith.
“I had to keep a list, know what was
available, know what wasn’t available and watch the newspaper for sales,” Mike
Adams said.
Having lived alone with his dad, who was an
electrician and on call at all hours, for a short while during his eighth grade
year, Mike Adams learned to cook to feed himself and that ability came in handy
when feeding Meredith and Spencer.
“I had been cooking for a long time so that
part wasn’t a big deal,” Mike Adams said. “It’s reality, you’re there. You’ve
got two kids depending on you. It’s not something you can hand off to somebody
else. You just do it.”
Fascinated With Football
Though her moment as crown bearer at
Charleston didn’t happen in 1989 because of the tragic accident that took her
birth mother, Pettigrew eventually got to compete in the sport she grew up
with. Pettigrew started going to practice with her dad when she was in
kindergarten.
“A lot of times, she’d just walk up to the
school and stay with me,” Mike Adams said.
In 1992, Adams married Robin Brewer, who had
also been widowed and raised a son, Jon David, in a singleparent household. As
the two families merged, the three children became best friends and involved in
football.
Mike Adams helped his daughter learn football
by letting her watch film with him at home.
“I always enjoyed watching it and watching
him analyze plays,” Pettigrew said.
Girl Getting To Play Football
Pettigrew stands nearly 5-foot-11 and used
height to her advantage in powder puff and intramural girls college football.
“My height absolutely helped in playing
linebacker, not only being able to read the quarterback’s eyes, but also for
interceptions,” Pettigrew said. “I could jump higher to get the ball.”
While Pettigrew admits she is not the fastest
person in the world, although she ran track for her dad in high school, but
could sniff out a play better than any other girl.
“When I played, he taught me to read the quarterback’s
eyes,” Pettigrew said. “It was more fundamental because girls tend to look to
where they want to throw prior to the play.”
Pettigrew enjoyed blitzing and could read a
play so well that she would anticipate the snap count and try to get a jump. The
intensity she played with led to a conflict with her dad, who was refereeing
the powder puff game during her junior year at Fayetteville.
“I beat it every time but my dad didn’t think
so and threw several flags on me for off sides,” Pettigrew said. “I started
arguing with him and he threatened to eject me. That was my junior year and he
refused to be a ref my senior year for that reason. He just taught me too
well.”
Excitement Of A Wedding
Pettigrew and her mother, Robin, shared the
excitement of planning her 2011 wedding to Ryan Pettigrew. Together they went
through the process.
“If it wasn’t for my dad getting remarried I
wouldn’t have had that opportunity and she has been my mom since I was 7,”
Pettigrew said. “Dad doesn’t know anything about weddings, come on he was
coaching, he wouldn’t like help me. It was very, very special. It was
instrumental in all of my wedding plans and she was there with me step by step
so I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Dad Is A Hero
Pettigrew said her dad has always been her
hero.
“I have always said that I wanted to marry
somebody like my Dad. Growing up, I knew that he always put our family first,”
Pettigrew said. “My Dad set a very high bar for any guy I dated. I wanted to
marry somebody that was kind, generous, a leader and a true family man.”
Pettigrew said her husband, Ryan, has fit
those characteristics to a ‘T’ and she is so lucky to have found him.
“It is really funny how similar my dad and my
husband are,” Pettigrew said. “For our future children, I want them to know
about all the family they come from. They are lucky because they will have more
family members than most. A blended family is a blessing and God knew exactly
how to fit our families together.”
Sports,
Pages 13 on 10/24/2012
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