A young life was extinguished too soon on one September afternoon in 2012. A young life that was devoted to his faith, family, and friends. Adam Smith by all accounts was a well loved 16 year old junior at Buford High School where he proudly wore the #10 jersey on the basketball court. Adam was an active member of the youth group at Buford First Baptist Church.
On September 13, 2012, while undergoing normal basketball conditioning on the BHS track, Adam Smith started feeling bad. He told one of the teachers nearby that he wasn’t feeling good but before they knew it, Smith had collapsed. Teachers and students immediately began to render aid and within 8 minutes ambulance were on scene. Nothing could be done to save Adam’s life.
Buford being the tight knit community that it is, rallied around Adam and his family. Member of the community kept up a steady stream of visitors to say their farewells to Adam at Northside Forsyth. The family was waiting on his middle brother to arrive from Germany where he was serving in the military. On September 15th, Adam passed away surrounded by those who loved him most.
Every year since 2014, Adam’s aunt, Allison Bryant organizes a basketball tournament in Adam’s honor to raise money for the Adam Blake Smith Memorial Scholarship at Buford High School. The recipients are chosen by Adam’s parents, Mike and Jan Smith. They are selected based on their leadership, integrity, and character. All traits that Adam possessed. The scholarship fund has also been able to help out in other areas such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Life, Rally Foundation, and more.
This year is the 5th year of Hoops for Adam. The tournament was held on Saturday, March 17, 2018 at the Buford First Baptist gym. The tournament consisted of one men’s division (18 and up), double elimination, and had ten teams compete. The day began with a word of prayer led by Mike Lawley. The tournament had a generous sponsor who donated money for the winners. Winners also went home with a Yeti Rambler Colster and gift cards.
The winning team was Clutch (Nicholas Osborne, Dedric Ware, Mel Daniels, and Chuck Perry) and the runner-up was TMT (Adarius Rogers, Terrell Penland, BJ Puckett, an Corey Sherman).
Adam’s aunt said that they “were blessed this year to have sponsors, people who donated money and/or bought merchandise and some who just dropped by the tournament to say hello, give a hug, and maybe share a tear or two,”
This year’s tournament was a success and all proceeds went to the Adam Blake Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund at Buford High School. Forever loved, forever missed #10.
