After working as a Muncie firefighter, Tiny Adams drove disabled students on Ball State University shuttle buses. In the time that followed, Adams kept Ball State students as a priority in his life as he rallied for project funds from the state government.
"Students that have never met him and will never know him will benefit from his work and ability to grow the campus," Tom Morrison, associate vice president for human resources and state relations, said.
Adams, state representative for district 34, died at Ball Memorial Hospital on Wednesday after a massive stroke. He was 60.
Morrison said Adams played a key role in obtaining funding for initiatives at Ball State including the Arts and Journalism Building, Music Instruction Building, Communication and Media Building, Fine Arts Building and the McKinley Project.
"Tiny had a huge influence in really reshaping what we know as the Ball State campus," Morrison said.
President Jo Ann Gora said she spent a lot of time talking to legislators, including Adams, to persuade them Ball State was worthy of financial support.
"When we had a major project, the first person we would go to was Tiny," Gora said.
Indiana State Senator Allie Craycraft said education was one of Adams' top priorities, and he spent time fighting for funds for Ball State.
"He will be badly missed by his constituents," Craycraft said.
Craycraft and Adams worked together on many projects, and he said Adams was one of the best legislators to work with.
"If other universities got anything, then we wanted to see Ball State got their share of it," Craycraft said.
Jeff Linder, Ball State associate vice president for governmental relations, said the Ball State community was important to Adams, and he even drove the shuttle for disabled students at Ball State.
"He was a guy who was always concerned about making sure disabled students had rides where they needed to go and buses that met their needs," Linder said. "Tiny was a huge fan of the disabled students he worked with."
Adams' wife Shawn Adams still works for Ball State as a custodian in Noyer Complex.
When Gora moved to Indiana, she said Tiny Adams was one of the first people to welcome her to the community.
"He was just a real down-to-earth person," Gora said. "There was nothing artificial about Tiny."
Warren Vander Hill, former Ball State provost and vice president of academic affairs, said Adams was a great friend of the university in many ways, including his dedication to vocalizing opinions in the statehouse.
"He was the kind of person that was always very accessible to faculty and students and the Ball State administration as far as listening to their concerns and articulating their concerns to the General Assembly," Vander Hill said.
Gora said Adams showed his support to students by interacting with them on and off campus.
Adams acquired an invitation for the Ball State University Singers to sing at the statehouse last year and then he helped pass a resolution making the group Indiana's Goodwill Ambassadors.
"He would always do things like that to honor folks at the university who he thought had made a significant contribution to the state," Gora said.
University Singers director Jeffrey Carter said it was the first time in his five years at Ball State that University Singers had been asked to perform at the statehouse.
Both the state representatives and students enjoyed the event, he said, and the representatives even asked the group to sing Ball State's alma mater.
"Tiny never met a man he didn't like," Carter said. "And his friendliness and his outgoing spirit will be missed."
Linder said Adams not only did great things for the university but for the whole Muncie community, especially in his work as a firefighter and union representative.
"He's one of the best guys ever put on Earth," Linder said. "We used to tell him he had heart problems because he gave his heart to everyone else, and he wore it out."
Adams would work on the leaders to persuade them to accept local projects such as improvements for downtown Muncie, he said.
"If somebody had a problem, I don't care what it was, Tiny would do everything he could do to fix it for them," Linder said.
Muncie Mayor Dan Canan said Adams was going to be missed because he was a "larger than life" leader in the community.
"Tiny's biggest problem was that he could never say no," Canan said. "If he told you he was going to do something, he did it."
Adams brought money back to the community and didn't play politics, he said.
"Those are going to be awful big shoes for anyone to fill," Canan said.
Dennis Tyler, chairman of Delaware County's Democratic Party, said Adams death was a tremendous loss for the community and his political party.
"Tiny has always been a public servant," Tyler said. "He was when he was a firefighter, and he carried that on when he went into politics."
Adams was a firefighter in Muncie for more than 25 years, he said. Adams retired from the fire department to become the labor liaison for the United Way.
He was also instrumental in the growth of Muncie's Toys for Tots program, which collects toys to donate to poor children during the holiday season, Tyler said.
"The thing I always admired about Tiny was the way he fought for common working people," Tyler said. "He was always there to carry the torch down in Indianapolis for us."
While Adams was loyal to his party, Tyler said Adams would cross political boundaries to get things done.
"To me, he epitomizes what the Democratic Party is all about," Tyler said.
District 35 State Representative L. Jack Lutz said he worked closely with Adams, who he said created a good buffer between the two political parties.
"Tiny will be sorely missed, but not forgotten," Lutz said. "I think he touched many of us. He didn't go to the podium a great deal, but when he did, he spoke from his heart."
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