Abbeville's Adkins passes away Saturday

The Abbeville High community lost its head football coach during the weekend when Gary Adkins passed away after a battle with throat cancer, The Abbeville Meridional reported Monday.
Adkins, 59, died at The Crossing Clarity Hospice of Baton Rouge, according to his obituary. He only had been the Abbeville head football coach for a year, but in his short time, he led a struggling Abbeville program to four wins and a Class 4A first-round playoff game.
This year’s Abbeville squad will travel to face Berwick Friday at 7 p.m.
First-year Berwick High coach Eric Holden worked with Adkins briefly at Tara High School in Baton Rouge, and he said Adkins offered him a job at St. Martinville High School when he was there.
“Gary was always gracious to me,” Holden said. “He always looked out for me. I appreciated everything he did for me. Just a great guy. I liked him. A great football coach, and that’s not really what matters right now. He was always very good to me, so I have nothing but love for (the) guy.”
Abbeville High Principal Ivy Landry hired Adkins, a veteran coach, in July 2015. Prior to Adkins’ arrival, Abbeville had a combined 1-19 mark in the previous two seasons.
In his first season, Adkins led Abbeville to a 4-7 mark and a playoff berth, the school’s first time in the postseason since 2009.
“He’s a great coach. … I’m going to miss the man more than I’ll miss the coach,” Holden said.
Adkins, who according to his obituary was an ex-Louisiana Tech quarterback and former semi-pro baseball player, totaled 145 wins in 27 years as a head football coach.
“Gary came into AHS with a wealth of experience and a calm demeanor that was much needed at the time,” Landry said. “He gave the team a positive feel that helped us reach the playoffs last year. He taught the athletes that hard work pays off and being tough can take you a long way. He will be missed by the AHS Wildcat Family.”
It was almost a year this week that Adkins learned what type of cancer he had. He was preparing to open the season against Kaplan when he learned where the cancer was located.
In an interview with the Abbeville Meridional the day after learning he had cancer in a tonsil, Adkins said: “I am a firm believer in the good Lord, and whatever He has planned for me, that is what it is. It does not mean I am not scared. If someone would ask me if I am scared of dying, I do not know if I could give them an answer.”
Adkins spent the 2015 season battling radiation’s side effects. Against Kaplan last year, he coached from the press box.
If he did not coach from the press box, he coached on the sidelines, either standing or sitting in a chair. He never quit coaching despite the pain he was in.
According to the Meridional, Adkins had been declared cancer free in December 2015, and he gained 30 pounds in the spring. He stood along the sideline during the spring game and said he felt great and was looking forward to the 2016 year.
Then during the summer, he went to Baton Rouge for throat surgery and never made it back to Abbeville.
Landry named Kevin Kern, the defensive coordinator, as the new Abbeville interim coach. Last season and the first game this year, Kern was the acting head coach. He will be the head coach for the remainder of the season.
“He is going to be missed,” Kern said of Adkins. “He had a saying at the end of every practice, ‘One, two, three, family.’”
Additional reporting by The Abbeville Meridional and www.theadvocate.com/sports.