Nov. 26--Reginald "Hats" Adams was a high school dropout and former pool shark who got his nickname by stealing hats out of cars he was parking at Chicago Stadium.
But he changed his life, and subsequently the lives of many others in and around his West Side community, as the longtime director of community affairs for Rush University Medical Center.
"He helped melt away the wall of Rush and blend us into the community over time," said Peter Butler, Rush's president.
"He had a way of dealing with people and sizing things up and connecting the medical center with community interests," said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, who said he met Adams in 1968, when "we were all young activists."
Adams, 75, died Nov. 13 in his Country Club Hills home after a long illness, according to Rush officials.
Dr. Larry Goodman, CEO of Rush, said Adams worked hard to correct the inequities he saw in the hospital's West Side neighborhood.
"Among the things Hats was passionate about was to make sure that members of our community had equal access to health care and education," Goodman said.
Adams began a program to address the educational concerns, launching the Science and Math Excellence (SAME) Network to help raise science, math and reading test scores in schools near Rush, officials said.
In interviews for a Rush oral history project, Adams spoke about the effort.
"We looked at the science and math scores in our community and they were dismal, so we decided to form science and math clubs throughout the community on the West Side," he said in 2011. "It's called SAME, because we wanted the kids in the inner city to have the same opportunity as the kids in the more affluent areas."
Davis said of Adams' efforts: "He helped (Rush) put together these tremendous programs where they were teaching math and science to young African-American kids and Latino kids, trying to orient them to what it took to become a doctor, or what it took to work at the medical center or what it took to become a scientist."
Another initiative Adams began has become a Rush tradition. Through the annual Adopt-a-Family Program, Rush employees, individually or in groups, "adopt" families identified by local churches and service organizations. The Rush employees purchase clothing, household supplies, gift cards and other items for the families. The program began more than 30 years ago when Adams learned of a Rush employee in need. More than 80 families have been adopted so far this year.
In the oral history project, Adams said he was "kind of a bad boy" who spent two years in a disciplinary school before he was expelled from Marshall High School after three months. He then spent several years as a pool shark. He also parked cars for events at Chicago Stadium, often helping himself to the hats left in the back seat, which earned him his nickname in the mid-1950s.
After working for 10 years for the Henry Horner Boys Club in Chicago, his connection with Rush began when he went to work at the Mile Square Health Center, part of what was then Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital.
In 1971, he joined what was then the hospital's department of community relations. He became director of community affairs in 1980. He continued in that position until retiring in July.
Donald Dew met Adams about 40 years ago when Dew was a social work student at Lewis University looking for a field placement. He marveled at Adams' concern for West Side students.
"For a guy who didn't finish high school himself, for him to have such a powerful focus on education and educational opportunities for our kids was really phenomenal," Dew said.
Adams got a GED in the early 1990s, according to Butler.
Dew noted that Adams got involved with Rush not long after the riots that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"There was 'Hats,' right there in the middle of everything, helping Mile Square get started, helping Pres-St. Luke's. He went on to really craft a positive relationship where Rush became one of the largest employers of West Side residents and one of the great supporters of area organizations," said Dew, now president and CEO of Habilitative Systems, Inc., which provides services for people with special needs.
For his work, Adams received a number of awards, including in 2007 Rush's highest honor, The Trustee Medal, recognizing "individuals of distinction ... whose achievements provide exemplary standards for generations to come."
Survivors include his wife, Constance; a daughter, Janice; a stepdaughter, Christina Cole; a son Reginald; a stepson, Calvin Cole, Jr.; and nine grandchildren.
Another daughter, Regina died in 2012.
Services were held.
Megan is a freelance reporter.
