Bob Adkins (1985) - Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame

Bob Adkins

Induction:
1985
Class:
1939

Whenever and wherever Cam Henderson had a hole to fill on the Marshall football team, Bob Adkins was ready to step in and step up. The star recruit from Point Pleasant (W.Va.) High School played line, blocking back, running back, end, punter, kicker and kick returner for Henderson – and would go on to do many of those same things for the Green Bay Packers. As a sophomore for Henderson’s Herd in 1937, Adkins made one of the biggest plays in the team’s 9-0-1 Buckeye Conference championship season when he broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run in a driving snowstorm to give the Big Green a 7-0 win at the University of Dayton. Adkins was named second team All-Buckeye Conference that season and again the following year when Marshall logged a 5-4 mark in the league’s final year of existence. As a senior, Adkins helped Marshall to a 9-2 record as an independent in 1939. That season Adkins almost single-handedly led the Thundering Herd to a 21-0 win at Miami (Ohio) as he scored Marshall's first touchdown on a 38-yard reception from Jackie Hunt, blocked a Miami punt through the endzone for a safety, scored another touchdown run on an end-around carry and then kicked that extra point. At that time the score was Adkins 15, Miami 0.

He then signed a professional contract with the Packers of Coach Curly Lambeau and played two seasons before his NFL career was interrupted when he joined the U.S. Army shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 to serve in World War II. Adkins rejoined the Packers when the war concluded; even while still in the Army he was given weekend passes from his post in New Castle, Pa., to join the Packers for games. Listed at 6-foot, 225 pounds, Adkins was one of the biggest players on the Packers’ roster and also one of the most versatile, called at various times a lineman, an end, a back, and a punt and kickoff returner. He caught a touchdown pass, returned an interception for a touchdown and kicked four extra points for Green Bay before his career came to a close following a broken leg in 1946.

Adkins later returned to his hometown and became a teacher and coach at Point Pleasant High School, where the Bob Adkins Memorial Scholarship is presented annually to a PPHS student. After retiring he spent several years on the Mason County Board of Education. Adkins was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.