Jodie Adams Joins Missouri Park & Rec Hall of Fame

Adams was a self-described “park kid” who participated in programming with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board before a standout prep career at Parkview High School. She flourished at Missouri State on a full-ride scholarship while simultaneously juggling competing on the USTA professional circuit for three years.

Adams could have continued playing tennis at the highest level — with an invite to enter the Wimbledon doubles draw on the table — but spurned that after graduating to start her career as a full-time supervisor for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. She spent the next three-plus decades of her life in a litany of roles with Springfield-Greene County before transitioning to a faculty role at Missouri State University for a decade.

“Reflecting over being in parks and recreation all my life, it’s been rewarding from the standpoint of providing the general public with every opportunity you can embrace,” Adams said. “To just help a person not only physically but to help a person mentally. The bottom line is we are the largest gathering places — our schools and parks — for families and children. That is very impactful when you know that and understand what it can do for society.”

Adams credited Mary Jo Wynn, longtime Missouri State University senior athletics administrator, and her brother, Tom Adams, with showing her the value of public parks during her teenage years. Wynn and Tom Adams provided tennis lessons in the public parks system and demonstrated to Jodie Adams how to teach and give back to the community. Jodie Adams called their impact “very instrumental in driving me.”

“Then I of course fell in love with the field,” she said.

Adams piled up more than 300 tennis titles in her competitive playing career. Her professional parks career resulted in equally stunning numbers, including presiding over 102 parks and trails, 1,000 programs and events as well as 40 facilities at Springfield-Greene County. She advanced the park board’s operating budget from under $1 million when she started to better than $34 million when she left. Adams was part of $100 million worth of facility development during her tenure.

“I was able to stay in my hometown, grow up and actually work for the public park system I respected so much,” Adams said. “I made choices to go into it full-time. I was so fortunate to get to do that. I had no idea I would stay there for almost four decades. Not many people have the opportunity to do that in their hometown.”

Adams has served on a multitude of committees and boards, including the National Recreation and Park Association board. She had stints on 10 different USTA national committees. Adams was elevated to president of USTA Missouri Valley in 1991. She volunteered with USTA for 30 years and was a member of the USTA Education and Recreation Committee.

Adams’s work with USTA is ongoing, as the organization requested her help in continuing to build bridges between parks & rec departments, national associations and partners across the U.S. That task has given her plenty to do despite her recent retirement and move to Billings, Montana, which took place six months ago.

Adams listed bringing the Springfield Lasers of World TeamTennis to Missouri as her career crescendo. She negotiated the franchise’s purchase at the US Open with Billie Jean King in 1995, who presented her the Barbara Williams award in a full-circle moment. Adams was the publicly owned Lasers’ first general manager for three years.

Adams repeatedly talked about pushing the envelope throughout her illustrious career. That mentality propelled her personally and aided the entities she worked with to consistently achieve new heights. She’s glad to see that’s only continued with the current Springfield-Greene County Park Board staff.

“You do this job for passion — that’s the reason I drove and drove so hard to provide services with fellow colleagues, volunteers and citizens,” Adams said. “You have to have a great community to do all this. You have to have great people to work with along the way.

“The reason I kept driving was I saw people participate. They were seeing value with what we were providing. That drives your passion. Nothing more drives your passion than the end result of people participating and benefiting from service and programs.”