Jean-Pierre Adams

Jean-Pierre Adams (10 March 1948 – 6 September 2021) was a French footballer. He played as a central defender.

Jean-Pierre Adams
File:Jeanpierre adams card.jpg
Adams with Nice in 1976
Personal information
Date of birth(1948-03-10)10 March 1948[1]
Place of birthDakar, French West Africa (present-day Senegal)[1]
Date of death6 September 2021(2021-09-06) (aged 73)[1]
Place of deathNîmes, Gard, France
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Playing positionCentre-back
Youth career
US Cepoy
CD Bellegarde
USM Montargis
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1967–1970Entente BFN
1970–1973Nîmes84(8)
1973–1977Nice126(15)
1977–1979Paris Saint-Germain41(1)
1979–1980Mulhouse11(1)
1980–1981Chalon23(1)
Total285+(26+)
National team
1972–1976France22(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Adams started playing with RC Fontainebleau in 1967 as a striker, with whom he won the Championnat de France amateur twice. In 1970, he signed a contract with Nîmes Olympique, going on to remain in Ligue 1 for the following nine seasons, also representing in the competition OGC Nice and Paris Saint-Germain FC.

In the 1971–72 campaign, Adams contributed with four goals in all 38 games to help Nîmes to a best-ever second place, also winning the Cup of the Alps.[3] He added a career-best nine in 1973–74, for a final ninth position.

On 15 June 1972, Adams made his debut for the French national team in an unofficial exhibition game against an African XI selected by the Confederation of African Football.

Coma and death

On 17 March 1982, he slipped into a coma following problems caused by a knee operation in Nîmes.[4] The surgery was to fix a torn knee tendon.[5] He had suffered from oxygen loss in the brain after the anesthesiologist made a mistake.[6]

Adams died on 6 September 2021 at the age of 73, after being in a coma for almost 40 years.[7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 (in French) Jean-Pierre Adams. Paris. https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheJoueur20000000000000000000013025.html. Retrieved 8 March 2020. 
  2. (in French) Jean-Pierre Adams, le roc noir, dans le coma depuis 33 ans. 6 January 2016. http://www.ouest-france.fr/europe/france/jean-pierre-adams-le-roc-noir-dans-le-coma-depuis-33-ans-3954573. Retrieved 16 March 2016. 
  3. "Cup of the Alps 1972". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  4. "The footballer trapped in 'The House of the Beautiful Sleeping Athlete'". The Guardian. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  5. "'Tragic yet heartwarming': How Jean-Pierre Adams touched a nerve". CNN. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  6. "L'Eurélienne Bernadette Adams vit au chevet de son mari footballeur, dans le coma depuis 30 ans" [Eurélienne Bernadette Adams lives at her footballer husband's bedside, in a coma after 30 years]. L'Écho Républicain (in français). 20 April 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  7. (in French) Jean-Pierre Adams est mort. 6 September 2021. https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Jean-pierre-adams-est-mort/1283340. Retrieved 6 September 2021. 

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