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Seahawks
Big Poppa knows his business

By José Miguel Romero
Seattle Times staff reporter

RICK STEWART / GETTY IMAGES Defensive tackle Sam Adams, who played six seasons for the Seahawks, looks forward to making his first visit to Qwest Field with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

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The owner of the latest professional sports team in the Puget Sound is a 31-year-old, 340-pound man known as Big Poppa.

He's a two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle and Texas native who enjoyed his time in the Seattle area so much that he made it his home. He's a mammoth man with the quickness of a cat and is anything but just a football player.

His name? Sam Adams.

His title? There are many. Defensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills. Owner of the National Indoor Football League's expansion Everett Hawks. Owner of a health club in downtown Seattle opening next month.

Adams is a regular Renaissance man. A scholar, businessman and professional athlete. And this has been a very good year.

Reporters in Buffalo are touting Adams for the Pro Bowl, based on his dominance along the line of scrimmage in occupying blocks or overpowering a single block to disrupt a run or pass. Out west, Adams' semipro football team, the Kirkland-based Eastside Hawks, won the national championship in Orlando on Nov. 13 and completed an undefeated season. The Everett Hawks, an extension of the Eastside outdoor team, are now in operation and set to begin play in March. And the Epicenter, a fitness center on Third Avenue geared toward families and professionals looking for a quick workout, is on schedule to open Dec. 20.

"I've surrounded myself with the best possible people," Adams said. "I'm only going to be playing football a certain amount of time. You have to have something you can rely on after you're done playing. My priorities are religion, family and football."

Adams majored in agricultural economics at Texas A&M. That required him to take business classes. He was the Seahawks' first-round draft pick in 1994 and spent the first six seasons of his NFL career in Seattle.

While here, Adams became involved in the community. He even stumped around the Northwest one offseason to drum up support for a new stadium for the Seahawks.

Those efforts on behalf of Paul Allen's ownership led to the construction of Qwest Field, which Adams has seen only from the outside.
 
"I was more than happy to do my part," he said.

Adams grew an interest in business opportunities, one which blossomed after he left Seattle as a free agent in 2000.

"If you try to pigeonhole a guy like Sam, you're sadly mistaken," said Will Lewis, the Seahawks' pro personnel director who has known Adams since 1999. "He's a guy with a lot of ambition. He's a sharp guy who speaks very well."

Adams doesn't seem pressured to fit his business interests into his busy practice, workout, game and travel schedule with the Bills. He may be on the other side of the country, but he still is very involved in the decision-making process of his business interests.

Adams is even scheduling interviews to discuss his Everett team during his trip with the Bills to play the Seahawks on Sunday.

"He's pretty hands-on," said Lisa Balmes, a longtime friend whom Adams hired as the Hawks' vice president of operations and business development. "He likes to know all of the daily details. He's more hands-on than what your normal owner would be. Hopefully, he'll relax about that."

"He's very demanding, but he has a great heart," said Nesby Glasgow, the former Seahawks player whom Adams brought on as president of the Hawks. "He's always trying to treat everyone fair."

The Eastside Hawks are a non-profit organization that Adams might decide to dissolve. Adams owned and sometimes coached them for fun. But the Everett Hawks and the Epicenter are clear moneymaking ventures. And when the NFL season is over and Adams comes home, he'll be easy to find: Working at the gym during the day and coaching the offensive line for the Hawks in night games at the Everett Events Center.

"I can train there (at the Epicenter) in the offseason. It allows me to stay busy," Adams said. "This is minor-league sports, so everyone has to contribute on something. Everything I'm doing has to do with football, and I'm still in the game 24-7.

"I manage my time well."

Adams has fond memories of his playing days in Seattle and has established roots in the area. He makes his home in Kirkland with his wife, Erika, and their two children. Despite stints in Baltimore and Oakland as well as Buffalo in his career, he chose to settle in the Northwest.

"Seattle is my home," he said. "When I was there the fans were really, really good to me. There's not a more beautiful place in the world."

There won't be a lot of sappy words come game time at Qwest Field. Adams is all business — so to speak — about wanting to play a part in defeating his former team.

And if Big Poppa makes a big play — along the lines of the interception he made despite being double-teamed against St. Louis last week — he'll give the fans an encore performance of his celebratory dance, The Earthquake.

"That you'll see on Sunday," Adams said.