Administrator Series - Ted Adams CBE
St George Cricket Club | October 18, 2024
We continue you our series of Key Administrators in the History of St George DCC this month with the fascinating life of Ted Adams.
By Kevin Greene
With over 50 years service in the administration of St George DCC E W (Ted) Adams can rightly be considered one of the pillars of the Club’s success. His knowledge, expertise and experience meant he was regularly called upon when difficult decisions were required not just at Club level but also at State level.
Ted Adams was born in Bathurst on 10 July 1896. The family soon moved to Sydney, renting a property at Waterloo and he played his junior cricket with the Redfern Waratah Club before commencing district cricket in second grade with Redfern in 1913 and with their demise Petersham from 1917. After representing NSW Colts on a number of occasions he played his only Shield game in 1920.
With St George’s elevation to First Grade for the 1921/22 season, Adams was one of the recruits with experience at that level. On the field he performed with the ball, his primary skill, capturing 37 wickets, but he also scored the Club’s first, First Grade century.
This article is however focused on his remarkable contribution to the Club, off the field, in capacities that stretched for decades, not just seasons. Having started work as a clerk at Sydney City Council in 1912 Adams had no difficulty in taking on the role of Club Treasurer in 1923, a position he maintained until 1951. In 1931 he became a delegate to the NSW Cricket Association and for 14 seasons, served on the Country Committee, standing down in 1946, having been conferred Life Membership of that organisation in 1945, the same honour being bestowed by St George in 1946.
In his employment at the Council, he quickly moved through the ranks and it was the pressure of his position as Deputy Town Clerk that saw him relinquish his Treasurer’s hat, although he maintained his position on the Management Committee and Vice Presidency at NSW. Representing Sydney at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London in 1953 was undoubtedly a wonderful memory. In 1956 he became the Town Clerk, a position he held until his retirement the day before his 66th birthday in 1962. He was awarded the title Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), which is one level under a knighthood, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 1962.
Adams continued to serve on the Management Committee of St George DCC until 1968 when he replaced his friend of over 50 years, Frank Cush, as Club President. Continuing in that position until 1972. He remined on the Committee until 1975. Upon his retirement as President, the Annual Report of 1972/73, records a fitting tribute, with the following quotes a sample of the many wonderful reflections.
‘So often when there’s been a problem, be it to do with constitution, council regulations or for that matter, anything, members of the Committee have as one looked in the direction of Ted Adams and the solution has always been forthcoming.’
‘… it can be truthfully stated that nobody has done more for St George DCC than Edward William Adams CBE’
When Ted Adams passed away in 1977 St George lost not only a member of its inaugural First Grade team but a stalwart of its front office. One of the key members of the off field administration who had built the foundations of the Club’s enormous on field success
