ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Adam Ward lived to make us laugh.
No one knows that more than his former teacher at Salem High School, Grant Smythers.
“You know, he used to pick on me all the time, tell me that I needed to fatten up, tell me that I needed to eat more. so, he would bring me a donut every now and then. And I’d call him grandpa, because he had bad knees,” Smythers recalls.
Along with Adam’s sense of humor was a kind heart and a deep love of sports.
“I can remember him being at basketball games and you know, he would paint his chest. He’d be the first person there,” says Smythers.
Smythers is the co-creator of the basketball tournament, the Adam Ward Classic, that’s a huge part of Adam’s legacy. Each year, it raises scholarship money to help standout students achieve their dreams of going to college.
The Adam Ward Scholarship is now endowed.
As for what the scholarship committee looks for…
“It’s Adamlike qualities, you know him as a person. He was a wonderful person, a friend to everyone, but also a hard worker, overachiever, a fighter, high character, high integrity,” says Tommy McDonald, President of the Salem Education Foundation and Alumni Association.
One of those scholarship recipients was Kate Debord McMillan, whose mother knew Adam.
When McMillan was a young dancer, both he and Alison Parker did an interview with her.
“I had the opportunity to meet both of them in middle school. They did a feature on Southwest Virginia Ballet’s production of Cinderella and I remember they were so full of joy, showed up bright and early in the morning. They ended up putting on the stepsister costumes and it was so fun,” says McMillan.
McMillan says health problems she suffered as a teen eventually led her to want a career in health care. She now works at Carilion breast care center.
“So that was kind of my goal was to go to school, get an education and make a difference in health care,” explains McMillan.
While Adam Ward Scholarship helped with tuition, for McMillan and others, it means so much more.
“Just extremely honored and humbled. I felt responsibility to carry on his legacy, and still do. He was just such a special person and just a beacon of light,” says McMillan.
“I can wear my pullover to different places, and people will stop me and ask me and ask about the Adam Ward Classic and tell me they’d heard about and what we’d done and that makes me really proud,” says Smythers.
The Adam Ward Classic, bringing people together and making a positive impact on our hometowns and beyond, just like our friend, Adam did.
Smythers adds, “We have created something that I think that Adam’s just looking down, going ‘Man, this is for me?’”
The 2026 Adam Ward Classic will take place on February 6 and 7 at Salem High School.
Copyright 2025 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
