Relentless W. Ron Adams recounts his unlikely road to success with the hope of inspiring others to push through their own obstacles
BY JACKIE HOLLENKAMP BENTLEY
I
t was March 17, 1977. It didn’t look good for W. Ron Adams that day. A coal mining accident left him with a broken neck and contemplating a lifetime confined to a wheelchair. He could have resigned himself to an existence of self-pity. Instead, 45 years later this month, he will release his memoir, Coal Mine to Courtroom: A Quadriplegic’s Memoir of Relentless Faith, Courage and Eternal Success. “When I got hurt and was getting ready to turn 20, they were saying, ‘Well, your life is over as you know it,’ ” Adams said in a video call with his co-writer, Fred Anderson. “It’s like, I’m not thrilled about where I’m at, but I’m a little young for it to be over.” Four decades later, Adams runs a prominent law firm in Erlanger and works to inspire others to push through life’s obstacles. “I didn’t want to write a book to say I wrote a book,” he said. “But I believe God takes everything in your life and uses that for your own journey. Part of the reason, I believe, that I’m in the chair still is because I’m supposed to use where I am to help other people who are similarly situated or who need to have some perspective change in their own world.” • • •
40 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2022
Following the initial chapter describing the accident that rendered him a quadriplegic, the book highlights Adams’ childhood in St. Charles (Hopkins County), Uniontown (Union) and Dawson Springs (Caldwell). It was at Dawson Springs High School where Adams made a name for himself as a standout basketball player, even landing a scholarship to Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg. When an ankle injury his freshman year forced him to sit out the season, he went back home and took a job in a Uniontown coal mine to raise money to finish college. That’s when he suffered a broken neck in the mine accident and vowed not to give up hope but to fight through life, doing what he needed to do to “go forward.” “I just kept on, one step at a time. That’s all I could do,” he said. “[With] each degree I collected I thought, ‘Now can I make a living?’ and the answer was ‘No’ on a bachelor’s degree and ‘No’ on a master’s degree.” Adams went on to law school and subsequently opened his own law firm. “I opened the door and put my shingle out there and typed one finger at a time for about a year, and it slowly got better and better. Thirtyfive years later, I’m an overnight success,” he said.
The stories about what happened during those 35 years—some comical, some heartbreaking, some even cringy—are related in the memoir with such raw honesty that Adams includes a disclaimer in the introduction: “My intention is not to offend readers or air dirty laundry, but merely to tell my story as honestly as possible, warts and all … In some cases, my opinions, as described in this book, were based on youthful ignorance or human imperfection.” Some of those stories include tales of people who have come in and out of his life, and Adams does not paint some of them in a positive light. “I don’t know if I’m going to get in trouble, but they may or may not like everything I said,” Adams said. “But everything I said was the truth—at least as I saw it.” • • •
Anderson, who brought Adams’ tales to life, said he couldn’t tell the story of Ron’s life without relating some of the negative aspects. But he also didn’t want the book to be a “woe is me” account of his friend. “I wanted his sense of humor to come through,” Anderson said. “Ron is a funny guy, and he doesn’t sit around feeling sorry for himself. I wanted his personality to come through.”
