William J. Adcock, BE’50, the first Vanderbilt basketball scholarship recipient and a member of the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame, of Kirkwood, Missouri, died July 29, 2022. He was 94.
Billy Joe came to Vanderbilt with the first basketball scholarship ever given by the university after being a star athlete in football, basketball and baseball at West End High School in Nashville. He was a four-year starter at Vanderbilt from 1946 to 1950, was named to the All-SEC basketball team three years and scored more than 1,000 career points. It was decades before any other player exceeded his career score, and his scoring record predated three-point shots. He was a consensus All-American selection, the first Vanderbilt player to receive this recognition.
In 1950, Bill was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers but chose instead to work as a civil engineer for Monsanto Chemical Company in Columbia, Tennessee. Eventually he was promoted and transferred to the worldwide headquarters in St. Louis and began his career in sales and marketing for the company. Bill retired in 1986 as corporate director of national sales for all of Monsanto’s product lines and company divisions.
He has been honored as an SEC Living Legend, a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and a member of Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame.
He is survived by his wife, three children, seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
—STAFF REPORTS