Lane Adams, Kansas City Royals slugger (right) presents a signed bat to Chief Gary Batton with Lane’s brother Chance Adams, Director of the Choctaw Wellness Center in Durant on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014.
Lane Adams has gone where only a few Choctaw athletes have gone before: The Major Leagues.
By Zach Maxwell
Choctaw Nation
Durant,Okla. - Adams, a Red Oak native who turns 25 in November, made his Major League Baseball debut on Sept. 1 with the Kansas City Royals. He saw action in six games before the Royals went on to the playoffs and an American League championship.
The 6-4 outfielder is on the 40-man roster for the Royals and will report to the team for spring training in February in Arizona. In the meantime, he is participating in a weight training regimen orchestrated by his brother Chance Adams at the Choctaw Wellness Center in Durant.
“My first time on the field was as a pinch runner,” Adams said. “The family was able to come up and the crowd was electric. You just stand back, take a breath and enjoy the moment.”
Adams became the first Choctaw in recent memory to score a Major League run on Sept. 20 when he was pinch runner for Salvador Perez. Adams took second base on a wild pitch and scored when Eric Hosmer hit a single.
Chief Gary Batton called Adams when the playoffs started to wish him good luck. “It’s good having a guy like that in your corner,” said Adams. He also credits brother Chance and their mother Shelley Free for encouraging him to pursue his goals.
Adams said his mother gave him an ultimatum during his sophomore year, one that shaped the destiny of this young man. He says he wanted to quit baseball at that time and told his mother as much on the way home from a tournament.
Adams said she pulled up to a stop sign – one direction went home to Red Oak and baseball; the other to Wilburton and summer jobs. He chose Red Oak.
“She wouldn’t let me quit anything,” he said. “She’s a big influence.”
Brother Chance Adams enjoys helping Lane go through a work out regimen during the off season at the Wellness Center in Durant. He says tribal members are fortunate to have such facilities staffed by people with high expertise in work out regimens.
“Seeing all of his hard work come to fruition is rewarding for me,” said Chance, director of Choctaw Wellness Center. “I’m able to do something I enjoy and have an impact on his career as an athlete.”
Lane also excelled at basketball while at Red Oak, earning a scholarship to Missouri State University before being drafted by the Royals. He finished as the fifth-leading scorer in Oklahoma prep basketball history with 3,251 points and led Red Oak to the Class B championship in 2009.
Lane maintains his connection with the Choctaw Nation through a variety of ways, including his off-season work outs at the Wellness Center. This connection has been present throughout his life, Lane said, starting when the late Randle Durant helped finance his team’s summer league play.
“They provide opportunities a lot of people don’t get,” he said. “They have helped me and my family forever. I’m proud to be Choctaw and glad I can put some positive spotlight on the tribe.”