Bob McAdoo’s mom has passed away and she was 97….
from the News and Record at www.greensboro.com:
GREENSBORO
Vandalia/Van W. McAdoo, 97, died Friday, January 22, 2016. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at Metropolitan United Methodist Church.
People that knew Van McAdoo know that with Bob McAdoo’s mom, education came first and it was a top priority….Mrs. Van McAdoo was one of the top teachers/educators in the Greensboro School System for over 30 years and I believe the majority of her classroom days were spent at the Gillespie Park Elementary School on what is now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive/Blvd. and what for many years was known as Asheboro Street…
Van McAdoo made sure Bob could play basketball and she also made it a point to make sure Bob not only got his points on the basketball court, she made sure he played his saxophone and studied his music and Bob would be a success in the music room as well as the classroom and he ended up playing his saxophone in the marching band at Smith High School and you will see more on that below….
Van McAdoo was very proud of her son’s accomplishments on the basketball court with NBA scoring titles, two NBA Championship rings with the LA Lakers and many more accolades, but Van McAdoo was just as proud of Robert/Bob when he finished his school work, as she was when he won all of those basketball games….
Van McAdoo was a true educator and she stayed behind Bob until he completed his college degree, even after leaving UNC for early entry into the NBA…
I used to hear Van McAdoo when she would call into some of the talk radio stations that I was working for/with and she never failed to let it be known that she was the mother of Robert/Bob McAdoo….
She also always made it be known and heard that she felt that proper education was the blueprint for success in both the black and white communities….
Van McAdoo, a true pioneer of higher education and a mother that never stopped challenging her son Robert to be the best he could possibly on the court and in the classroom….
If you were ever around or if you had the chance to hear Van McAdoo speak, you couldn’t help but walk away having a better idea about how important learning really is…
I loved her voice, very slight, but very direct and she could say and teach you more in five minutes than some people could teach you in a lifetime….
A true loss with Van McAdoo gone, but for 97 years she laid the groundwork for a way to help others keep learning for a lifetime….
RIP Robert/Bob’s mom, Van McAdoo…..
*****You get to know someone like her over the years and you just will never forget that voice and you will know forever, that she was Bob’s mom and his biggest fan/supporter….*****
from Wikipedia on Bob McAdoo’s mom, Van McAdoo…..
His mother taught at his grade school and his father was a custodian at North Carolina A&T University. Bob attended Ben L. Smith High School, where he not only participated in basketball and track, he was also in the marching band as a saxophone player.
As a senior, he led Smith to the state basketball semifinals as well as to the state track tournament, where he set a new state high jump record.….
+++++I’m thinking Bob jumped his height and maybe the jump was 6’9.+++++
+++++Here is a little bit more I found on Van McAdoo in the Tuesday News and Record on-line….
She was a graduate of E.E. Smith High School and Fayetteville State University where she received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and was an all-star basketball player. She was also inducted into FSU’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She received her master’s degree from Columbia University.+++++