Larry Adams retired from his position as a UH police officer after 27 years on Jan. 31. | Courtesy of Lindsay Blagg/University Communications
For almost 30 years, Larry Adams woke up each morning, put on his UH police uniform and headed to campus to serve the students of the University.
Adams has worked under seven UH presidents, knew Shasta when he was a real cougar and was helping students more than 10 years before University of Houston System at Sugar Land existed. Adams’s stay at the University of Houston ended Jan. 31 when he retired.
“Larry is one of the most honorable individuals I have ever had the privilege to meet,” said Malcolm Davis, UH Chief of Police. “Larry had a great outlook on life. He always had a smile on his face and knew where the cookies were. Larry understood that life was not always fair, accepted it, and concentrated on what was good in life.”
Most people on campus referred to him not as Officer Adams, but as “Officer Larry.” Adams loved interacting with the community. He enjoyed walking around campus and talking with people.
Davis’s first impression of Adams was his smile and attitude toward life and work, and that impression never changed, he said.
“He always gave the individual he was working with his full attention. He was a man of his word. If he told you he was going to do something, he did it,” Davis said.
Adams won 18 Employee of the Month awards, eight distinguished duty awards, 22 certificates of merit and two service awards all within just his first 15 years of working at the UHPD. He started working at UH around 1984.
“While Larry was highly decorated for the cases he worked and solved, the incident that I remember most vividly was when he was able to talk a distressed individual who was going to jump from an upper floor on one of our buildings out of committing suicide,” Davis said.
Adams was never concerned with moving up to higher positions or becoming a supervisor, although he was always there to help mentor new employees and show them the ropes.
“He loved his job and the Cougar community, and it showed in everything he did,” Davis said. “Larry is an amazing individual. He will be greatly missed campus wide.”
He is the first of many to leave. With C. Moore as the new Police Chief at UH, there wil be many many more looking for other places of employment. Remember moore will neve be a "Police Chief" he was never a police officer.