By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

It's a scenario that has played out thousands of times among promisingly talented athletes. The high school all-star advances on to college, only to have his dreams for professional stardom dashed by injuries.

And it's a story with which Fighting Illini football alum Adeoye "Ade" Adeyemo is all too familiar. His tale, however, features a happy ending, thanks to scholarly parents and sage advice from mentors.

An all-state receiver at Chicago's St. Rita High School, Adeyemo ultimately committed to play for Coach Ron Turner and the University of Illinois. Though he was awarded three varsity letters (2001, '03 and '04), a broken ankle and ribs interrupted Ade's collegiate career, markedly limiting his playing time and accomplishments.

Fortunately for Adeyemo, his parents - Horatio and Mojirol Adeyemo, natives of Nigeria - had fervently advocated the importance of an advanced education to Ade and his two sisters. His mother and father attended Alabama A&M as undergrads, then went on receive MBA degrees at the same university.

Originally, Ade thought he might follow in the footsteps of his father - currently an engineer for Chicago's Department of Transportation - taking introductory engineering classes at St. Rita. He eventually studied finance at the University of Illinois, receiving his bachelor's degree in December of 2004.

"Because of the pay scale and the prospects of having a good life and supporting a family, I thought I wanted to be in business in some capacity," he said.

Urged on by his parents, Adeyemo began pursuing his Master's degree in education at UIUC in January of 2005, but interrupted his progress by taking a fling as a receiver in the Arena Football League and serving as a stunt man in a 2008 football movie entitled "The Express".

After completing his Master's program in May of 2007, Adeyemo landed in Chicago with Northwestern Mutual, serving for nearly three years as a financial advisor. He was doing well, but he wasn't fulfilled by his work.

"It wasn't a passion for me," he said. "It took a while for me to understand what I really wanted to do. Finance wasn't who I was and what I wanted to accomplish."

During his search for a more meaningful career, Adeyemo met with a variety of individuals who encouraged him to pursue academia as an option. One of those people was Jerome Morris, then a professor of education at the University of Georgia.

"Jerome had been an athlete (at Austin Peay State University), so we had an ability to talk about sports and life, and the experience of black athletes," Adeyemo said.

"We discussed how that paralleled in many spaces with society, in terms of their identities, their aspirations, and their perceptions. I've always had an affinity for helping young people, particularly those who are under represented and who haven't had the opportunities or the resources to thrive in certain areas. It wasn't until I received encouragement from him and others that I committed myself to develop a platform for the work that I wanted to do."

In 2010, Adeyemo prepared for his dissertation at UGA. He focused his research on black athletes, studying how their identities and aspirations were shaped within their neighborhoods and schools.

"Many before me had studied the experiences of young adolescents at the collegiate level, focusing on their experiences at predominantly white institutions and at historically black institutions," he said. "But there were few examples of work that examined the experiences of adolescents in high school."

Adeyemo analyzed predominantly black neighborhoods in the south and west sides of Chicago, interviewing and engaging with eight students, their parents, and their community members.

"Because of my familiarity with these neighborhoods, I was able to provide a more nuanced understanding about the experiences in these spaces and describe what these young people were going through," he said.

Adeyemo challenged that the urban setting doesn't have to be impoverished or lack resources.

"We were able to understand that people who may have lived in those communities that were maybe more violent, that they were able to exhibit ideas of resilience and were able to overcome these environments through the support of their families," he said. "Because they knew the perpetrators of these violent crimes, they were shielded from not becoming involved.

"Research concluded it's important to become exposed to sports," he continued. "And to become engaged at an early age in other activities and programs that aren't sports related.

"We found that these were the adolescents who were able to excel athletically and academically at the same time. It's necessary to become aware about the importance of health care and nutrition, and to become engaged in a rigorous curriculum. It's important to have people and resources in place over a period of time so that young people can be inspired to succeed and excel and reach their highest level of achievement."

Adeyemo returned to UIUC in August of 2017 for a two-year appointment as a postdoctoral fellow in educational policy and organizational leadership. He hopes his work will transition into a tenure tract position at the University.

"I want to spend time with many of the young athletes here and cultivate and enhance their experience at the U of I, while also helping them realize their goals beyond athletics," Adeyemo said.

"The world is becoming much more technologically sophisticated. Every day we see those advancements. That being said, there are so many more opportunities that can be developed and created by individuals rather than by corporations.

"We want to facilitate those opportunities by providing resources to obtain those goals. How do you engage them to reach their goals and then welcome them back to the university family as well? That can be something that benefits both parties."