The Rhode Island sports community has lost one of its most active and most accomplished leaders with the death of Dave Adamonis Sr.

The long-time Cumberland resident was an excellent athlete, but he made his biggest impact as a teacher, coach and entrepreneur. He spent the last 4½ years battling four forms of cancer. He died Saturday, one day before his 63rd birthday.

Adamonis taught at Johnston High and coached golf and hockey at the school, winning two state championships in hockey. He was a man of constant energy, to the point where he spent his life turning his ideas into action.

The first came while he was teaching at Johnston. In 1980, he organized the U.S. Challenge Cup Junior Golf Organization. Adamonis had two sons, Dave Jr., and Brad, who were excellent young golfers. He saw a lack of opportunity for them to participate in organized events. So he launched the Challenge Cup to provide opportunities, not only for them but for anyone who wanted to take part.

That organization has grown into one of the largest of its type in the country. It is still going strong today, now run by Dave Adamonis Jr. It provides more than 20 events each season for several thousand boys and girls. It has helped numerous players obtain college scholarships and led several to professional careers, including his son, Brad, who is now a member of the PGA Tour.

Two decades ago, Adamonis co-founded the Ocean State Golf Magazine, along with Bruce Vittner, a fellow teacher and coach at Johnston.

“Dave talked me into doing it,” Vittner often has relates. “It was his idea. I’m happy I went along with it.”

The magazine has become the bible for golfers in Rhode Island, delivering comprehensive news on the game from the highest pro level to all amateur competition throughout the state.

After some time, Vittner ended up taking over the magazine because Adamonis moved into other activities. Adamonis saw, through his work with the Challenge Cup and Ocean State Golf, that youngsters seeking a career in the golf business could use more opportunities. He felt Johnson & Wales University, which is heavily involved in the hospitality industry, could help.

“I ran into Mo Gaebe (the chancellor of Johnson & Wales) and told him I thought Johnson & Wales was the perfect fit for a golf program,” Adamonis said at the time. “He told me to draw up a curriculum.”

So he did. The program was refined and then put into operation, with Adamonis as both its director and coach of the golf team. For the last eight years, about 150 students have been involved in the program, opening doors to careers in all aspects of the golf community. The golf team has made the NAIA national championships every year and won the national title in 2005.

The Johnson & Wales success was just one more example of how Adamonis operated. There are some who are dreamers and some who are doers. He was both. He not only came up with ideas, he made them happen.

Adamonis was a Providence College graduate, where he played golf and twice helped the team reach the NCAA tournament. With a swing that showed his hockey background –– like so many hockey player he did not take his club all the way back, but instead slashed away as if he was hitting a slap shot –– he was a regular competitor in statewide events for many years and is a former Public Links champion.

In 2005, he was diagnosed with cancer. He fought the disease, which hit him in four different forms. Three times, he was given the last rites, but battled back each time.

“We got to spend 4½ more years after he was diagnosed. He got to see five grandchildren,” Dave Adamonis Jr. said. “He fought it with everything he had. We are so proud of everything he accomplished.”