FOREVER FOUR

The Learn2Lax4Jack program introduces young athletes to lacrosse while honoring the joyful spirit, leadership, and lasting impact of Lake Forest’s John “Jack” Ireland Adams.

THE SONG FINALLY CAME ON. John “Jack” Ireland Adams and his younger sister, Lindsay, had spent days trying to figure out the title of it—the one with the drawn-out lyric, the one Jack kept singing around the house and in the car and at family dinners. Then, during a Memorial Day weekend drive up to the lake, Phillip Phillips’ “Gone, Gone, Gone” suddenly poured through the speakers.

Jack and Lindsay looked at each other instantly.

Grins. Volume up. Windows down.

“We screamed the lyrics at the top of our lungs,” Lindsay Adams recalls. “That moment in the car was so him.”

Years later, the song still stays with her. So does Jack. And not only with Lindsay.

Learn2Lax4Jack—formerly Learn2Lax, and renamed by the Lake Forest Lacrosse Association in 2020 to honor former instructor and Lake Forest High School lacrosse standout Jack Adams—introduces kindergartners and first-graders to the sport Jack loved while also preserving the memory of a young man teammates, coaches, friends, and family members still describe with the same words: Kind, funny, loyal, lovable.

The affordable program—open to Lake Forest and Lake Bluff boys—includes equipment, instruction, and practices for only $50, thanks largely to the generosity of Jack’s family and the 4 Jack Memorial Fund. Young players receive sticks, gloves, pads, uniforms, and loaner helmets while learning fundamentals in a relaxed, welcoming environment.

But Learn2Lax4Jack is about more than cradling, passing, and ground balls.

It’s about continuing something.

“These kids that sign up for it never met Jack,” says Seamus Tuohy, one of Jack’s closest friends and a fellow member of Lake Forest High School’s Class of 2017. “But they hear his story, hear about the impact he had on so many, and want to compete and lead like he did.”

Jack passed away in 2019 following a wake-surfing accident in Indiana. He was 20. A four-year varsity lacrosse player at Lake Forest High School, Jack earned All-State honors as a long-stick midfielder and built a reputation as a fierce competitor who rarely left the field and somehow still made everybody around him feel comfortable.

“He interacted well with people of all ages—kids, peers, teammates, parents,” Tuohy says. “My mom adored him. He had this gentle way about him. He was likable. No, lovable. People loved him and loved being around him.”

Tuohy still laughs recalling the day the two attended a country concert in California as teenagers. Jack was not a country music fan. Didn’t matter.

“He wore my sister’s overalls, my dad’s cowboy boots, and this light-blue floppy hat,” Tuohy says. “He looked hilarious.”

Lindsay Adams adds, laughing, “Jack wore what he wore out of defiance.”

That balance—funny and competitive, quiet and magnetic—comes up repeatedly when people describe him.

Connor Adams, Jack’s older brother, calls him “a kind, happy person” with “a quiet presence.”

“But if he took you aside and talked with you, he had a lot to say,” Connor says. “He was smart, too.”

And relentless on a lacrosse field.

“There wasn’t a thing on a lacrosse field that he didn’t do well,” Connor says. “Offense, defense—everything.”

Lindsay remembers the speed first. Then the joy.

“He was so fun to watch,” she says. “He was fast, quick on his feet, and he was able to pull off all kinds of crazy moves when he had the ball. Jack loved lacrosse, and I loved that he loved the sport as much as he did.”

That love now reaches players far too young to remember him.

Learn2Lax4Jack regularly fills quickly. Lindsay says 92 children signed up for one recent spring session, and wait lists have become common.

“He coached lacrosse to kids in the summers after he graduated from high school,” Lindsay says. “He was a great teacher.”

Rich and Kristy Adams have watched the game continue to embrace their son in countless ways.

Lake Forest High School players wear “4Jack” gear. A sign honoring him remains near the spot where Rich Adams watched games during Jack’s playing days.

Before playoff games, players hold up four fingers during the national anthem. Each season, one player receives the honor of wearing Jack’s No. 4 jersey.

This year’s designee is Fin Michael, a member of Lake Forest High School’s Class of 2026.

Connor Adams says the support still matters deeply to the family.

“After Jack passed, so many people, including those who weren’t super close to him, came up to our family and told us how impactful he was to them,” Connor says. “He was kind to everyone, nice to everyone—except those in a lacrosse game who weren’t in Lake Forest uniforms.”

And then there’s the song. The one Lindsay still hears differently now.

“I’ll love you long after you’re gone, gone, gone,” Phillip Phillips sings.

“That,” she says, “could not be more true to how I feel about Jack.”

For more information about the Learn2Lax4Jack program, please visit lakeforestlax.org. To donate to the 4 Jack Adams Memorial Fund, which supports organizations promoting water safety, grief counseling, and substance abuse recovery, please visit lakecountycf.org/4-jack-memorial-fund.