Despite an illustrious career as a pole vaulter at Arkansas State in which she never lost at a conference meet, Stephanie Foreman Adams (2009-13) thought she had lost her chance at a spot in the A-State Hall of Honor.
The eight-time Sun Belt Conference champion and school-record holder first learned she was eligible for induction a few years prior, but as a worldwide pandemic and multiple inductee classes rolled by, she thought her time had passed.
All doubt was removed this past summer, when she learned the news of her inclusion in the 2024 Hall of Honor class, which will be recognized Friday, Oct. 25, at the annual induction banquet.
"I just brushed it off," she recalled. "But when I got that call this summer, I was just ecstatic because again, I thought I had lost my chance at it and got it back."

Adams – the first in her family to attend college – notes her transition from Lake Hamilton High School and college life was a struggle both athletically and personally. Not being accustomed to being away from home, she drove home every weekend possible. Athletically, an accident at a summer meet prior to the start of her collegiate career impacted her.

"Mentally, I was just so messed up," Adams said. "I couldn't plant a pole almost all the way through college unless I was at a meet. It's like I had to have that adrenaline going. I struggled very, very, very much at practices, and I don't think I had a successful practice until closer to my senior year because I couldn't get past that. There was so much anxiety behind it that I just wanted to quit because I was so scared."

However, she had a support system of coaches – notably A-State vertical jumps/multis coach Matt Vining as well as former head coach Lon Badeaux and current Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Dr. Jim Patchell – and others behind her to help vanquish that fear and help her become not only a multi-time conference champion and two-time All-American, but eventually, a Hall of Honor member.
 
"I was scared I wasn't doing my job," she said. "Luckily, I had some of the most amazing people and coaches behind my back. Them never giving up on me definitely helped, because I am not sure I would've made it past my freshman year anywhere else, especially with that huge mental block."
 
Vining was also in his first year as a pole vault coach when Adams entered the program. However, the two had known each other throughout her high school career, and Vining asked her to simply trust him. She did, and the rest – as the saying goes – was history.
 
"He was very up-front and honest, but is so good at what he does," she said. "He's also a multis coach and coached 12 other events, so I knew he had it in him. He just asked me to trust him, and I did. Pole vault alone is such a beast because it's so technical, but he worked harder than any person I know to
 
That freshman year saw her capture both indoor and outdoor Sun Belt Conference titles – a feat she also repeated as a sophomore, as a junior and then finally as a senior to complete her unbeaten stretch in conference competition.
 
Her sophomore season also gave Adams her first taste of regional competition, competing at the West Preliminary Rounds. She competed well, but 17^th – just five spots shy of making the NCAA Championships. The next two campaigns, she would go on to prove she belonged with the best of the best.
 
In 2011, she finished ninth at prelims to advance to the highest stage in collegiate track and field and one of the biggest venues in the sport – Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
"It's very humbling," Adams said of competing at the NCAA Championships. "College in general was very humbling, because in high school, you're in such a small little pool that it's easier to be successful. There's not as many people that you're competing with, but when you're thrown into college, that whole level changes. But when you reach NCAAs, it's the biggest change possible because now it's nothing but the top people competing and you've got to try to hang in there. It was exciting and was a good goal to reach. I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself because of everything that I'd went through going into college, but it was an amazing experience. No matter how well I did at that meet, it was awesome just to be able to make it there and to say I could compete with some of the best out there."
 
At that meet, she went on to clear 4.10m (13-5.25) and finish 10^th, earning Second Team All-American honors and becoming A-State's first women's pole vaulter to earn All-American esteem.
 
After winning her final indoor conference title in 2012, she redshirted the 2012 outdoor season, giving her another shot at returning to the national stage in 2013. However, in order to advance to Des Moines, she had to endure an 11-hour rain delay in her preliminary competition in Austin, Texas.
 
Despite the weather, Adams felt being from Arkansas and dealing with unpredictable weather patterns in her home state could be used to her advantage. She also didn't want to let it become an excuse for her, nor did she want to let down the multitude who traveled to Austin to watch her compete.
 
"(In Arkansas), you never know what the weather going to be like," she said. "It could be 20 degrees one morning and 80 by the end of the afternoon. So, I think I had a fair advantage there with the weather, but I wasn't going to let it be an excuse. Mentally preparing myself for anything like that again, especially after competing in all kinds of crazy weather, it was just another day and another meet. I had to go out there and do my job. I had also had friends and family there who drove all that way to see me and then sat all the way through that entire delay just to watch me compete. Those are some of the same people and family that will be sitting there (at the induction ceremony) Friday cheering me on."
 
By the end of the marathon day, she did not let her people down. In fact, she did not miss a bar en route to tying for first at the meet and earning her second bid to the NCAA Championships. While she enjoyed the opportunity to get another chance to compete on a national stage, she also relished in knowing that her first trip to the Championships was not a coincidence. Rather, it was earned and deserved.
 
"It was nice knowing that I worked really hard and I got to be successful because I did that and I was there because I deserve it," Adams said. "I got to compete with some of the best, again, and everybody wants to make it to that level. So it was nice to have another shot at that and it not just be a one-time experience."
 
She went on to finish 17^th at her final meet, earning Second Team All-American distinction yet again to cap off her outstanding career in which she posted school records in both the indoor (4.28m/14-0.5) and outdoor (4.17m/13-9.25) pole vault – marks that stand today.  
 
When looking back on her stellar tenure 15 years later, Adams is reminded of a simple, but profound lesson she took from her time at A-State: never giving up, even when it's easier.
 
"For me, especially going in that freshman year and with those struggles, that was what kept me going because I still don't understand how I didn't give up," she remembers. "It was scary and it was a lot of anxiety, and I just didn't know how I was going to get through each day or each practice, much less all of these meets. I finally did it and I made it all the way through and I met my goals. And although it took me all five years to hit those goals, had I given up, I never would've done it.