Founding Conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.

UNC-W Chancellor Wagoner - April 7, 1982:
"Mr. Adcock's devotion to teaching excellence is well known. He gave himself selflessly to his calling. His career of excellence began early when as a high school band director his ensemble consistently won the highest awards in annual state contests. His influence in this area perhaps reached its climax when he served as President of the Band Masters of North Carolina, a division of the State MENC. His achievement of
excellence continued in his college teaching as conductor of the Wind
Ensemble and as founding conductor of the UNC-Wilmington/Community Orchestra, which has grown into a first rate performing community orchestra under his tutelage.

His response to the needs of students can be exemplified in another area
by the introduction and evolution of the History of Jazz course. This course
developed when Mr. Adcock perceived through his informal "bull" sessions with students in his Jazz Ensemble class and Survey of Music classes, that there was a real interest on the part of a large number of students to find out where jazz came from, what its major parameters were, and who its practitioners were. Mr. Adcock's thorough knowledge of this area and
his contagious enthusiasm for it were no small part of the success of this course.

In a related area, his teaching of the Jazz Ensemble course demonstrated
his devotion to superior competence on the part of students. Instead of just playing charts or arrangements, he spent a great deal of time (the majority) in teaching and rehearsing the principles of improvisation.

This did not necessarily lead to a performance of the group, but did contribute to the better understanding of the process on the part of
the students involved.

Another aspect of Mr. Adcock's collegiality that promoted excellence
of teaching within the music area was his intelligent and ready support of the teaching efforts of his fellow professors. There was no classroom in any music specialty that Mr. Adcock did not assist in. His visits to Music History, Survey of Music Literature, Orchestration, Composition and Wind Ensemble were particularly helpful."