May 3, 1998: Arsenal Football Club defeat Everton Football Club, the blue team on Merseyside (to Liverpool F.C.'s red team), 4-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its North London neighborhood. This clinches the Premier League title for Arsenal, their 1st under the Premier League name, their 1st title since their last Football League First Division title in 1991.
The last goal is a nearly solo goal, by their Captain, centreback Tony Adams, at the stadium's north end, fronted by the stand known as the North Bank, home of the team's most passionate fans. He raises his arms in victory. On Sky Sports, broadcaster Martin Tyler says, "Would you believe it? That sums it all up!"
Tony Alexander Adams was born on October 10, 1966 -- 16 years to the day after an earlier Arsenal legend, Charlie George -- in Romford, East London, which turned out to be the home neighborhood of a later teammate, Ray Parlour. But he grew up in Dagenham, also in East London, a neighborhood which produced Alf Ramsey, the only manager to lead England to win the World Cup; and also entertainers Dudley Moore and Sandie Shaw.
He made his debut for Arsenal on November 5, 1983, away to North-East team Sunderland at Roker Park. It didn't go so well: First, the 17-year-old defender put his shorts on backwards; then, with his 1st touch of the game, he gave the ball away, leading to Sunderland scoring; then, he scored himself, but it was disallowed. Sunderland won, 2-1.
He got better, helping Arsenal to win the 1987 League Cup. In 1989, he captained Arsenal to win the Football League title. He should have been an easy choice to be one of England's starting centerbacks in the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Instead, England manager Bobby Robson chose Terry Butcher of Rangers (Glasgow, Scotland) and Des Walker of Nottingham Forest as starters; and left Adams off the team roster completely. Why? His drinking was out of control, but that didn't stop Robson from naming Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Paul Gascogine to the team. But stories of Adams getting into fights in nightclubs got back to Robson, and he decided to err on the side of caution. England lost in the Semifinals, on penalties to West Germany, and it's not clear if having Adams in place of Butcher or Walker would have made a difference.
It became academic even before the tournament: On May 6, 1990, Adams crashed his car into a wall in Rayeligh, Essex. His blood-alcohol level was found to be more than 4 times the legal drunk-driving threshold. Had he been selected for the England team, Robson would now have had to drop him.
On December 19, Adams was sentenced to 4 months in prison, and freed after half of his sentence, on February 15, 1991. He went on to captain Arsenal to another League title. He captained Arsenal to the first ever domestic "cup double" in 1993, winning first the League Cup, then the FA Cup; and then to the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup. Adams, fellow centreback Steve Bould, right back Lee Dixon, left back Nigel Winterburn, and goalkeeper David Seaman formed one of the greatest defenses English football has ever known.
He was injured, and unavailable to play for England in Euro 1992. England failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. In Euro 96, on home soil, England matched its 1990 World Cup performance, losing on penalties to a now-united Germany in the Semifinal.
When that tournament ended, Adams went straight into a drinking binge that he later said lasted about 6 weeks. He needed surgery, and when he woke up in the hospital, he ordered bottles of wine. He went to Dublin, Ireland for the wedding of former teammate Niall Quinn, and later said he could not remember much about it, other than ending up on Grafton Street in an argument with three lads. He was leaving dance clubs with women whose names he didn't know. He began hallucinating. One morning, he thought the English rock band Squeeze was playing in his living room.
(UPDATE: In a 2024 interview, Adams said that, around this time, approaching his 30th birthday, he was in a very dark period, not wanting to live when not playing football, unable to "do life.")
On August 16, 1996, the day before a new season was supposed to start, he was in his local social club with a pint of Guinness, and broke down. He admitted to himself that he was an alcoholic, got up, left the pub, picked up an order of fish and chips, went home, and decided to never drink alcohol ever again.
Thanks to help from a man he named only as "James W.," he became one of the most high-profile recovering alcoholics in Britain. While he was in rehab, Arsène Wenger arrived to become Arsenal's new manager. He was a big believer in a healthy lifestyle, and reordered the menus at the club's training center, and ordered the club's drinking culture changed. Some, such as Adams and hard-partying midfielder Ray Parlour, listened, and turned their careers around. Others, such as midfielder Paul Merson, did not, and were sold off.
Wenger appreciated Adams' commitment to turning his life around, as well as his natural ability: "When I first came to Arsenal, I realized the back four were all university graduates in the art of defending. As for Tony Adams, I consider him to be a doctor of defense."
In 1998, Arsenal came from well behind Manchester United to overtake them for the title of the English first division, now named the Premier League. On May 3, around the time Adams' memoir, titled Addicted, was released, Arsenal clinched the title at home against Everton, with Adams scoring the final goal. Two weeks later, he captained Arsenal to victory in the FA Cup Final over Newcastle United, winning "The Double."
His life was turned around, but his career renaissance didn't last. He captained Arsenal to 2nd-place finishes in 1999, 2000 and 2001, and to the UEFA Cup Final in 2000. But 2001-02 would be his final season. Wenger had signed former Tottenham Captain Sol Campbell as his replacement.
At age 35, Adams did not play in the 2002 FA Cup Final, and afterward, he raised the trophy along with the Captain in that game, and his replacement the next season, midfielder Patrick Vieira. Nor did he play 4 days later, away to Manchester United, in the game that clinched the Premier League title and another Double. But the man known as "Mr. Arsenal" did raise the PL trophy after Arsenal's last home game, and was given a testimonial match afterward.
That match raised money for Sporting Chance Clinic, the rehab center that Adams founded in 2000, in Liphook, Hampshire, on England's South Coast. At some point, it occurred to me that Arsenal's most popular living player is Tony Adams, while the most popular player with the fans of their North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, is Paul Gascoigne. Adams founded a rehab center, while Gascoigne was kicked out of it, for having booze brought into it.
Adams' successes as a player and as a rehab director are undeniable. But he has not succeeded in management. In 2004, he took over as manager of struggling Buckinghamshire team Wycombe Wanderers. In 2008, he was assistant to Harry Redknapp at Hampshire team Portsmouth, when Redknapp left the club to take the Tottenham job. He had left Portsmouth's finances in disastrous shape, and there was nothing he could do. He lasted just 16 games.
In the 2010-11 season, he managed Gabala in Azerbaijan, with no success. In 2017, he was appointed manager of Spanish team Granada, but he lost all 7 games he managed, and could not save them from relegation. As of May 3, 2022, he has not managed again.
But neither has he had a drink since 1996. He has made the most of his second chance. A statue of Adams was placed outside Emirates Stadium in celebration of the club's 125th anniversary on December 9, 2011.
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May 3, 1998 was a Sunday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Ramiro Mendoza outpitched Tim Belcher. Jorge Posada and Paul O'Neill hit home runs. Derek Jeter went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
* The New York Mets beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-2 at Shea Stadium. Rick Reed outpitched Pedro Astacio.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 5-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-0 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 0-for-3.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 12-8 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Danny Darwin outpitched Tom Glavine. Rich Aurilia went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs. Barry Bonds went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. For the Braves, Michael Tucker went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.
* The Florida Marlins beat the San Diego Padres, 1-0 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. How many Marlin pitchers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout in a football stadium converted into a pitcher's park? Apparently, 3: Jesús Sánchez, 4 hits over 6 innings; Félix Heredia, with a perfect 7th; and Jay Powell, 1 hit over 2 innings. Craig Counsell drove Jim Eisenreich in with the game's only run, on a groundout in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Tony Gwynn appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-8 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 8-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. In this year of the home run record chase, Mark McGwire did not hit a home run for the Cards, but Brian Jordan and John Mabry did. Sammy Sosa hit his 7th home run of the season. At the time, nobody realized that he was going to be a part of the record chase.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Anaheim Angels, 12-1 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-3 at the the Network Associates Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known). Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-6 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Randy Johnson was the winning pitcher. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-5.
American-style football was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA Playoffs:
* The New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat, 98-81 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center).
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Hornets, 83-70 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan scored 35 points.
* And the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets, 84-70 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
And there were 3 games played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston. Brian Bellows scored the winning goal, 15:24 into overtime.
* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-2 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
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