Blue Devil Alumni Spotlight: Adam Yates ’94

A Life in Service: From Quincy’s A Building to the Chief’s Office

By Katie Rodemich ’02  Freelancer

As a member of the QHS Class of 1994, Adam Yates still traces some of his strongest memories back to A Building, where drums, rehearsals, and performances were part of daily life. Long considered the heart of Quincy High’s arts culture, A Building housed band, choir, theater, New Faces, and a close-knit creative community that became a defining part of Adam’s high school experience. Football games, marching band, and performing with friends remain some of the memories he values most from that time.

Even decades later — after serving in the Marines, building a career in law enforcement, and ultimately becoming Quincy’s Chief of Police — music remains one of the strongest threads connecting every chapter of his life.

“I still remember probably my favorite part of high school was football games, and marching band,” he said. “Just love every aspect of that.”

While he also played baseball, music was always where he felt most connected.

“I did play sports. I played baseball, but my heart was really into the music side,” he said.

Music had been part of Adam’s life long before high school. After starting drums as a child, Quincy Public Schools’ music program quickly became one of the biggest parts of his high school experience. Marching band, performances, competitions, football Fridays, and the friendships built through music created a sense of belonging that stayed with him long after graduation.

“I played drums since I was a little kid, so being part of marching band — that was ultimately my favorite part of everything high school related,” he said. “But I enjoyed concert band. I really enjoyed just the atmosphere of being around people that were into that kind of stuff.”

As the conversation shifted, Adam reflected on the educators and mentors who influenced him most during his years in Quincy High School’s music program. Kathi Dooley, Les Fonza, and Harold Walt each played an important role in shaping not only his high school experience, but ultimately the direction of his life.

He spoke warmly about the tight-knit leadership within the music department and the way those educators created an environment that pushed students while also earning their respect naturally.

“That core group of Kathi running the music program, Les being our director, and then Harold just being the one that I worked with the most on all of our percussion— those were really the three that influenced me the most.”

One of the deepest influences came from Fonza’s quiet leadership style and military background. Though Fonza never drew attention to himself, the example he set stayed with Adam well beyond high school.

“I was always impressed by the fact that he was a Marine, and he never made a big deal about that,” he said. “It was just one of those things you just knew — the way he carried himself.”

That example would eventually help guide one of the most important decisions of his life.

“When I graduated and I had to start making some real decisions on where my life was going to go, my decision to go into the Marine Corps was in part due to the influence that he had on me over the three years that I was in high school,” he said. “I really appreciate everything that he did for me, both in high school and afterwards.”

What stood out most to him about Fonza was not only his musical talent, but the quiet authority and respect he commanded without ever needing to demand it.

“He was a presence.” he said. “He wasn’t the guy that ever had to tell anybody to knock it off, because he just looked at you and you knew.”

Years later, Adam had the chance to personally thank him for the impact he had made — a full-circle moment that reinforced just how deeply those years of mentorship and guidance had shaped his life.

After graduating from QHS in 1994, college proved difficult, and the lack of structure left him searching for a different direction. Within months, he left school and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

“I knew I had to get out of Quincy,” he said. “Just from the standpoint of, you know, it sounds cliché, but the discipline, the structure, the go do something that you can’t refuse to do sort of mindset, and it was a perfect fit for me.”

In December 1994, he left for San Diego and began four years of active-duty service, already knowing his long-term goal was law enforcement.

“I’d always wanted to be a cop,” he said.

After returning to Quincy in 1998, Adam enrolled at John Wood Community College using his GI Bill benefits while preparing for a career in law enforcement. By 1999, he had tested for the Quincy Police Department, ranked high on the eligibility list, and was hired later that year before leaving for the police academy.

During that transition, Adam also worked weekends delivering pizzas for Gem City Pizzeria while attending school and preparing for police testing. What started as a temporary side job became one of his favorite memories from that time in his life.

“It was one of the best jobs I ever had,” he said. “We had a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed that job.”

The schedule fit well while he balanced classes during the week and prepared for a future career in law enforcement. Even decades later, he still remembers the job and the people he worked with fondly.

“The people that worked there were fantastic,” he said. “It was my dream getting out of the Marine Corps — go be a pizza delivery driver — and that’s exactly what I got to do.”

Adam’s law enforcement career began in 1999, and over the next 27 years he steadily advanced through multiple divisions within the Quincy Police Department.

He began in patrol before joining the Street Crimes Unit in 2002, focusing on gang activity, drug enforcement, and street-level crime. In 2004, he moved into the detective division, handling both adult criminal investigations and crimes against children, though most of his work focused on adult cases.

Throughout his career, Adam consistently sought leadership opportunities beyond traditional patrol work. One of the most significant came through the department’s Emergency Response Team — Quincy’s version of a SWAT team — which he joined in 2004 before later moving into leadership roles.

Around the same time, as law enforcement agencies nationwide updated training protocols following the Columbine school shooting, Adam became one of the department’s first active shooter response instructors. Alongside fellow officer Curt Kelty, he attended one of the earliest instructor certification programs before returning to help train local officers in Quincy.

After nearly 11 years with the department, Adam returned to patrol in 2010 and was promoted to sergeant later that year. By 2018, following years in patrol, investigations, and tactical response work, he transitioned into the Administrative Services Sergeant role, gaining firsthand experience with the operational side of running a police department and a broader perspective beyond frontline law enforcement.

“I loved the police work, but it can be very draining over years of just dealing with the same thing,” he said. “So, it was good to have an opportunity to do something different.”

That move into administration ultimately led to a larger leadership opportunity. In late 2019, Adam was promoted to Deputy Chief of Administration, where he oversaw budgets, contracts, staffing, equipment purchases, and long-term operational planning. The role gave him a deeper understanding of the behind-the-scenes work required to keep a police department running and helped prepare him to eventually become chief.

When the department began searching for a new chief in 2022, Adam entered the selection process and was ultimately appointed Quincy Chief of Police.

Although the position has brought significant responsibility and pressure, he says it has also strengthened his commitment to Quincy and the community he has always considered home.

“It’s been one of the most challenging things in my entire life,” he said. “But it’s an important job.”

What he values most now is working alongside community leaders to help preserve the quality of life that defined Quincy during his own childhood.

“I love working with the community and other leaders within the community, and in our own way, shaping and ensuring that Quincy is the city that it was back in 1994 when I was growing up,” he said. “That it’s safe. People can visit here. They can move here. They can raise their family here.”

Even after serving in the military and seeing other parts of the world, Quincy remained the place he always wanted to return to. For Adam, leading the department is ultimately about protecting the community and helping ensure future generations experience the same sense of safety and hometown pride he remembers growing up.

“My heart’s always been in Quincy,” he said. “It’s just a great community, and being a part of keeping it safe and moving in the right direction is something I take a lot of pride in.”

When discussing careers in law enforcement, Adam emphasized that success in the profession requires far more than simply wanting to be a police officer. He believes the job demands discipline, resilience, maturity, and a genuine desire to serve others. Because of that, he encourages young people interested in law enforcement to pursue ride-alongs and firsthand experience before committing to the career.

Outside of law enforcement, music has remained one of the few constants in Adam’s life — a passion rooted in his years at QHS and the mentors who shaped him there.

Today, he performs locally with the band Prospect Road, playing both drums and keyboard while balancing the responsibilities of serving as Quincy’s Chief of Police until his retirement in July.

After returning to Quincy in the late 1990s, music largely took a backseat to school, police work and building his career. But by the early 2000s, Adam realized something was missing. Finally reaching a point of financial stability, he realized he no longer even owned a drum set.

That realization led him into a local music store on 24th Street, where he unexpectedly reunited with former mentor Harold Walt. The two spent time catching up while looking over drum sets together, and Walt ultimately helped Adam choose the set he purchased that day — reconnecting him with music after years away from it.

For years, Adam played drums in his basement alongside CDs and backing tracks, gradually reconnecting with music before eventually returning to Quincy’s local music scene.

That journey also led to a friendship with local musician and longtime Quincy Herald-Whig reporter Rodney Hart, whom Adam originally met while working as a detective.

“He was the crime reporter for Quincy Herald-Whig at the time, and I was a detective,” Adam said. “So that’s kind of how we got to know one another.”

What began as casual jam sessions eventually evolved into regular performances and recording projects together. Around the same time, Adam taught himself the keyboard after joining a local band that already had a drummer, pushing himself into an entirely new musical role.

Today, he plays both drums and keyboard with Prospect Road while also recording music in a small basement studio at home.

“Rodney is a phenomenal writer,” he said. “He writes songs, we get together and arrange them.”

Several of their projects are now available on major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. One of the most recent releases, West of 12th Street by Madness Divine, debuted in 2024 and takes its name from the area near Quincy Junior High. Adam even photographed the album artwork himself at 12th and Maine.

“That’s my primary hobby,” he said. “My primary release from everything that is law enforcement.”

During what he jokingly described as his “musical resurgence,” Adam also spent time around Avenue Beat during the early stages of the Quincy-based trio’s rise to national attention. The group was made up of QHS alumni Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, and Savana Santos ‘16.

Through mutual family friendships, he traveled with the group to Nashville while they recorded demo tracks at Blackbird Studio, where he played drums on several songs.

The experience gave him the opportunity to both record and perform alongside the group during live gigs throughout Nashville.

“When we went to Nashville, we recorded during the day, and then they had gigs booked at night at some of the random bars,” he recalled. “I would play the cajón with them at night, and then we would record during the day.”

The experience left a lasting impression on him.

“It was loads of fun,” he said.

Adam also spoke highly of the band Avenue Beat and the opportunity to be part of that chapter of their journey.

“They were a great group of girls who are amazing performers and very talented,” he said. “So that was kind of a different spin on something I enjoyed doing.”

Even now, decades after graduating from Quincy High School and preparing to retire this summer as Quincy’s Chief of Police, many of Adam’s favorite memories still revolve around football games, marching band, and the energy of Quincy’s music and community life. Music remains an important balance in his life — a creative outlet completely separate from the pressures of law enforcement and a lasting connection to the community that first shaped him years earlier.