National Punt, Pass & Kick Champ Hails from Hinsdale

Luke Adams is a young man of few words.

The Hinsdale 7-year-old who won the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick (PPK) national title for the 6- and 7-year-old age group over the weekend in Baltimore gives a lot of yes-or-no answers.

Was Luke nervous when he was on the field before the national title competition?

“No.”

Did he think it was cool to see himself on TV after the competition?

“Yes.”

Was it cool to meet Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan at the competition?

“Yes.”

D’Ann Adams, Luke’s mom, says Luke’s a shy kid.

“But then again, he’s 7 years old,” she said with a laugh.

Luke punted, passed and kicked a total of 223 yards to take first place Saturday, one year after he placed fourth nationally in the same age group with a total of more than 146 yards. He was honored on national television Sunday with the other age-group winners, boys and girls, during the broadcast of the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans AFC playoff game. 

Luke’s weekend breakdown?

“I really did better in punting.”

The second-grader, whose favorite football player is Devin Hester, qualified for the national competition after winning the Chicago Bears team competition at the team’s Lake Forest practice facility in November.

Luke and his brother, 9-year-old Jake, both participate in plenty of sports. D’Ann lists them off—football, baseball, soccer, basketball—but she talks like the busy mom she is and it sounds like there has to be some she’s forgetting.

The two brothers both participate in the PPK competition and Major League Baseball’s Pitch, Hit & Run. Luke and Jake practice for the competitions with their dad, Dan.

D’Ann says her husband, who works in sales and travels plenty, takes the boys out to practice whenever there’s free time. If they only have 10 minutes, they’ll throw and kick the ball around in the yard. If they have more time, they’ll stop by the football field or the Darien Sportsplex.

Don’t label the Adams boys jocks, though—both play piano and the majority of the trophies in the house, D’Ann said, are from chess competitions.

And while Luke was on his way to a reading enrichment lesson afterward to tackle adjectives, verbs, and compound sentences, he stuck to the linguistic basics as he finished his interview.

Does he plan on competing in PPK again next year?

“Yes.”