FLASHBACK Ferdinand Adams, also known as Cassis as he was called at Anderlecht, passed away on Christmas Day 1985. He was 82 years old and was Anderlecht's first true goal scorer and football star. He scored an average of 0.86 goals per match: 245 times in 284 games.
As a child, he would already come to watch Anderlecht: he waited for hours before the match to meet the players, slipped in among them to carry a sports bag or something similar, and thus managed to get in for free.
As a player, he was known for his powerful, dry volley. He was less skilled at receiving and controlling the ball; he simply blasted it straight at goal. And he was excellent at that. This partly explained his nickname: Kas, Brussels dialect for goal.
Furthermore, his mother called him Ciske because he resembled his cousin a lot. Ciske + Kas became Cassis. Adams suffered many injuries during his career but always wanted to return faster than prescribed. This eventually led to several operations. Still, he continued playing until he was thirty and also experienced the 1930 World Cup in Montevideo. Among others, he played alongside future chairman Constant Vanden Stock.
He never made a ‘big' transfer; that was uncommon at the time. Both Tienen and Racing Paris tried, but were unsuccessful. After his playing career, Cassis became a coach at clubs including Leuven and later again Anderlecht in a dual role. It was remarkable that he started at Leuven because at that time, a player was not allowed to leave a club before the age of 35, even as a coach. Anderlecht, however, explicitly gave permission to their first true star player.
Source: © Internal source
In a flashback article, we look back in time at an important event for the club or a former player.
