FEATURE-Soccer-Adams not forgotten after 25 years in coma

By Etienne Ballerini

NICE, France, May 9 (Reuters) - French soccer fans who were around in the 1970s will always remember Marius Tresor and Jean-Pierre Adams as the famous "Black Guard" at the heart of the national team's defence.

While Tresor is now a member of the staff of Ligue 1 side Girondins Bordeaux, Adams has been in a coma for 25 years after a knee operation that went wrong in 1982.

His two sons, Laurent and Frederic, symbolically kicked off a recent league match between Nice and Auxerre in a tribute to their father.

"Jean-Pierre Adams, one of us," read a giant banner held up that day by the Nice fans to make clear they would never forget a player who graced their club from 1973 to 1977, helping them to win the French title in 1976.

"This sort of gesture reminds us that the members of the football family have not forgotten our father and all he did for the clubs he played for," Laurent, who was 12 when the tragedy occurred, told Reuters.

Adams's wife, Bernadette, has been looking after her husband every day for a quarter of a century at the couple's home outside Nimes, where Laurent and Frederic grew up.

"This is a terrible drama and a painful memory for all those who love football," said Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez, who often met Adams on the pitches of France when both were professional players.

"He was a great player and a great person."