Before game, high school remembers coach, 3 family members killed in fire

During a ceremony before Tuesday’s game against Bishop Gorman High School, the Spring Valley varsity boys basketball team vowed to leave a chair on the bench open in honor of their late Coach Abdul.

Abdusalem Adem, 43, also known as Abdul, was the patriarch of the Adem family who, with three other family members, died in an October house fire. He was also a longtime fixture on local basketball courts — including at Spring Valley High School, where he was an assistant coach.

The empty black folding chair stood where, less than a year ago, Adem stood, teaching young men to be the best versions of themselves on and off the court, his family and friends have said.

On Tuesday, his spot was decorated with old jerseys as Spring Valley celebrated his contributions to the Grizzlies basketball program.

Spring Valley Athletics Director Ryan Au called Abdul an integral part of the Spring Valley basketball family during a pre-tipoff announcement.

“This seat will represent Abdul’s dedication to our program and remind us that his spirit and energy can live on through those he has impacted,” Au said.

Abdul coached youth basketball for nearly 20 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Around 2019, he founded a travel Amateur Athletic Union team, Chosen Premier (formerly Chosen Few), for which his son Alijah Adem played as a founding member.

Eventually, Abdul Adem started coaching at Spring Valley, where Alijah Adem played as the varsity boys team’s point guard and captain before graduating earlier this year.

Alijah Adem is now a guard at Bowling Green State University, an NCAA Division I school in Ohio.

During the ceremony, Au also asked the audience to observe a moment of silence for 31 seconds — an homage to Alijah Adem’s old jersey number — to remember the lives of Abdul, Ibrahim, 48, Anaya, 7, and Aaliyah Adem, 6. The scorer table also displayed photos of Abdul Adem.

On the Grizzlies’ side, fans and students packed the stands. Scattered throughout the crowd were relatives of the Adem family, including Alijah, Abdul’s brothers Awet and Solo Adem, and Abdul’s youngest son, 5-year-old Amani, who escaped the fire with his mother, Senait.

Before the game, in which Spring Valley would lose 47-69, the boy laughed and jumped while relatives in the front middle bleachers appeared to hold back tears. Some exchanged hugs and handshakes when familiar faces passed.

Family members began trickling out of the gymnasium at the beginning of the first quarter.

One older woman wearing traditional Habesha attire clutched Awet’s arm and sobbed as he walked her out.

The Adems emigrated from Eritrea in the early 1990s, Awet Adem previously told the Review-Journal, and Abdusalem Adem was an important figure in the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities, a community leader said.

In an interview after the ceremony, Awet Adem told the Review-Journal what the tribute meant to his family.

“We lived in this gym for four years. It was our home,” he said. “We brought our kids here — our boys and our girls. The Spring Valley Athletics program allowed us to grow our program.”

Before Abdul Adem’s death, the brothers coached a competitive youth basketball team, Chosen Few. Awet Adem said he had paused the program, which typically hosts regular tournaments in the valley, for the rest of the year.

He said he was excited to start back up in 2025.

“Abdul cared about the kids, and it was not just basketball,” Awet Adem said. “It was important that the kids we coached had good grades and character. He also cared about the other coaches, the teachers, and the administration. He cared about Clark County. That is what tonight is about.”

“I feel good knowing that we have support at Spring Valley,” Alijah Adem said, speaking of his alma mater.

“They didn’t have to do this, so it shows what my dad meant to the program.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.