Running for Lex: The heartbeat behind Oscar Adaway's game

It’s the night before South Carolina’s 2025 home opener. For Gamecock running back Oscar Adaway III, sleep doesn’t come easily. But it’s not pregame nerves keeping him awake. For the past two years, football has been his escape as he copes with a pain that has weighed on him and his family relentlessly.

September 10, 2023. Three days had passed since Alexia “Lex” Adaway, Oscar III’s older sister, last spoke with her family. For someone who never let a day go by without checking in, the silence was unsettling. Lex, a Range Control Safety Inspector with the Arkansas Army National Guard, was the kind of person who always picked up her phone. Her sudden silence immediately raised concern with their father.

“After we got back to Arkansas from Oscar’s game in Florida, I rushed over to her apartment,” recalled Oscar Jr. “The doors were locked, and the dog inside was barking loudly.”

Overwhelmed with fear, he considered breaking down the door — until a neighbor helped him find an unlocked window.

“I went through the window and ended up on her couch. I immediately noticed that her bedroom door was shut. When I opened it, I saw Lex lying in her bed motionless. It’s one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Alexia Adaway had died by suicide. She was just 23 years old.

“Shortly after they carried my baby away, one of the detectives came over to me,” Oscar Jr. said. “They told me that they had found a letter on Lex’s iPhone.”

The screen was stained with dried blood.

Oscar Jr. took a deep breath and composed himself. With his mind racing, he began to read the final note his daughter had left behind.

“Daddy, I love you and my mom so much,” Lex wrote in the letter that was discovered on her iPhone lock screen. “Grandma and papa, too… I owe y’all everything and more. (I don’t know) how to repay you, but I’ll (for sure) watch over you and my mama. I love my brothers, too.”

After breaking the news to his wife, Michelle, and his mother, Lola, Oscar Jr. was left with one call he wished he’d never have to make. The weight in his chest grew heavier as he thought of his son, Oscar III, nearly 300 miles away in North Texas — unaware that his world was about to change.

With no way to soften the blow, Oscar Jr. called North Texas running backs coach Patrick Cobbs to assist him in delivering the news in person to his son.

“We were off that day (for football),” said Oscar III. “My dad called and asked if Coach Cobbs had talked to me. I told him he hadn’t.”

Oscar III assumed it was good news — maybe encouragement, or word from an NFL scout. But when Cobbs arrived, he asked him to sit down.

“He told me that Lex had passed away… and that my dad had found her,” said Oscar III. “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to.”

Born just nine months apart, Oscar and Lex were inseparable.

“They were yin and yang,” said Oscar Jr. “When you saw one of them, you were going to see the other. They were very, very close.”

Just six days after Lex’s body was found, Oscar III took the field against Louisiana Tech, carrying a heavy heart and an even heavier loss. On the very first play that he touched the ball, he caught a pass for 11 yards.

“It was important for me to play because I wanted to let Lex know I’m going to do this for her,” said Oscar III. “She was only able to come to one of my college games. But knowing now that she was going to be able to watch every single one moving forward — from the best seat in the house — I kept telling myself, we’re going to show out for her.”

Oscar III didn’t miss a single game that season. He finished the year with a career-high 738 rushing yards and seven total touchdowns. In the final two weeks of the season, he ran for over 100 yards in back-to-back games, moving him into fifth place all-time in North Texas history.

A new beginning

Following the 2023 season — just three months after his sister’s passing — Oscar III made the difficult decision to enter the transfer portal. At the time, it was one of the hardest choices he’d ever faced.

“At North Texas, they were family,” said Oscar III. “They helped me through not only everything I was going through with Lex’s passing, but I also formed some special bonds — even with the fanbase. Denton, Texas, is where I became a man.”

But that offseason brought a long list of changes to the Mean Green program. A wave of teammates entered the portal. The locker room he once leaned on started to feel unfamiliar.

“Even my roommate, Ja’Mori Maclin, transferred to Kentucky,” said Oscar III. “There were a lot of changes going on. It was tough.”

Not long after, then–South Carolina running backs coach Montario Hardesty reached out. For Oscar Jr., whose family was still healing, the decision wasn’t just about football — it was about finding a village.

“When we flew out to visit South Carolina, I told Coach (Shane) Beamer that I needed to find (Oscar III) a place to live,” said Oscar Jr. “I told him that we’re not here for all the pictures and all this other stuff that takes place on these official visits. I need to know who my son will be around and where he’ll be staying. That’s all I’m concerned about.”

Beamer gave him his word.

Days later, Oscar III had a new home in Columbia with the Gamecocks. With this new chapter came a renewed promise: to carry on Lex’s legacy.

“As kids, Lex and I had big dreams,” said Oscar III. “We always talked about how one day we’d both be playing sports professionally. With this opportunity to play in a bigger league like the SEC, I saw it as a chance to finish the promise I made to my sister — chasing that dream of one day playing in the NFL.”

With Lex in mind

This Wednesday will mark two years since Lex’s body was discovered. Since her passing, Oscar III has continued to find quiet ways to honor his sister every single day.

In his kitchen, a photo of Lex rests on top of the fridge, while her celebration of life flyer is pinned to the side. When he leaves for practice or games, she’s with him then too — in spirit and in the driver’s seat.

Through NIL, the Garnet Trust provided him a 2022 Dodge Charger R/T — but Oscar III gave it back.

“He called me and said Dad, can you send me Lex’s car?” said Oscar Jr. “I want to drive my big sister’s car.”

Without hesitation, Oscar Jr. had Lex’s 2021 Nissan Maxima SV brought from Arkansas to South Carolina. The glove compartment still holds her makeup and perfume — untouched since the last time she drove it in 2023.

“I wanted her car because it was the last thing she left behind,” said Oscar III. “I told the Garnet Trust they could have the Charger back. I just want Lex’s car — because that’s a part of her.”

Oscar III has even given the car a name — Lucy — the same nickname he used for his sister.

Honoring his older sister has always shown up on the field. Just this past weekend, against South Carolina State, in the third quarter, Oscar III plowed into the end zone on a five-yard touchdown run. As he got up, he formed letters with his hands — a silent tribute to Lex.

“When I score, I pray for all my loved ones who’ve passed away,” said Oscar III. “I tell them, I miss y’all. I love y’all. Keep watching over me. I’m in the end zone because of you. But when Lex passed, that was my twin flame. So after I pray, I throw the ‘LLL’ up with my hands. That stands for Long Live Lex.”

It takes a village

Though Lex’s memory is never far from Oscar III’s mind, only a handful of South Carolina staff members and teammates truly understand the weight he and his family have carried over the past two years.

Ahead of the 2025 season, the Adaway family was introduced — through a mutual connection — to former South Carolina quarterback Ryan Hilinski and his parents, Mark and Kim. As many Gamecock fans know, the Hilinskis founded Hilinski’s Hope in 2018 after their son Tyler, a quarterback at Washington State University, died by suicide.

“To have someone like Ryan who knows what I’ve been through — it’s been big,” said Oscar III. “A lot of the questions I’ve had about my sister, he’s had about his brother. The biggest thing he told me was to keep playing for her and continue her legacy. He told me to keep praying, keep talking to her, and to remember the good times.”

Now in his final collegiate season, Oscar III continues to carry the torch for his sister — while also becoming the greatest source of strength for his father.

“From January of 2024 to where we are today, my mind has been on football — not on the pain of not having my baby around,” said Oscar Jr. “My son has helped lighten the burden I carry every single day. And it seems like something new keeps happening every month — Oscar being elected Chair of the SEC Football Leadership Council, starting at running back for South Carolina, being named a captain against SC State. I’ve leaned on my son more than he’s leaned on me. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

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