Billy Joe Adcock was a basketball player for the Vanderbilt Commodores. A prominent forward, he was the first player to be awarded a basketball scholarship by the school. He was also the school's first All-American basketball selection, by the Sporting News in 1950. Adcock retired as Vanderbilt's all-time leading scorer. He attended West High School in Nashville, where he was a three-year letterman in football and baseball as well as basketball.

Adcock was born in Evansville, Indiana, but his family soon moved to Jackson, Tennessee.