Brand-new BU graduate Sam Adams first met Bill Cosby 16 years ago, when he was a guest on Cosby’s series Kids Say the Darndest Things, which ran from January 1998 to June 2000. Adams was asked to do something fitting for someone sharing a name with one of the heroes of the American Revolution. Cosby (Hon.’14) took Adams (CAS’14) to Bunker Hill, where the TV star instructed the six-year-old to fire a cannon at men marching toward them dressed in the red uniforms of Colonial-era British soldiers.

On Sunday, thanks to some help from Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (SED’87), Adams met up again with Cosby, who was at Commencement to receive an honorary degree, and the two had a chance to reminisce about the Bunker Hill shoot. Adams says Cosby had a good recollection of the day, and had one question for him: was the cannon rigged?

As a matter fact, recalls Adams, he was told to light the cannon, but he wasn’t given a match until it was too late and the redcoats were upon them. Cosby told Adams he would have to surrender, so he did, telling the British that they “could keep” the colonies.

Adams, who grew up in Boston and worked in the Red Sox operations department while he was a BU student, says he will continue in that job, and plans to apply to law school.

Did the TV episode have any influence on his life decisions? Well, Adams says, he did major in international relations.

Watch a YouTube video of Sam Adams’ 1998 appearance on Kids Say the Darndest Things.