Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams helps renovate childhood home for grandmother

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Davante Adams, wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders helped renovate his grandmother’s house for season three of television show Secret Celebrity Renovation.

8newsnow.com anchor Kirsten Joyce tagged along for the special shoot in California and had the chance to sit down with Adams; to discuss the renovation and what it means to him to have his grandmother watch him as a Las Vegas Raider.

“The first time she got to watch me as a Vegas Raider, I’m not going to lie, I was thinking about it a lot the day before and leading up to the game,” he recalled. “Thank God when the game started I was able to focus on it, but it’s a great feeling. You know I spent almost a decade in Green Bay, but I wasn’t able to have most of my family let alone her, out there; but to come almost back home and be able to have her out there, that was a very special moment for me.”

The house where Adams grew up and where his grandmother lives, is in East Palo Alto. The home belongs to his grandmother, Betty Adams.

She proudly displays a Raiders Way sign above the front door.

When his parents separated, at age five; Davante and his dad moved in with his grandparents.

“She raised all of her kids in here, and a lot of my cousins, obviously uncles, we all were here; seven, eight people at any given time, living in this house, in a three-bedroom small house,” he recalled.

Adams and his grandma were each other’s number one fan, but he shared that he has another name for her, “I call my grandma, baby. One of my cousins growing up when he was young tried to say Betty, but he said baby and that’s how it started,” he added.

When Adams got the call asking who he would like to do a surprise secret celebrity renovation for, he didn’t skip a beat.

“This whole community is supportive of my family, it’s a tight-knit community. Everybody has been out here saying hello,” he told 8newsnow.com. “They all know the way she is in the church community everybody knows the Adam’s family, and now they’ll know it’s a little spicier inside this house now, than when I was growing up here.”

Adams went on to say, “They definitely didn’t want to move. I would love to have done something even bigger for them, but my grandma and grandpa are the type of people who say I don’t want you to do anything for me.”

Adams also described what the unique opportunity would mean to his grandmother.

“For CBS to approach me with this opportunity it was literally like it was written for this to go down the way it did, so once she sees what it looks like, and everything is done, she is going to lose it.”

For several weeks, work crews got down to business.

The television show’s host, Nischelle Turner said there were definitely challenges while working at the house, and that Davante was a big help.

“He’s a guy that’s been 10 years in the league, done a lot and had a lot of opportunity,” she said. “But this meant more to him, he was in there jackhammering, laying tile, putting his sweat into it, all to be able to present it with love, an expression of his love, that meant a lot.”

Turner also explained why the episode was special for her as well.

“I am a lifelong football fan, a Kansas City Chiefs fan, sorry Raiders! I love Davante,” she expressed. “I think he’s such a talent, and getting to know him as a person was special. And he’s an amazing guy, loves his family so much, his grandmother was amazing, it’s just an amazing episode.”

Their task was to renovate the den, living room, dining room, and kitchen.

Turner also said that she thinks Grandma Betty’s favorite room will be the kitchen.

“The big deal we wanted to do was make a kitchen that she would thrive in because that’s what Davante said is that she loves to cook,” she said. “We wanted her kitchen to be suitable for the queen that she is.”

For Adams, it’s the den, a place that he spent a lot of time growing up in.

“I love being a Raider, I grew up a Raiders fan. The den in the house is one of my favorite rooms because it was basically my bedroom,” he expressed. “With different memorabilia pieces in there now, and for me to look now and see my Raiders jersey in there is definitely a special feeling.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.