Adam began his career in Koblenz at the age of 16 and by the age of 20, having made himself a career in a post office, he played in the Dresden sports club as a colleague of Helmut Schoen.
He began to play for Kaiserslautern, displacing Willi Hoelz at the first opportunity he got at the beginning of the 1950–51 season.
However, he started making mistakes at the end of the season, compounded further by problems in the defence.
Following a good result on the last day of the season, Adam was thrust immediately into the Germany national team.
Adam finished his football career in 1955 after a recurring knee injury stopped him from playing.