Ward Lambert
Ward “Piggy” Lambert (1888-1958)
Teams coached: Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue record: 371-152 (.709)
Overall record: 371-152 (.709)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Big Ten Regular Season Champion: 11 (1921, 1922, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1940)
- Premo-Porretta National Championships: 1 (1932)
- Helms Foundation National Championships: 1 (1932)
Awards:
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 1960)
- National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1918-1946 | Purdue |
| 1916-1917 | Purdue |
Ward Lambert Facts
- Ward Louis Lambert
- Born May 28, 1888
- Died January 20, 1958
- Hometown: Crawfordsville, Indiana
- Alma Mater: Wabash College (BA, 1911)
- Born in South Dakota and raised in Indiana, played basketball and baseball at Crawfordsville HS (IN)
- Went on to play both (plus football) at Wabash College in Crawfordsville
- Started coaching in 1912 at Lebanon HS (IN), going 69-18 over four years
- Became the head basketball and baseball coach at Purdue in 1916, where he would work three decades
- Was 371-152 in 29 seasons on the hardwood, winning eleven Big Ten titles during his tenure
- His 1932 team was retroactively named national champion by the Helms Foundation
- Missed the 1917-18 season, as he was serving in the US Army for the end of World War I
- Retired from both coaching positions in 1946
- Served as Commissioner for the final three seasons of the National Basketball League (NBL), 1946-49
- Inducted into the Naismith HOF in 1960 and the inaugural 2006 class of the College Basketball HOF
- Indiana Basketball HOF (1962), Wabash Athletics HOF (1982) & Purdue Athletics HOF (1994)
Ward Lambert Coaching Tree
- Ray Eddy (Purdue)
- Blair Gullion (Washington MO, Connecticut, Cornell, Tennessee, Earlham)
- Jim Hinga (Ball State)
- Emmett Lowery (Tennessee, UW-River Falls)
- Doxie Moore (Milwaukee Hawks)
- John Sines (Tennessee, Lawrence)
- Mel Taube (Carleton, Purdue, UMass)
- Donald White (Rutgers, Connecticut, Washington MO)
- John Wooden (UCLA, Indiana State)
