Dallas Ward

Dallas Ward
Ward during his head coaching tenure at Colorado
Sport(s)	Football, basketball, baseball
Biographical details
Born	August 11, 1906(1906-08-11)
Place of birth	Lexington, Oregon
Died	February 1983
Place of death	Boulder, Colorado
Playing career
1924–1926	Oregon State
Position(s)	End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1936–1941 1945–1947 1948–1958	Minnesota (assistant) Minnesota (backfield) Colorado
Head coaching record
Overall	63–41–6
Bowls	1–0
Statistics
College Football Data Warehouse

Dallas "Dal" Ward (August 11, 1906 – February 1983) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1948 to 1958, compiling a career record of 63–41–6 in 11 seasons. Over the course of the 1953 and 1954 seasons, Ward's Colorado Buffaloes football teams won nine consecutive games. Ward grew up in Lexington, Oregon on a ranch and played college football at Oregon State University in the 1920s, where he started every game of his collegiate career.

Ward held membership in five honorary societies, including Phi Kappa Phi. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.^[1] The CU athletic administration center, located at the north end of Folsom Field, was named after him.^[2][3] As of 2007, Ward is one of only three multi-sport inductees in the hall of fame at Oregon State, where he was inducted in 1997.^[4] He earned eight vasity letters: three for football and twice each for baseball and basketball, and was a captain in all three sports.^[4]

Coaching career

After graduation from Oregon State, Ward taught in Minneapolis and became head coach at Marshall High in 1928, helped with a letter of recommendation written by Knute Rockne.^[4] In 1936, Ward joined the staff at the University of Minnesota as an assistant coach. During World War II, he served as officer-in-charge of physical and military training at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Dallas, Texas. After the war, he returned to Minnesota as backfield coach.

Ward became the head coach at Colorado in 1948, succeeding James J. Yeager. In his first two seasons, his teams won three games each for a 6–13 record, but those were his only losing seasons. Following the 1956 regular season, his team won the Orange Bowl, Colorado's first bowl game, over Clemson, 27–21. After winning the season-ending bowl game, Ward was offered the head coaching positions at the University of Southern California and the University of Minnesota, but declined those offers, believing the next few years with the Buffaloes would be even better.^[5] However, they did not turn out as hoped, and, on January 23, 1959, Ward was asked to resign by the university's Board of Regents but refused.^[5] The Regents reconsidered their actions, but amid many letters of protest mailed in, the original decision was kept and Ward was fired.^[5] Although no official reason was stated, it was widely believed Ward was relieved because of his inability to defeat the Oklahoma; his career record against the Sooners was 0–8–1.^[6] His 1952 team did tie Oklahoma, 21–21, in Boulder in the season opener, earning him UPI Coach of the Week honors.^[5] He retired from coaching after his firing.

Ward is credited with bringing the Colorado Buffaloes football program to national prominence in the 1950s.^[5][7] As of 2007, Ward is ranked third at Colorado in total number of games coached, fourth in total wins, and sixth in conference wins.

Later life and death

Ward had earned tenure as a CU faculty member in 1956. He chose to stay at Colorado and teach. He and his wife Jan and their five children remained in Boulder, Colorado where Ward died of cancer in February 1983.^[5]

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Colorado Buffaloes (Big Seven/Big Eight Conference) (1948–1958)
1948	Colorado	3–6	2–3	4th
1949	Colorado	3–7	1–4	6th
1950	Colorado	5–4–1	2–4	6th
1951	Colorado	7–3	5–1	2nd
1952	Colorado	6–2–2	2–2–2	T–4th
1953	Colorado	6–4	2–4	T–4th
1954	Colorado	7–2–1	3–2–1	T–3rd
1955	Colorado	6–4	3–3	T–3rd
1956	Colorado	8–2–1	4–1–1	2nd	W Orange	18	20
1957	Colorado	6–3–1	3–3	T–3rd
1958	Colorado	6–4	4–2	3rd
Colorado:		63–41–6	31–29–4
Total:		63–41–6
#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

References

1. ^ "History". Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. http://www.coloradosports.org/themuseum.cfm. Retrieved 2007-02-15. 
2. ^ http://www.colorado.edu/masterplan/plan/plan.cgi?3&4&&1
3. ^ http://www.colorado.edu/campusmap/map.html?bldg=DALW
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame". Oregon State University. 2005-09-14. http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&KEY=&ATCLID=188614. Retrieved 2007-02-15. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "OSU Sports History Minute". Oregon State University Alumni Association. 2005-05-21. http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/eclips/history/may25_2001.html. Retrieved 2007-02-15. 
6. ^ http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/big12/colorado/opponents_records.php?teamid=2384
7. ^ Lucile Peck (1991). "Dallas Ward". Morrow County Historical Society. http://www.rootsweb.com/~ormorrow/DallasWard.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-15. 

External links

• Dallas Ward at the College Football Data Warehouse

Persondata
Name	Ward, Dallas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 11, 1906
Place of birth	Lexington, Oregon
Date of death	February 1983
Place of death	Boulder, Colorado