Dallas Ward
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| Dallas Ward during his head coaching period at Colorado. | ||
| Date of birth | August 11, 1906 | |
|---|---|---|
| Date of death | February 1983 | |
| Sport | football | |
| Title | Former Head coach | |
| Overall Record | 63-41-6 | |
| Bowl Record | 1-0 | |
| Awards | UPI Coach of the Week in 1951 | |
| Coaching Stats | College Football DataWarehouse | |
| School as a player | ||
| 1925-27 | Oregon State | |
| Position | End | |
| Coaching positions | ||
| 1948-58 | Colorado | |
Dallas "Dal" Ward (b. August 11, 1906, d. August, 1983) was the head football coach of the Colorado Buffaloes from 1948 to 1958. His career record is 63-41-6 (.606). From 1953 to 1954, he established a personal best 9 game winning streak. He played college football at Oregon State, and started every game of his collegiate career there.
He has held membership in five honorary societies, including Phi Kappa Phi. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.[1] The athletic administration center for the University of Colorado at Boulder was named after him in the 1990s. He is one of only three (as of 2007) multi-sport hall-of-fame inductees at Oregon State and was inducted in 1997.[2] In addition to lettering three times for football, he lettered twice for baseball and basketball each.[2]
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[edit] Career
In 1927, Ward taught in Minneapolis and became head coach at Marshall High in 1928 with a letter of recommendation written by Knute Rockne.[2] In 1936, Ward joined the staff at 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.
[edit] Coaching
Ward became the head coach at Colorado after James J. Yeager in 1948. In his first two seasons, he had a 6-13 record, but those were his only losing seasons. In 1956, his team won the Orange Bowl with a 27-21 win over Clemson — Colorado's first bowl game. After winning the season ending bowl game, Ward was offered the head coaching positions at the University of Southern California (USC) and University of Minnesota but he declined all offers thinking the next few years at Colorado would be better than the recent season.[3] However, they did not turn out as expected and on January 23, 1959 Ward was asked to resign by the university's Board of Regents but refused.[3] The Regents reconsidered their actions, but amid many letters of protest mailed in, the original decision was kept and Ward was fired.[3] He had a terrible career record against Oklahoma, and although no official reason was stated, it is believe he was fired because he could not beat Oklahoma. However, he did provide the only non-winning game against Oklahoma during his 10 year coaching span in 1951 with a 21-21 tie which earned him UPI Coach of the Week honors.[3] He retired from coaching after being fired.
Ward is credited with bringing Colorado football to a National level.[3][4] As of 2007 at Colorado, he is third for total number of games coached, 4th in total wins and 6th in total conference wins.
[edit] Coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl Game | Bowl Opponent | Outcome | Rank# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Buffaloes (Big Seven Conference) (1948 — 1957) | ||||||||
| 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 | Orange Bowl | Clemson | W, 27-21 | 18th |
| 1957 | Colorado | 6-3-1 | 3-3 | t-3rd | ||||
| Colorado Buffaloes (Big Eight Conference) (1958) | ||||||||
| 1958 | Colorado | 6-4 | 4-2 | 3rd | ||||
| At Colorado: | 63-41-6 (.606) | 31-29-4 (.517) | ||||||
| Career: | 63-41-6 (.606) | |||||||
| National Championship Conference Title | ||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | ||||||||
[edit] After coaching
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.[3]
[edit] External link
- University of Colorado Photos of Dallas Ward
[edit] References
- ^ History. Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ a b c Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame. Oregon State University (2005-09-14). Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ a b c d e f OSU Sports History Minute. Oregon State University Alumni Association (2005-05-21). Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ Lucile Peck (1991). Dallas Ward. Morrow County Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
| Preceded by James J. Yeager |
University of Colorado Head Football Coach 1948–1958 |
Succeeded by Sonny Grandelius |
