Dallas Ward

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Dallas Ward

| image = Dallas Ward - Colorado.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Ward as head coach at Colorado

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|8|11}}

| birth_place = Lexington, Oregon, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1983|2|15|1906|8|11}}

| death_place = Boulder, Colorado, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1924–1926

| player_team1 = Oregon State

| player_positions = End

| coach_years1 = 1936–1941

| coach_team1 = Minnesota (assistant)

| coach_years2 = 1942

| coach_team2 = Iowa Pre-Flight (assistant)

| coach_years3 = 1945–1947

| coach_team3 = Minnesota (backfield)

| coach_years4 = 1948–1958

| coach_team4 = Colorado

| coach_years5 = 1962

| coach_team5 = Colorado (defense)

| overall_record = 63–41–6

| bowl_record = 1–0

| tournament_record =

| championships =

| awards =

Big Eight Coach of the Year (1956)

| coaching_records =

| module =

{{Infobox military person|embed=yes

|allegiance = {{USA}}

|branch = {{flag|United States Navy}}

|rank = 15px Commander

|battles = World War II

|unit = Training

|serviceyears =

|awards =

}}}}

Dallas Carl "Dal" Ward (August 11, 1906 – February 15, 1983) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 1948 to 1958, compiling a career record of {{nowrap|63–41–6}} in {{nowrap|eleven seasons.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SQAzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6OIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3588%2C3363108 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=UPI |title=Colorado fires head grid coach |date=January 23, 1959 |page=3B}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lVspAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HucDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6422%2C2698846 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Ward fired by Colorado in surprise |date=January 24, 1959 |page=8}}}} Over the course of the 1953 and 1954 seasons, Ward's Buffaloes won nine consecutive games.

Ward grew up in northeastern Oregon on a ranch near Lexington and played college football at Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis in the 1920s, where he started every game of his collegiate career.

Ward held membership in five honorary societies, including Phi Kappa Phi, and was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.{{cite web|url=http://www.coloradosports.org/themuseum.cfm |title=History |access-date=February 15, 2007 |publisher=Colorado Sports Hall of Fame |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301155121/http://www.coloradosports.org/themuseum.cfm |archive-date=March 1, 2007 }} The CU athletic administration center, located at the north end of Folsom Field, was named after him.{{cite web|url=http://www.colorado.edu/masterplan/plan/plan.cgi?3%264%26%261 |title=The Plan |access-date=September 23, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101044313/http://www.colorado.edu/masterplan/plan/plan.cgi?3&4&&1 |archive-date=November 1, 2007 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.colorado.edu/campusmap/map.html?bldg=DALW|title = Campus Map | University of Colorado Boulder}} 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&KEY=&ATCLID=188614 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120004509/http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&KEY=&ATCLID=188614 | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 20, 2015 | title=Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame | date=September 14, 2005 | access-date=February 15, 2007 | publisher=Oregon State University}} He earned eight varsity letters: three for football and twice each for baseball and basketball, and was a captain in all three sports.

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. In 1936, he joined the staff at the University of Minnesota as an assistant coach. During World War II, Ward 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 second (1938 Cotton Bowl being their first) bowl game, over Clemson, {{nowrap|27–21.}} After winning the season-ending bowl game, Ward was offered the head coaching positions at USC and Minnesota, but declined those offers, believing the next few years with the Buffaloes would be even better.{{cite web | url=http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/eclips/history/may25_2001.html | title=OSU Sports History Minute | publisher=Oregon State University Alumni Association | date=May 21, 2005 | access-date=February 15, 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405100039/http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/eclips/history/may25_2001.html | archive-date=April 5, 2007 }}

However, they did not turn out as hoped, and, on January 23, 1959, Ward was asked to resign by the university regents but refused. The regents reconsidered their actions, but amid many letters of protest mailed in, the original decision was kept and Ward was fired. Although no official reason was stated, it was widely believed Ward was relieved because of his inability to defeat Oklahoma; his career record against the Sooners {{nowrap|was 0–8–1,{{cite web|url=http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/big12/colorado/opponents_records.php?teamid%3D2384 |title=Colorado Game by Game against Opponents |access-date=September 23, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040520120906/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/big12/colorado/opponents_records.php?teamid=2384 |archive-date=May 20, 2004 }}}} with the tie in 1952 in Boulder in the season opener, earning him UPI Coach of the Week honors. He retired from coaching after his firing, then returned for one season in 1962, as a defensive coach on the staff of interim head coach Bud Davis.

Ward is credited with bringing the Colorado Buffaloes football program to national prominence in {{nowrap|the 1950s.{{cite web | url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~ormorrow/DallasWard.htm | title=Dallas Ward | author=Lucile Peck | publisher=Morrow County Historical Society | year=1991 | access-date=February 15, 2007}}}} 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 Jane and their five children remained in Boulder, where he died of cancer at age 76 in 1983.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ftBeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g-gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2476%2C2836867 |work=Lawrence Daily Journal-World |location=(Texas) |agency=Associated Press |title=Former Colorado football coach Ward dies at 76 |date=February 16, 1983 |page=21}}

Head coaching record

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = both }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Colorado Buffaloes

| conf = Big Seven / Big Eight Conference

| startyear = 1948

| endyear = 1958

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1948

| name = Colorado

| overall = 3–6

| conference = 2–3

| confstanding = 4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1949

| name = Colorado

| overall = 3–7

| conference = 1–4

| confstanding = 6th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1950

| name = Colorado

| overall = 5–4–1

| conference = 2–4

| confstanding = 6th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1951

| name = Colorado

| overall = 7–3

| conference = 5–1

| confstanding = 2nd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1952

| name = Colorado

| overall = 6–2–2

| conference = 2–2–2

| confstanding = T–4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1953

| name = Colorado

| overall = 6–4

| conference = 2–4

| confstanding = T–4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1954

| name = Colorado

| overall = 7–2–1

| conference = 3–2–1

| confstanding = T–3rd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1955

| name = Colorado

| overall = 6–4

| conference = 3–3

| confstanding = T–3rd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1956

| name = Colorado

| overall = 8–2–1

| conference = 4–1–1

| confstanding = 2nd

| bowlname = Orange

| bowloutcome = W

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = 18

| ranking2 = 20

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1957

| name = Colorado

| overall = 6–3–1

| conference = 3–3

| confstanding = T–3rd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1958

| name = Colorado

| overall = 6–4

| conference = 4–2

| confstanding = 3rd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Colorado

| overall = 63–41–6

| confrecord = 31–29–4

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record End

| overall = 63–41–6

| bowls = no

| poll = two

| polltype =

| legend = no

}}

References

External links

[http://www.coloradosports.org/index.php/who-s-in-the-hall/inductees/item/228-dallas-ward Colorado Sports Hall of Fame] – Dal Ward
{{Find a Grave|27151136}}

Category:1906 births

Category:1983 deaths

Category:American football ends

Category:Colorado Buffaloes football coaches

Category:Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football coaches

Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches

Category:Oregon State Beavers baseball players

Category:Oregon State Beavers football players

Category:Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players

Category:High school football coaches in Minnesota

Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II

Category:People from Morrow County, Oregon