Oscar Lambert

Lambert was born in Pennsboro, West Virginia in 1890.Registration Card completed by Oscar Parmenas Lambert, dated May 25, 1917, at the University of Michigan, listing date of birth as October 25, 1890, and place of birth as Pennsboro, W. Va. Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Registration Location: Ritchie County, West Virginia; Roll: 1992963; Draft Board: 0. He was the son of Isaac H. Lambert (born May 1847) and Mary A. Lambert (born March 1853). At the time of the 1900 Census, Lambert was living with his parents and two older brothers on a farm in Clay, West Virginia.Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Clay, Ritchie, West Virginia; Roll: T623_1772; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 85. In 1910, he was living in Clay, West Virginia, with his mother and one older brother (a brakeman for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad).Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Clay, Ritchie, West Virginia; Roll: T624_1693; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0066; Image: 775; FHL Number: 1375706.

File:Oscar Lambert (1913).png

Lambert attended West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Between 1912 and 1914, he played first base for the school's baseball team and center for the football team. College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Greasy Neale was Lambert's teammate on the West Virginia Wesleyan football and baseball teams.{{cite news|title=Georgia Wins Double-Header: Defeats the West Virginia Wesleyan Nine 10 to 9 and 7 to 0 -- Clements' Hitting Was Feature|newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution|date=April 2, 1914}}{{cite news|title=WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN SCORED 103 POINTS|newspaper=The Sun, Baltimore, MD|date=November 3, 1912|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1761527432.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+03,+1912&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=WEST+VIRGINIA+WESLEYAN+SCORED+103+POINTS&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629070207/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1761527432.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+03,+1912&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=WEST+VIRGINIA+WESLEYAN+SCORED+103+POINTS&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2011}}{{cite news|title=Broaddus Loses to the Wesleyan Team|newspaper=The Gazette Times|date=October 13, 1912|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eCdRAAAAIBAJ&pg=4565,1107166&dq=lambert+wesleyan&hl=en}}(Lambert scored a touchdown on a fumble by Broaddus College){{cite news|title=Wesleyan College Beats Marshall|newspaper=The Sun, Baltimore, Md.|date=November 18, 1912|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1652951072.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+18,+1912&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=Wesleyan+College+Beats+Marshall&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629070218/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1652951072.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+18,+1912&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=Wesleyan+College+Beats+Marshall&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2011}}

In 1912, the West Virginia Wesleyan football team, with Lambert and Neale in the lineup, compiled a perfect 8–0 record and outscored opponents 380 to 14. Seven of the eight games were shutouts, including a 59–0 victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd, a 103–0 victory over Davis & Elkins College, and a 95–0 victory over Fairmont State. The only team to score on the 1912 Wesleyan team was West Virginia, a game Wesleyan won by a score of 19–14.{{cite web|title=West Virginia Wesleyan Yearly Results|publisher=College Football Date Warehouse|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ii/wviac/west_virginia_wesleyan/yearly_results.php?year=1910|access-date=2011-03-10|archive-date=2010-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213105919/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ii/wviac/west_virginia_wesleyan/yearly_results.php?year=1910|url-status=dead}}

At the end of the 1912 season, Lambert was elected as the captain of the 1913 team.{{cite news|title=Captains Chosen By Football Teammates|newspaper=Anaconda Standard (Montana)|date=January 26, 1913}}{{cite news|title=Will Lead Eleven Against Georgetown: Capt. Lambert|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 6, 1913}} In 1913, the Wesleyan team defeated West Virginia (21–0), Marshall (13-0) and Georgetown (16–6), but lost games against college football powerhouses, including a Carlisle Indians team coached by Pop Warner and a Washington & Jefferson Presidents that was ranked as one of the new "Big 4 of College Football."{{cite book| first= E. Lee| last= North| title = Battling the Indians, Panthers, and Nittany Lions: The Story of Washington & Jefferson College's First Century of Football, 1890-1990|publisher = Daring Books| year = 1991 |pages=62–74|isbn = 978-1-878302-03-8}}

There are some sources indicating that Lambert may have also played football for Marshall College and West Virginia. A September 1915 article in The Sun of Baltimore noted that "Paddie Lambert, the old Marshall College star, has made himself solid at centre" for the West Virginia Mountaineers.{{cite news|title=SATISFIED WITH TEAM:West Virginia Coaches Groom Eleven For First Game; THE SEASON OPENS THIS WEEK; Southerns Will Tackle University Of Pennsylvania Saturday On Franklin Field|newspaper=The Sun, Baltimore, Md.|date=September 19, 1915|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1755438802.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+19,+1915&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=SATISFIED+WITH+TEAM&pqatl=google|access-date=July 7, 2017|archive-date=November 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105223041/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1755438802.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+19,+1915&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=SATISFIED+WITH+TEAM&pqatl=google|url-status=dead}} Additionally, West Virginia's list of football letterman indicates that Oscar Lambert from Charleston, West Virginia played at center for the Mountaineers in 1915.{{cite web|title=2010 West Virginia Football Guide|publisher=University of West Virginia|year=2010|page=193|url=http://issuu.com/wvusportspub/docs/2010fb-issuu/search?q=lambert}} Further, the roster for the 1917 Michigan Wolverines football team refers to Lambert as having previously attended Marshall College.{{cite web|title=1917 Roster|publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=http://141.211.39.65/allroster/FMPro?-DB=allrost.fp5&-Format=fbresult.htm&-SortField=name&-SortOrder=Ascend&year=1917&-max=170&-Find|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819230429/http://141.211.39.65/allroster/FMPro?-DB=allrost.fp5&-Format=fbresult.htm&-SortField=name&-SortOrder=Ascend&year=1917&-max=170&-Find|archive-date=2010-08-19}}

Lambert may have also played baseball in the Cleveland Amateur Association League for a portion of the summer of 1916, before returning to West Virginia in mid-June.{{cite news|title=To Play for Cleveland Nine|newspaper=The Sun, Baltimore, MD|date=June 18, 1916|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1769922492.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+18,+1916&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=To+Play+For+Cleveland+Nine&pqatl=google|access-date=July 7, 2017|archive-date=November 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105223026/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1769922492.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+18,+1916&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=To+Play+For+Cleveland+Nine&pqatl=google|url-status=dead}}("Paddie Lambert, another varsity star, has gone to his home in Pennsboro to spend several days before going to the southern part of the state to reside for the summer.")

After attending college in West Virginia, Lambert attended the University of Michigan Law School. He was president of the law school class of 1919.{{cite book|year=1918|title=Michiganensian|page=249|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;q1=lambert;rgn=full%20text;idno=AAG4364.1918.001;didno=AAG4364.1918.001;view=image;seq=00000257}} Lambert was often referred to by the nickname "Paddy" while attending Michigan.{{cite book|title=The Wolverines, A Story of Michigan Football|url=https://archive.org/details/wolverinesstoryo0000perr|url-access=registration|author=Will Perry|year=1974|page=[https://archive.org/details/wolverinesstoryo0000perr/page/91 91]|publisher=Strode Publishers|isbn=9780873970556 }}("Michigan, however, played without its superb quarterback "Beak" Weston, named to Walter Eckersall's first team All-American, and center "Paddy" Lambert, on Eckersall's second team of all-Americans."){{cite news|title=On Ferry Field with the Yostmen|newspaper=Chimes|author=James Hume|date=October 1921|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BviAAAAMAAJ}}("Added to this is Yost's own ability for developing linemen. In his years here Michigan has had such men as "Germany" Schulz, the greatest of them all; "Al" Benbrook, "Paddy" Lambert, and countless others."){{cite news|title=Coach Yost Returns for Football Banquet|newspaper=The Michigan Alumnus|date=April 1919|page=459|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ph3iAAAAMAAJ}}("'Paddy' Lambert, student member of the board"){{cite book|title=Michiganensian|year=1919|page=636|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;q1=paddy%20lambert;rgn=full%20text;idno=aag4364.1919.001;didno=aag4364.1919.001;view=image;seq=00000642}}(referring to Lambert as "Paddy" Lambert)

With Lambert's enrollment at Michigan, the press anticipated that he would play for Fielding H. Yost's Michigan Wolverines football team. The Boston Evening Transcript wrote about the prospects for Michigan's 1915 football team: "It will be necessary to develop a new centre, and for this post there is Lambert, a new-comer to Ann Arbor from Wesleyan University of West Virginia, where he made an enviable reputation."{{cite news|title=Would Meet Harvard Again: Michigan Hopes for a Place on Crimson's 1915 Schedule -- Prospects for Next Year Very Bright|newspaper=Boston Evening Transcript|date=November 21, 1914}} Although he played for Michigan's All-Freshman team in 1915, Lambert did not play varsity football at Michigan until 1917.

At the start of the 1917 football season, Michigan's football coach, Fielding H. Yost, had only four veterans returning from the 1916 team. He found Lambert among the university's law students. The Michigan Alumnus noted: "He dug up Lambert and made him report."{{cite news|title=The Final Result|newspaper=The Michigan Alumnus|date=Dec 1917|page=191}} Another press report noted that Lambert, who had played on the All-Freshman team in 1915, was a surprise addition to the team in mid-October: "Lambert played at West Virginia several years ago and was a member of the All-Fresh in 1915. He did not play on the varsity this fall and has been in a uniform only a little over a week. He is light, but an accurate passer and a fighter."{{cite news|title= Michigan Eleven To Play Detroit|newspaper=Racine Journal-News|date=October 17, 1917}} Lambert was reportedly the lightest man on the 1917 Michigan Wolverines football team at 160 pounds.{{cite news|publisher=The Michigan Alumnus|date=November 1917|page=119|title=Prospects for Later Games}}

Yost did not play Lambert until the season's fourth game against the University of Detroit on October 17, 1917. Lambert had a strong showing in his first game for Michigan. The University of Michigan yearbook reported on his performance against Detroit: "The West Virginian managed to make about 50 percent of the tackles and would have made more but for the fact that the rest of the players got jealous and started to work."1918 Michiganensian, p. 282. The same publication noted that Michigan's game with Cornell (a 42–0 win) found "Weston [Michigan's quarterback) and Lambert feeling like the historical million dollars."1918 Michiganensian, p. 284. The Detroit Free Press credited Lambert with "opening inviting holes" for Michigan's backs in the Cornell game.{{cite news|title=Wolverine's Run Over Cornellian Eleven, 42 to 0|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=November 11, 1917|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/freep/access/1778399702.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+11%2C+1917&author=&pub=Detroit+Free+Press+(1858-1922)&desc=Wolverine%27s+Run+Over+Cornellian+Eleven%2C+42+to+0&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131214950/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/freep/access/1778399702.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+11,+1917&author=&pub=Detroit+Free+Press+(1858-1922)&desc=Wolverine's+Run+Over+Cornellian+Eleven,+42+to+0&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013}}

Prior to the final game of the 1917 season against Northwestern, Lambert, Archie Weston and two other Michigan players were declared ineligible. In Lambert's case, the ruling was due to a Western Conference rule limiting players to three years of varsity sport, which Lambert had used while at West Virginia Wesleyan.{{cite news|title=Michigan Is Given A Blow|newspaper=The Toledo News-Bee|date=November 23, 1917|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fTFYAAAAIBAJ&pg=2251,2382982&dq=lambert+michigan&hl=en}} The Michiganensian noted: "Several little matters, like Conference rules and studies, kept several Michiganders out of the Northwestern fray ... It was decided that Lambert had played enough football, although he was ranking high in his studies." The Michigan Alumnus noted: "Since Weston had gained about 75 percent of the ground gained by Michigan this fall, and Lambert had secured nearly 90 percent of the tackles made by the defense, the loss of these men was a serious blow."{{cite news|newspaper=The Michigan Alumnus|date=Dec 1917|page=193|title=Northwestern 21; Michigan 12}} On losing to Northwestern without Lambert in the lineup, Coach Yost complained that "the defense was in the law library."

At the end of the 1917 football season, Lambert was selected as a second-team All-American by Walter Eckersall of the Chicago Tribune.{{cite news|title="All" Teams Picked By Walter Eckersall|publisher=Lincoln Daily Star|date=1917-12-16}} Eckersall also placed Lambert on his All-Western team.1918 Michiganensian, p. 285.

While attending Michigan, Lambert was also a member of the Griffins,1918 Michiganensian, p. 365. the Archons,1918 Michiganensian, p. 368. the Barristers,{{cite book|title=Michiganensian|year=1919|page=628|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;q1=lambert;rgn=full%20text;idno=AAG4364.1919.001;didno=AAG4364.1919.001;view=image;seq=00000634}} Sigma Chi,1919 Michiganensian, p. 678. Phi Delta Phi,1919 Michiganensian, p. 718. and Michigamua.{{cite news|title=Michigamua Elections|newspaper=The Michigan Alumnus|date=May 1918|page=460|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vk9YAAAAMAAJ}} He was also chosen to serve as a student member of the university's Board in Control of Athletics for the year 1918–19.{{cite news|title=Regents Meeting|newspaper=The Michigan Alumnus|date=August 1918|page=639|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vk9YAAAAMAAJ}}

After graduating from Michigan, Lambert practiced law in Ohio. At the time of the 1930 Census, he was living in Youngstown, Ohio and working as an attorney for a steel corporation.Census entry for Oscar P. Lambert, age 39, born in West Virginia. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio; Roll: 1842; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 6; Image: 751.0. In his later years, Lambert lived and practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio. In his draft registration card completed following the U.S. entry into World War II, Lambert indicated that he was living in Cleveland and self-employed.Draft registration card completed by Oscar Parmenas Lambert, born October 25, 1890, at Pennsboro, West Virginia. Ancestry.com. U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; State Headquarters: Ohio. Lambert never married and died in 1970 at St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland; he was a resident of Lakewood, Ohio at the time of his death.Death record for Oscar P. Lambert. Certificate: 041800; Volume: 20098. Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 [database on-line].

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Category:American football centers

Category:Michigan Wolverines football players

Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni

Category:Ohio lawyers

Category:People from Clay, West Virginia

Category:People from Lakewood, Ohio

Category:People from Pennsboro, West Virginia

Category:Players of American football from West Virginia

Category:West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats football players

Category:1890 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:People from Youngstown, Ohio

Category:20th-century American lawyers