Wabash College Athletics

Kent C. "Skeet" Lambert in many ways put Wabash on the athletic map during his days as an outstanding quarterback on Wabash's football teams of the early 1900s. Lambert came to Wabash from Crawfordsville in the fall of 1909, playing quarterback and kicker on the football team, and was one of the first football play­ers to utilize the forward pass.

Lambert had learned about Wabash from his brother, Wabash Hall of Farner and long-time Purdue basketball and baseball coach Ward "Piggy" Lambert. For three straight seasons the younger Lambert scored all of Wabash's points in football. Those were good years for Wabash, too, and the Little Giants, under Coach Jesse Harper and with Lambert calling the signals, combined for a four-year record of 15-9-2. Skeet helped Wabash go 4-0 and unscored upon during the 1910 season before Sap Wilson was killed in the game, forcing the remainder of the season to be canceled. The following year, Wabash nearly upset Notre Dame, but fell 6-3 in Crawfordsville.

Lambert was a versatile and talented player, who served as quarter­back, punter, and kicker, twice defeating Purdue in 1910 and 1911 by 3-0 scores thanks to perfectly executed drop kicks. He also quarterbacked the Little Giants to their largest win in history, a 102-0 win over Moores Hill College. Lambert was also a four-year letterman in basketball and was the captain of the 1913 Wabash baseball team. In all, Skeet earned a total of 12 letters at Wabash.

Lambert, however, became even more distinguished after his days at Wabash. During the dawning days of professional football in America, Lambert played pro­fessionally on a number of teams. He began his career with the Fort Wayne Friars in 1915, moving on to the Canton Bulldogs and team­mate Jim Thorpe. Lambert later replaced Gus Dorais, the dynamic' Notre Dame quarterback, as signal caller for the Massillon Tigers that won the 1916 World Championship. Coach Harper had developed Dorias passing talents with Knute Rockne at Notre Dame, but in the pro ranks, it was Lambert who teamed up with Rockne and played against Jim Thorpe for the '16 World title. Keith McClellan, long-time professional football historian, refers to Lambert "as one of the two best professional quarterbacks of his era."

Awarded the Wabash Col­lege Alumni Award of Merit in 1952, Lambert was a career military officer who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in action in France during World War I. He retired from the Army as a Colonel, having served in World War II and later as Headquarters Commandant at Fort Jay in New York. Married to Crawfordsville au­thor Janet Snyder, the Lamberts had one daughter, Jeanne Ann Vanderhoef.

Skeet died on December 14, 1982 at the age of 86.