Dale Lamberth didn’t set out to become a basketball coach. The Annapolis native was living in Takoma Park in 1983 when he was literally “thrown into” coaching.
“A good friend that I played pickup ball with was working with kids at Takoma Park Boy and Girls Club and needed a ninth grade coach,” Lamberth said. “I had no aspirations whatsoever to get into coaching, but I agreed to help out this friend.”
That friend was the late Lee Jordan, who at the time served as Director of the Takoma Park Boys and Girls Club. “When Lee asked you do to something, you said okay,” Lamberth said.
It didn’t take long for Lamberth to realize how rewarding coaching, and mentoring, could be.
“I grew close with a ninth grader who was very talented, but had issues at home and was struggling in school,” Lamberth said. “I just felt like I had to do something to help that young man.”
From such humble beginnings was borne a legendary high school boys’ basketball coach in the state of Maryland. Lamberth, a 1973 graduate of Annapolis High, has been head coach at Thomas Stone High in Charles County since 2001. He has led the Cougars to the state semifinals five times and this past season accomplished a major milestone.
On February 28, Lamberth led Thomas Stone past Great Mills in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference championship game and earned his 400th career victory in the process.
“I didn’t really have time to reflect on it at the time because, you know, it’s on to the next game,” Lamberth said. “Now that the season is over, I’m just now sitting back and appreciating that achievement. Four hundred is a lot of wins and I’m very grateful to all the people that helped make that happen.”
Lamberth broke into the high school coaching ranks while serving as the truancy officer at Montgomery-Blair High. He coached the junior varsity for a few years until succeeding Dave Skaggs as varsity head coach.
Lamberth spent seven seasons at Montgomery-Blair and had several outstanding players during that time, including Maryland All-American 2000 NBA Rookie of the Year Steve Francis. Another standout was David Vanterpool, who starred at St. Bonaventure and played briefly for the Washington Wizards during a 12-year professional career.
A vast majority of Lamberth’s wins have come during his 18-year tenure at Thomas Stone and they include such collegiate standouts as Aubin Reeves (Slippery Rock), Stefan Battle (Florida Southern), Michael Briscoe (Bowie) and Kendall Smith (Bloomsburg). Lamberth feels blessed to have also coached his two sons – Jourdan (Davis & Elkins) and Darell (Anne Arundel Community College).
“I’ve had great assistant coaches along the way and I can’t say enough about all the men who invested their time into our program,” Lamberth said. “I’ve also had great principals and athletic directors. Having tremendous support makes the job of coaching a lot easier.”
Lamberth played basketball at Annapolis High for the legendary Al Laramore, describing himself as a “gangly” 6-foot-3 small forward. He and classmates Angelo Wells, Charles James and Tommy James led the Panthers into the state semifinals, where they lost to Bladensburg.
Annapolis captured the Class AA state championship in 1974 with the likes of Henry Downs, Kevin Slade, Kenny Kirby and Gilbert Allen leading the way.
“We like to tease those 1974 guys by telling them that we opened the door in 1973,” said Lamberth, who went to play at York College in Pennsylvania along with Tommy James and Kenny Kirby.
Lamberth did not hesitate when asked if he has incorporated what he learned under Laramore into his own coaching style.
“Absolutely, Big Al definitely had an influence. He didn’t like a whole lot of fancy stuff like behind-the-back passes or finger roll layups. He always preached the fundamentals,” Lamberth said. “One thing I do remember about Big Al was the discipline he instilled in all his players. I had a lot of respect for Coach Laramore and I took a lot of his philosophies and incorporated them into my own style.”
Lamberth said he grew up idolizing Leslie Stanton, a 1970 Annapolis High graduate who would become a highly respected community leader. The 63-year-old Bowie resident called Downs and Slade “two of the best athletes I ever saw” and said they pushed him to become a better basketball player.
Lamberth still teaches Life Skills and Career Development at Thomas Stone and has no plans to retire from coaching any time soon. He has led the Cougars to three SMAC championships and into the state finals three times (2008, 2010 and 2012).
HONORING DAFFY: C. Mason “Daffy” Russell truly was the father of lacrosse in the greater Annapolis area.
Russell, who was a legendary athlete, founded the Annapolis High boys’ lacrosse program while still an undergraduate in 1929. According to oral history, Russell was a player-coach for the Panthers in those years.
Russell, a goalie who reportedly played lacrosse until the age of 43, also played an important role in the development of the St. Mary’s High boys’ lacrosse program. When St. Mary’s opened in 1947, Russell worked part-time as a teacher and helped Ed Coughlin coach the school’s first lacrosse team.
Russell went to work full-time at St. Mary’s in 1967 after retiring as shipping and receiving supervisor at the Naval Academy. He served as head lacrosse coach, assistant football coach and eventually athletic director before retiring in 1980.
In 1973, the C. Mason “Daffy” Russell Trophy was established in order to recognize the winner of the annual intra-city rivalry game between Annapolis and St. Mary’s. A photograph that appeared in The Capital announcing the new trophy showed Russell and Annapolis High head coach Dave Roberts posed along with their respective captains – Steve Carroll for the Saints and Dick Duden for the Panthers.
Eddie Dentz, who helped put together a book detailing the history of St. Mary’s High lacrosse, stumbled upon that photo while doing research through The Capital newspaper archives. The lifelong Annapolis resident wondered what ever happened to the C. Mason “Daffy” Russell Trophy, which had not been seen nor heard of for years.
On a whim, Dentz called St. Mary’s physical education teacher Brad Best and asked if he could try to locate the long-lost piece of hardware. Sure enough, hidden in the back of a trophy case in a hallway at St. Mary’s was the C. Mason “Daffy” Russell Trophy, which apparently had been collecting dust since 1976.
An inspection of the trophy showed it had been engraved with St. Mary’s as the winner in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976. There has not been a winner engraved ever since.
“I never knew there was a trophy for that game. When I played at St. Mary’s the annual game against Annapolis was a big deal, but there was no talk about a trophy,” said Dentz, a goalkeeper at the private Catholic school in the late 1980s.
Now that it has been located and recovered, the C. Mason “Daffy” Russell Trophy will once again be presented to the winner of the St. Mary’s-Annapolis boys’ lacrosse game when the rivalry resumes next Wednesday at Pascal Field off Bestgate Road.
“Daffy Russell belongs to both schools and both boys’ lacrosse programs,” Dentz said. “I think it’s very appropriate to reestablish this trophy in honor of Daffy while recognizing the history of this great rivalry.”
There is an odd twist to this story. In 1990, the Touchdown Club of Annapolis commissioned a new” C. Mason “Daffy” Russell Trophy for annual presentation to the Annapolis-St. Mary’s winner. Someone must have remembered there had once been such a trophy and the Touchdown Club agreed to pay for a replacement.
“We felt that in keeping with all that Daffy has done for lacrosse in Annapolis and the state… we couldn’t think of anybody who was more involved in this rivalry than Daffy,” said Mike Busch, a Touchdown Club member and fledgling state delegate at the time. “We thought it would be fitting for the tradition of the game for the Touchdown Club to sponsor this trophy.”
Accompanying an article about the “new” Russell Trophy was a photo of Busch and Touchdown Club president Dick Duden (yes, the former Annapolis High captain) along with St. Mary’s head coach Jim Moorhead and Annapolis counterpart Dan Hart.
So the original Russell Trophy that debuted in 1973 has been found, but now no one has any idea what has become of the “replacement” trophy that was unveiled in 1990.
NAVY BOXING: Congratulations are in order for the Navy boxing team, which captured the national championship earlier this month.
Junior Sophie Lekas captured her second straight national championship at 119 pounds as the Midshipmen claimed the National Collegiate Boxing Association crown. Junior Ally Annick earned the 132-pound individual title and was named “Most Outstanding Boxer” of the tournament, held April 4-6 in Reno, Nevada.
Seniors Zoe Wang (112 pounds) and Alivia Roskovich (156) also came away as champs as Navy upset archrival Army, the defending national champion.
Navy took third place in the NCBA Championships for men with freshman Biron McNeely capturing the individual title at 185 pounds. Junior Tanner Strawbridge was runner-up at 132 pounds while sophomore Jack Jeon finished second at 147 pounds.
