Robert D. Ward (July 4, 1933 – June 28, 2021) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

strength and conditioning coach in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. He also was the

Fullerton College Fullerton College (FC) is a Public college, public community college in Fullerton, California. The college is part of the California Community Colleges System and the North Orange County Community College District. Established in 1913, it is the ...

head

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

coach. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Whitworth College Whitworth University is a Private university, private, Christianity, Christian university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1890, Whitworth enrolls nearly 3,000 students and offers more t ...

Early years

Ward was partially raised in an orphanage as a child. He attended Burbank High School where he was all-league in football and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. In football, he played quarterback. He accepted a football scholarship from

. As a senior, he was named to the NAIA Little All-American team. He also competed in

, in the events of

Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

Pole Vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

and

Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. He graduated with a degree in physical education in 1955. He earned master's degree at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1959.

Coaching career

College

Ward coached football and track in high school for six years. In 1965, he was hired as the head track coach at

Fullerton Junior College Fullerton College (FC) is a public community college in Fullerton, California. The college is part of the California Community Colleges System and the North Orange County Community College District. Established in 1913, it is the oldest communit ...

. He spent 11 years in that role, helping his teams win three straight conference championships and a state championship. He also coached

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

for three years, winning the Southern California Championship. In 1992, he was inducted into the Whitworth College Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Fullerton College Athletic Hall of Fame.

NFL

In the spring of

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, he was hired by the

as their new conditioning coach, replacing Alvin Roy, who left the organization to join

Hank Stram Henry Louis Stram (; January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005) was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NF ...

's coaching staff with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He was known for implementing a system of computer-driven analytics (ProTrain Computer Program), which enabled coaches to break down actual athletic movements rather than rely on statistics. He also devised equipment and a form of psycho-cybernetics by applying the tensile strength of surgical tubing to induce greater speed. He incorporated the mixed martial arts techniques of

Jeet Kune Do Jeet Kune Do is a primarily wing chun kung fu inspired eclectic martial arts philosophy heavily influenced and adapted by the Taoist personal life philosophy and experiences of martial artist Bruce Lee. Overview and philosophy Jeet Kune ...

in training routines, which was created by the legendary martial artist

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

, in order to improve the quickness of the Cowboy players. In 1989, he was let go from the team and replaced with Mike Woicik, with the arrival of new head coach Jimmy Johnson. Ward's Cowboy teams compiled a 124-72 record that included ten winning seasons and one

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

. In 2003, he was inducted into the Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame.

Personal life

His brother

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, was the first

graduate to play in the NFL (

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

). In 1971, he received his Doctorate in Physical Education from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

. He served as a member of the United States Olympic Committee in Track and Field. In 1986, he co-founded the National Association of Speed and Explosion. After the NFL, he developed a Computer Graphic Player Analysis. He served as the Director of Sports Science and Nutrition for Mannatech from 1995 to 2001. He was the Director of Sports Sciences for AdvoCare from 2001 to 2007. Ward co-authored the books ''Sport Speed'' (1988), ''Encyclopedia of Weight Training: Weight Training for General Conditioning, Sport and Body Building'' (1997) and ''Building the Perfect Star: Changing the Trajectory of Sports and the People in Them'' (2015). In addition, he began competing in

Masters athletics Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups (which promotes fair comp ...

track and field events, being named the

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

Masters World Champion in the Weight Pentathlon in 1998 and 2004. He was named the USATF Masters Field Athlete of the Year in 2002. He also held six World Records for Weight and

Hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

, for ages 70 to 74. In 2008, he was inducted into the

USATF Masters Hall of Fame The USATF Masters Hall of Fame is the Masters section of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. It is intended to select worthy athletes from the various divisions of Masters athletics involved in the sports of track and field, road running an ...

. Ward died of natural causes on June 28, 2021.

References

External links

The late Dallas Cowboys strength coach leaves quite a legacy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Bob 1933 births 2021 deaths American strength and conditioning coaches Whitworth Pirates football players Dallas Cowboys coaches College track and field coaches in the United States University of Washington alumni Indiana University alumni People from Huntington Park, California Players of American football from Burbank, California Track and field athletes from California