Jim Ward (1994) - Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame

Jim Ward

Induction:
1994
Class:
1962

When Coach Whitey Wilson and the Marshall golf team walked onto the Meadowview Golf Club in Kent, Ohio, for the 1962 Mid-American Conference Tournament, Ohio University was a big favorite to win its sixth consecutive MAC crown. Marshall senior Jim Ward and his teammates had a different idea. Ward won co-medalist honors with teammate Pete Byer and Marshall beat the Bobcats by two strokes to give the school its first MAC team title. By winning the MAC, Ward and his Marshall teammates were granted a berth in the NCAA Tournament at the Duke Golf Club in Durham, N.C., where Marshall finished 11th in the nation, the school’s best showing of all time. As a sophomore, the Huntington East High School product tied for second place in the West Virginia Open with the second highest score by an amateur. After graduation, Ward became a teacher in Huntington and continued a successful golf career. He won the West Virginia Amateur in 1964, the first time since 1941 that anyone other than Bill Campbell or Ed Tutwiler had won the event. Ward competed in the U.S. Amateur four times. He was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.