Doug Ward, who guided the Lord Botetourt football team to four straight winning seasons from 1982-85, died last week at the age of 82.
Ward coached the Cavaliers to a 30-11-1 record as head coach. In 1982 the Cavs were 7-2-1 and co-champions of the Blue Ridge District. In 1984 they went 10-2 and beat the state’s top-ranked Division II team, Laurel Park, 9-7, even though LB was playing with just 18 players. In ’85 LB was 7-3 and went unscored upon in the first seven games of the season.
Two of Ward’s former players are Tater Benson, who went on to play at Ferrum and later become head coach at LB, and Elton Toliver, LB’s all-time rushing leader and a standout at the University of Virginia.
“He was very old school,” said Benson. “He ran the wishbone and would pound it straight at you.”
Ward was born in Dickenson County and graduated from Ervinton High School. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in History from East Tennessee State University. He was also a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Ward left LB to become head coach at Orange County, and later was head coach at Nansemond River, a Group 5A school in Suffolk. Doug was a high school football coach and educator for over 30 years.
