Alumni

SPORTS | AHEAD OF THE GAME

Answering the Call
Lake Forest sports announcer Derek Lambert ’03 keeps taking his involvement with the College to new levels.

By Dan Shalin

Derek Lambert '03 overlooks Farwell Field, where his game calls sometimes "push the enveloe a little and make [Sports Information Director] Mike Wajerski sweat a little," he says. (Photo by Joel Lerner)

Derek Lambert ’03 was in his early 20s and without a college degree when he was hired as a printing press operator at Lake Forest College in 1994.

It was the beginning of a relationship that has served both parties extremely well.

Lambert, 36, has been here ever since, as an employee, student, and a resident; he and wife, Kate, and their two children live on South Campus. Over the years, he has become increasingly valuable to the school and quite visible on campus.

Those who don’t recognize Lambert’s face likely know his voice because he is the public address announcer for Forester football and hockey. Since 1999, Lambert’s calls have boomed across Farwell Field and in the Alumni Memorial Field House with an announcing style that is, he admits, a bit partial to the home team. “I give it a little home cookin’,” he says.

But his devotion to the College is understandable considering his experience on campus over the past 12 years. “They are going to have to bury me at this place. Lake Forest has done so much for me and allowed me to do so much,” says Lambert, who recently left his longtime post as mail services supervisor for his new job as the associate director of annual giving in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.

Ten months after he was hired, Lambert took charge of the mailroom, which he described as “a disaster” before his arrival. But over the next 11 years he built a legacy in mail services, at Lake Forest, and beyond.

The Gurnee native implemented new procedures and technology that increased mailroom efficiency, and spoke at national conferences and via a CD-ROM. He has also been published multiple times in Mailing Systems Technology magazine. “He took mail services to a whole other level for perhaps all of higher education,” says Leslie Chapman ’79, vice president of business affairs and Lambert’s longtime boss.

There was a major reason Lambert remained at Lake Forest—the students. Most years, he had at least 24 of them working for him in the mailroom. Lambert was their boss, mentor, and friend.

Sociology sophomore Kate Witt, who has worked in the mailroom for two years, says Lambert regularly gave her advice and literature about a field of study she was thinking of pursuing. “He could tell if someone was having a problem, and he was very in-tune with the feelings of everyone who worked there,” she says.

Lambert, who was honored with the 2003 Robert V. Tarr award for his contribution to Lake Forest students, employees, and faculty, called the mailroom “a brotherhood” and a “melting pot.” “We had several races and nationalities,” he says. “We also brought together groups of students that normally wouldn’t be brought together. Like the bookish kid would be running with the athletes, and they would all have a great old time.”

During his tenure in mailroom, Lambert was also going to class. Told by his family that “people like us don’t go to college,” Lambert eventually found a way to balance classes with his job. It took more than seven years, but he received his bachelor’s degree after majoring in history and minoring in comparative religion. Lambert then got his master’s degree in educational leadership at DePaul University, where his thesis was awarded distinction.

These days, Lambert tells his story during lectures to middle school students, many of them first-generation Americans without a family history of higher education. “I tell them that if I can do it, anybody can,” he says.

All of Lambert’s education, however, does not seem to help him with the pronunciation of lengthy names in his role as announcer for Forester athletics. “People have grown to expect me to butcher names,” he says. “But I figure that if I say them with enough confidence, you can’t always tell.”

This past season, Lake Forest soccer players requested that Lambert announce one of their games. Lambert’s wife and kids are also regulars at Foresters games. “His daughter [Megan, 11] sang the national anthem before a football game and Kate and Megan are staples at softball games, always sitting behind home plate,” says Karen Hermann, associate athletic director.

The Lamberts’ son Andy, 13, has also benefited from the family’s association with Forester sports. A middle school wrestler, Andy recently got athletic advice from sophomore Tim Paulsen, who was an Illinois high school state wrestling champion before becoming a football player at Lake Forest. “[Paulsen] starts talking to my son and they just clicked,” the elder Lambert says. “Where else does a 13-year-old have a chance talk to a state wrestling champ?”

Opportunities such as those make Lambert eager to give back to the College. In addition to his professional and announcing duties, Lambert serves on numerous faculty committees and advises the student radio station that he helped to revive. 

“I’m not as stupid as I once thought I was,” he says. “I like it here with the kids at Lake Forest and I want to continue to immerse myself in the campus culture.”

Dan Shalin is a writer based in Evanston, Illinois.