Football
Favorite athlete: Luke Kuechly
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite sports memory: Mercy ruling West this year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Last year I had taken a lot of water during a timeout, and on the next play, I got the ball and got hit so hard that I jumped up, ran off the field, and threw up all over the sideline
Music on iPod: I'll listen to just about anything as long as it's not Country
Future Plans: Continue my football career in college
Words to live by: "Win every play, every day"
One goal before turning 30: I would like to have started my career and my family by the time I'm 30
One thing people don’t know about me: I'm an avid Harry Potter fan
By GORDON GLANTZ
To the naked eye, a quick scan of past honorees of the Maxwell Club’s Jim Henry Award would indicate it was based solely on football ability, as the list includes past and present NFL players such as Shawn Wooden and Dan Conner.
However, according the Maxwell Club’s website, the award’s namesake insisted the criteria be based on “academics as well as contributions to school and community.”
In other words, it takes a rare breed of student-athlete.
It takes someone like Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week Jack Lamb, a nominee for the prestigious award.
Among the qualities setting Lamb apart is leadership ability so intense that he was elected as a team captain as a junior.
That same year, due to injuries, the standout linebacker – with some game experience at fullback and tight end – was thrown into the fire at quarterback for the duration of the season and remained under center as a senior.
He did that while also playing the other side of the ball at middle linebacker.
Lamb fits the other criteria as a top-notch student, exemplified by his 3.8 GPA while being a member of the National Honor Society, and active in groups like Athletes Helping Athletes.
Despite missing part of the offseason recovering from Tommy John surgery from a lacrosse injury, Lamb -- and fellow captains Alex Gibson and Columbia-commit Lamine Nouck-A-Nwal – were guiding lights.
“It was definitely different, working with the team all offseason,” said Lamb. “It was good for the team, I think, already knowing they had some leadership in me and Alex. It definitely helped us have the success we had.”
As far as individual success, Lamb finished his career with 243 tackles, including 38.5 for a loss. That earned him first-team all-league honors this year and second-team last year.
As a duel-threat quarterback, he had 900 yards of total offense and nine touchdowns as a junior. This past season, going wire-to-wire – except missing one game with a sprained ankle – he was close to 1,400 yards in total offense with 15 touchdowns. That effort earned him third-team all-league honors.
But the numbers, and honors, pale in comparison to what he has meant to the program since his freshman year.
“I could talk about Jack as a person and player for hours,” said CB East coach John Donnelly. “What he meant to our team as a two-year captain, from a leadership standpoint, is immeasurable. His will to win, competitive drive and positive attitude had a ripple effect on our team.
“He overcame injury and displayed an unselfish ‘team first’ mentality when we needed him to become our quarterback in his junior season in an emergency situation, which turned out to be permanent. Even as a freshman, you could see the kind of qualities he possessed that we point to as the cornerstones of our program.”
Season to Remember
Now reflecting back on a career that ended in the first round of the District One playoffs with a one-point loss to Quakertown, which came a week after the Patriots bested the Panthers by the same narrow margin, Lamb sees a highlight as the day he and Gibson were elected as junior captains.
“We were team-elected, so that was pretty special,” he said, adding that he fully understood and accepted the responsibility.
That carried over to this season, as he and Gibson shared the captain title with Nouck-A-Nwal and the team enjoyed on-field success that resulted in an 8-3 mark and a playoff berth.
The year to remember was kick-started with a landmark win over Pennridge.
“It was like, ‘We can do this,’ he said.
The Patriots not only beat Pennridge and also topped CB South but mercy-ruled long-time tormenter CB West.
“It wasn’t just one person,” said Lamb. “That’s why we did as well as we did this year.”
“I’m a lead-by-example type, but I’m extremely vocal when needed. All three of us played off each other really well. We were told that we were the best three captains ever. I’ll take that as a compliment. One thing different that this team had was chemistry.
“I don’t see it as just one person having a will to in. Wins hadn’t come that easy for us the last few seasons. This team had a different mindset.”
Lamb, who missed five games as a sophomore with a sprained ankle, sprained his ankle against Council Rock South but gritted it out and finished the game.
The next week, against William Tennent, he tested it in warm-ups and decided he didn’t want to hurt his team.
“I decided on my own,” he said, adding that he shifted gears to being an “unofficial coach” on the sidelines.
He was proud of the way the team pulled together in his absence and won, but he confesses to being miserable.
“It was horrible,” he said. “I had missed enough time as a sophomore to last me a lifetime.”
The worst feeling was yet to come, though. That was when the season ended. Although he had drawn serious interest to play at the next level – the finalists are Lafayette, Colgate and Lehigh – it was a bit surreal when it all ended.
While Lamb understands that the only teams that end their seasons with wins are teams that didn’t make the postseason or state champions, that fact – and knowing he will play again in college – did not ease the immediate pain.
“It was intense, both ways,” he said. “It was a little bit bittersweet.
“At first, it was a shock, losing by a point and realizing it was the last time I was going to strap the pads on in high school,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words. We did something special this year, and we have so much to be proud of.”
Number 45
Although he went into the season as the starting quarterback, Lamb insisted on keeping his “linebacker number” – 45.
“I get a lot of comments about that, but I consider myself a linebacker first,” he said, adding that his size – 5-11, 205 – would leave him out of quarterback equation at the next level.
“I’m not tall enough to play quarterback in college,” he said. “I’m 5-11. I’m not quite six-feet. I can’t quite seem to cross that border.”
But Lamb had the ideal size to bring a linebacker’s mentality to the quarterback position.
“I like to think so,” he said. “There are not a lot of quarterbacks who choose to run over someone than around them. I like to run more than pass. If it’s there, it’s there. I’ll tuck it and run.”
Which brings us back to his status as a rare breed.
He took over as the starting quarterback as a junior when the first two quarterbacks went down but was limited to cameo appearances at linebacker because he was the last resort at quarterback.
Considering he never took a snap at quarterback until eighth grade, Lamb admits that he never would have expected to be the varsity starter – especially while also playing middle linebacker, which was the case this past season.
Quarterbacks rarely play defense, let alone line up at the epicenter of it.
“It’s been an interesting experience,” he said. “If you would have told me that was going to happen, back in my freshman year, I would have said, ‘Get out of the room. You have got to be kidding.’ I always worked out with the quarterbacks. Last year, the injuries just lined up and I got thrown into a game and stayed there ever since.”
In his DNA
A college football player also studying chemistry is nothing new in the Lamb family.
His dad, Scott, played linebacker at Delaware and is now a chemical engineer. His grandfather, Bob Lamb, played tight end at North Carolina and was a biochemist who was a professor at his alma mater.
The oldest of four, Jack will be carrying the gene to the next level. Depending on the athletic interests of his 5-year-old brother Jamie, this could mark the end of the line – at least until the next generation.
Kevin Lamb, 15, plays three sports at Germantown Academy, but not football. His sister – Kera, 12 – is all about soccer. No telling yet what will be for the youngest, Jamie, who is 5.
Lamb’s cousin, Ryan Lamb, plays lacrosse at Virginia.
Jack knows he can’t go wrong, academically, with any of his final three choices. It’s a matter of finding the right football fit. His parents remain supportive, with his mother, Mary, providing words of encouragement.
“I’ve been up to all the campuses,” said Lamb, who hopes to make his choice by mid-January. “It’s just a matter of where I see myself best. My mom says, ‘You’ll end up where you are supposed to end up.’ I’m just going to give it time and figure it out.”
Just like he knows he needed a support system to lead the Patriots to new heights on the field, Lamb knows he could not have become the complete package worthy of the Jim Henry Award with a support system.
The list begins with his parents.
“They have always tried to have my back,” he said. “At the same time, they are the first to tell me what I did wrong. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”
He also needs to give a shout-out to his personal trainer, Brandon Hughes, who helped him come back from the Tommy John surgery in April and will be guiding him through workouts to get ready for college football.
It was not an easy period, and Hughes was there every step of the way.
“I still had to ease myself back,” he said, adding that he could not begin full training until the middle of June.
“It set me back a little, but I worked extremely hard to get back to where I was.”
He always wants to thank everyone involved with Athletes Helping Athletes, which helped him maintain perspective while joining other high school students motivating special needs athletes from the age of 3 to their forties in sports.
“I thought it would be a neat experience and it has been,” he said. “I have had an awesome time, being able to help out and let them have fun that way.”
And then there are coaches, like offensive line coach, Jason Knite, who was with this group of seniors since middle school.
“He has been with us since seventh grade,” said Lamb. “He has moved up with us and has been a huge part of everything.”
And there is the head coach.
“Coach Donnelly has had a huge impact on the team, and on me,” he said.
That’s interesting, since Donnelly feels the same way about Lamb.
“Jack Lamb has played a lot of great football for CB East over the last four years, and he has willed us to victory many times,” he said. “Perhaps the greatest gift he gave to us is the gold standard model and example that our underclassmen can look up to and work toward being like Jack. If our underclassmen embody what Jack has shown over the last four years, Jack will help our program consistently win moving forward. That is a legacy he can be proud of, even more so than all of his stats and accolades.”
