Obituaries:  Ralph O. Ward, Sabine Parish       W-630
Source:  Sabine Index, Many, La., Dec 12, 1985
Submitted by: Carl Dilbeck
              carlrad@earthlink.net




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Ralph O. Ward

  Funeral services were planned for Wednesday, Dec. 4, for Ralph
O. Ward, who coached McNeese State University's basketball team
to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
championship in 1955-56.

  Ward, whose McNeese teams also won six conference titles during
his tenure from 1952 through 1971, died Monday, Dec. 2, at a
hospital in Lake Charles. He was 63 years old.

  A native of Jena, Ward coached Many High School to the class A
championship in 1948, and then entered collegiate coaching,
serving as assistant at Arkansas and Oklahoma State, before
joining the McNeese Staff in 1952. After his retirement, he
coached a team of 13 yr. old girls out of Fairview High School,
to the national Little Dribblers championship.

  He subsequently was inducted into the Louisiana Basketball
Coaches and McNeese State University halls of fame.

  The funeral was at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 4, in the Hixson
Funeral Home in Lake Charles. Rev. Carl Hudson of the First
Baptist Church of Natchitoches, and Monsignor Harry Benefield,
officiated the ceremony. Burial was at 2 p.m., in Ft. Jesup
Cemetery in Many.

  Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Margorie Tramel Ward; his
mother, Mrs. I. E. Ward of Natchitoches; and one sister, Mrs. J.
T. Coleman of Benton.

  Pallbearers included former McNeese Basketball players, Edd
Green, Sonny Watkins, Slyde Briley, Dick Miller, Toddy Moore,
Jerry Dolan, and Ted Chapman.