Booster in Okla. Grid Scandal Called a Felon

The University of Oklahoma booster who was banned from associating with the school’s football program in the wake of a three-year NCAA probation is a convicted felon, according to a published report.

The Daily Oklahoman reported in today’s editions that William E. Lambert, president of H.T.S. Oilfield Services Inc. in Lindsay, had served time in federal prison for possessing stolen stock certificates.

Lambert was convicted in 1969 for possession of $300,000 worth of stolen stock certificates, the Oklahoman reported. The certificates were part of $15 million in securities stolen from a New York airport a year earlier.

Lambert told the newspaper he was not the same person convicted of that crime, but a comparison of the Social Security number Lambert has used in his oilfield business matched the number of the man sent to prison.

Court files indicate Lambert was in federal prisons at Texarkana, Tex., and Springfield, Mo., the newspaper said, at least until 1971.

Dan Gibbens, the school’s faculty representative, and Athletic Director Donnie Duncan said they were unaware of Lambert’s record.

Summer Job Allegations

The NCAA placed Oklahoma on three years’ probation last month. Among the alleged violations was one that some football players had received money from summer jobs without doing the work.

Lambert was ordered to disassociate from Oklahoma’s athletic programs for five years after the NCAA found he had provided a recruit with free use of a car and $6,400 for work the recruit never performed.

Lambert said he employed 10 to 15 Sooner players and assistants per year for 15 years.

He said Oklahoma officials, on their own volition, asked him to stop hiring football players around 1984 or 1985, according to the Oklahoman.