National Football Foundation

An accomplished official on both the high school and collegiate levels, Butch Lambert, Jr. followed in his father's footsteps as one of the profession's best. Lambert's officiating career began in 1969 as a field judge for high school football. From there, he served as a field judge on the junior college level from 1972-74, which included the officiating of two junior college All-Star games.

In 1974, Lambert's officiating career took off when he joined the Southeastern Conference. He officiated as a field judge for the first two years and then enjoyed a long 26-year career as an umpire. In this tenure, Lambert officiated 38 bowl games, 17 Blue-Gray All-Star games, 13 Senior

Bowls, one National Championship game (Oklahoma-Washington in January 1985) and one SEC Championship game. He also officiated one game with his father, the Auburn-Georgia Tech game in Atlanta in 1981.

"This award is a credit to all the people that I've officiated with throughout the years," Lambert said. "It's a tribute to the officials I've known and worked with, and I feel like it's a great honor for them as well as for my dad and me."

Extremely active on the collegiate scene, Lambert was the president of the Southeastern Conference Football Officials Association and was twice named a nominee for the Ed Dudley Award for excellence among SEC officials.

Off the field, Lambert is the president of Butch Lambert & Associations, LLC and has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of solid waste management including marketing, business development, negotiations, landfill and cell construction and project management. For 35 years he has learned extensive experience in public, community and media relations as well as government affairs at the local, state and regional levels.

A graduate of the University of Mississippi with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Lambert was an accomplished pitcher on the baseball team and received two professional contracts.

A member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Board, Lambert remains extremely active in his local community serving many organizations including the University of Mississippi Alumni Association, M-Club Alumni Association, Jackson Touchdown Club and the 32 Degree Master Masons.

He is also a past board member of the Central Mississippi Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.