Ward “Piggy” Lambert (1970 - 1970)

Basketball Pioneer, Coach. Purdue University basketball coaching great 1916-17 and 1918-1946. Considered the father of the “big man” and the “fast break” tactics, he compiled a 228-105 Big Ten record, winning titles in 1922, ’30, ’32, ’34, ’38 and ’40, and sharing them in 1921, ’26,’28, ’35 and ’36. He left basketball in 1955, and […]

Ward Bond (1903 - 1960)

Ward Bond Ward Bond was a football player at the University of Southern California when, together with teammate John Wayne, he was hired for extra work in the silent film Salute (1928), directed by John Ford. Both Bond and Wayne continued in films, but Bond never achieved the fame and notoriety that was afforded Wayne. […]

Ward Costello (1919 - 2009)

Actor. Born Edward Costello, Ward Costello worked on the stage, films and in numerous TV shows from the 1940s to 1980s. He began his career in 1946, appearing in the Broadway play “The Father”. For television, he starred in soap operas “Secret Storm”, “The Edge of Night”, “General Hospital” and had recurring roles on “The […]

Ward Kimball (1914 - 2002)

While Ward Kimball was a brilliant draftsman, he preferred to work on comical characters rather than realistic human designs. Animating came easily to him and he was constantly looking to do things differently. Because of this, Walt Disney called Ward a genius in the book The Story of Walt Disney. While there were many talented […]

Ward Lambert (1888 - 1958)

Ward Lambert was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1890, Lambert and his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He played basketball and baseball at Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College, both under coach Ralph Jones, who himself went on to coach Purdue. Despite his height (5’6″), Lambert led Wabash in scoring his sophomore year—leading to […]

Warde Donovan (1916 - 1988)

American Actor.  Born Warde F. Tatum, he appeared as an extra in several films for Paramount Pictures before enlisting in the Navy during World War II, rising in the ranks to become an officer. Following the war, he resumed his acting career and appeared in several television shows and series, including ‘Let There Be Stars’, […]

Warner Anderson (1911 - 1976)

Warner Anderson (March 10, 1911 – August 26, 1976) was an American actor. Anderson was born to “a theatrical family” in Brooklyn, New York, March 10, 1911. Anderson had a small part in a film in 1915. A contemporary newspaper article about the movie Sunbeam, in which Anderson appeared in 1917, noted, “Warner Anderson is one of […]

Warner Baxter (1889 - 1951)

Actor. He is best remembered for his role of the Cisco Kid in the early talking movie “In Old Arizona,” (1929) which won him an Oscar for Best Actor that same year. It was his only Oscar. He reprised the role twice, for the films “The Cisco Kid” (1931) and “The Return of the Cisco […]

Warner La Valle Jones, Jr (1916 - 1994)

Businessman. Served as director and chairman of Churchill Downs, home to the Kentucky Derby for over 50 years. Owned 1953 Derby winner, Dark Star, bred at his throrougbred operation, Hermitage Farm in Goshen, Kentucky.  (bio by: Mike Maloney)  Family links:  Spouse:  Harriet Seelbach Jones (1918 – 2003)* *Calculated relationship

Warren A. Bechtel (1872 - 1933)

Industrialist. Engineer. Founder of the international firm that bears his name.  Family links:  Spouse:  Clara Alice West Bechtel (1873 – 1941)*  Children:  Stephen Davison Bechtel (1900 – 1989)*  Kenneth Karl Bechtel (1904 – 1978)*  Alice Bechtel Eubanks (1912 – 1998)* *Calculated relationship

Warren Clarke (1947 - 2014)

Actor. He will perhaps be best known for playing ‘Dim’ in the controversial Stanley Kubrick film “A Clockwork Orange” (1971). After dropping out of school at the age of fifteen, he found a job as a copy boy at the Manchester News. He would develop an interest in acting and began performing in regional theater. […]

Warren Earl Burger (1907 - 1995)

Burger was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1907, and one of seven children. His parents, Katharine (née Schnittger) and Charles Joseph Burger, a traveling salesman and railroad cargo inspector, were of Swiss German descent. His grandfather, Joseph Burger, had emigrated from Switzerland and joined the Union Army when he was 14. Joseph Burger fought […]

Warren Edward Avis (1915 - 2007)

Business Magnate. In 1946 he opened the world’s first airport car rental location at Willow Run Airport, Detroit, with a grand total of three cars. He founded Avis Rent-a-Car with $10,000 of his own money and $75,000 borrowed against his name. He also introduced many innovative business practices, including national franchise licensing, corporate credit cars […]

Warren Giles (1896 - 1979)

Warren Giles was elected president of the Moline, Illinois, Plowboys baseball club in the Class B Three-I League at age 23 in 1919, beginning his 50-year career in baseball. He then joined the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization and rose to prominence as the president and business manager of their top-level farm teams, the Syracuse Stars (1926–27) […]

Warren L. Simmons (1927 - 2006)

Entrepreneur. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Simmons worked as a pilot for Pan American Airlines from 1950 until 1970. After Pan American, Simmons looked towards developing what at the time was an unsightly San Francisco waterfront. On October 4, 1978, after years of planning and pushing, Simmons officially opened San Francisco’s Pier […]

Warren Rudman (1930 - 2012)

From 2004 to 2006, Warren Rudman also led a team of attorneys that investigated accounting practices at Fannie Mae. Prior to the September 11 attacks, Rudman had served on a now oft-cited and praised national panel investigating the threat of international terrorism. He, along with fellow former Senator Gary Hart (D-CO), chaired the panel, and both […]

Warren Stevens (1919 - 2012)

Born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, Stevens began his acting career after serving in the United States Army Air Corps as a pilot during World War II. A founding member of The Actor’s Studio in New York, Warren Stevens received notice on Broadway in the late 1940s, and thereafter was offered a Hollywood contract at 20th […]

Warren William (1894 - 1948)

Warren William appeared in his first Broadway play in 1920, and had soon made a name for himself in New York. William appeared in 22 plays on Broadway between 1920 and 1931. During this period he also appeared in two silent films, The Town That Forgot God (1922) and Plunder (1923). William moved from New […]

Warrene Ott (1943 - 1995)

American motion-picture and television actress of the 1960s. Appeared in popular TV series such as “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Bewitched.” (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Children:  William John Rockwell (1969 – 1969)* *Calculated relationship

Washington Allston (1779 - 1843)

Artist,  Poet. After studying at Harvard, Allston was admitted to the Royal Academy in London. He practiced as a painter in Europe, where he met with great success and spent time with notable individuals like Washington Irving and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His wife died shortly after his first collection of poetry was published; a few […]

Washington Atlee Burpee (1858 - 1915)

Businessman. In 1876, the US was still recovering from the upheaval of the Civil War and a severe economic depression. Burpee’s boyhood hobby was poultry breeding and the science of genetics fascinated him. In 1888, he bought a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, called it Fordhook and began transforming it into what would soon become a […]

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944)

Russian-born Painter,  Theorist.  He is considered the father of abstract art.  Kandinsky believed that painting should be purely a form of personal expression rather than the depiction of recognizable subjects or ideas.  He compared the medium to music and referred to his works as “compositions”.  The kaleidoscopic bursts of dazzling color seen in his early […]

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944)

Russian-born Painter,  Theorist.  He is considered the father of abstract art.  Kandinsky believed that painting should be purely a form of personal expression rather than the depiction of recognizable subjects or ideas.  He compared the medium to music and referred to his works as “compositions”.  The kaleidoscopic bursts of dazzling color seen in his early […]

Wassily Leontief (1905 - 1999)

Wassily Leontief is credited with developing early contributions to input-output analysis and earned the Nobel Prize in Economics for his development of its associated theory. He has also made contributions in other areas of economics, such as international trade where he documented the Leontief paradox. He was also one of the first to establish the […]

Waxey Gordon (1888 - 1952)

Organized Crime Figure. Born Irving Wexler in New York City, New York’s Lower East Side, he became one of the most powerful Prohibition-era alcohol smugglers on the Eastern coast of the United States. His power ended when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. In 1951, Gordon was sentenced to twenty-five years in Alcatraz Prison in San […]

Wayde Preston (1929 - 1992)

Born William Erksine Strange in Denver, Colorado, Preston was reared in Laramie in southern Wyoming by his educator parents, John and Bernice Strange. Wayde Preston had two younger sisters, Joan and Mary. In 1947 he graduated from Laramie High School, where he was active in football, track, the school band and the Reserve Officer Training […]

Waylon Jennings (1937 - 2002)

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas, the seat of Lamb County, the son of Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley) and William Albert Jennings. His original birth name was Wayland, meaning land by the highway, but it was changed after a Baptist preacher visited Jennings’s parents and congratulated his mother for naming him after the Wayland Baptist […]

Wayman Crow (1808 - 1885)

Crow began an apprenticeship in a dry goods business at the age of 12. When the company expanded years later, Wayman was given control & interest in a new branch. After moving to St. Louis, Crow established a wholesale dry goods business known as Crow, Hargadine & Company. He was president of the Chamber of […]

Wayman Tisdale (1964 - 2009)

Wayman Tisdale graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he grew up. As a college player at the University of Oklahoma from 1982 to 1985, he was a three-time Big Eight Conference Player of the Year and the first player in collegiate history to be named a first-team All American by […]

Wayne Allwine (1947 - 2009)

Allwine was born in Glendale, California on February 7, 1947. In 1966, Allwine started work in the mailing room at the Disney studios, before working in the sound effects department under Jimmy MacDonald.  After auditioning for the role, Allwine became the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1977 until his death in 2009. He succeeded MacDonald, […]