Giving back to the school and the athletes

In the 13 years since he graduated from chiropractic school and returned to his hometown, Dr. Derek Lambert has been on the sidelines at all types of Denison High School sporting events, ready to attend to athletes when they get injured.

It is a way for him to give back to the school that gave so much to him when he was growing up.

On Friday, Lambert was notified by the Iowa High School Athletic Directors Association that he will receive the 2024 Sports Medicine Award of the Year for the State of Iowa.

He said he was honored and shocked when he learned of the award through an email from Superintendent Mike Pardun.

The date of the award presentation has not been decided yet.

Through the years, Lambert has gone to every football game, home and away. He is at the home basketball games, and he is there for the cross country and track and field meets. He has a dual role with the latter sport, as he works with the timing system.

He tries to make it to all the soccer games he can; he said it is a little difficult now that his children are getting older.

And he goes to every baseball and softball game that he can when he is not at his own children’s events.

He said being able to work with the athletes is rewarding.

“It’s a big part of what I’ve always wanted to do, to work with athletes,” Lambert explained. “I went to the University of Iowa for athletic training, so this gets me to back to those roots a little bit, and it is something different than what I do at my chiropractic office.”

His job is to find the best way for an athlete to heal, whether that’s through him or somebody else.

Being a medical professional at sporting events is kind of a Catch 22 situation, Lambert admitted.

“You want to be there for the kids, and I love sports, but you’re only working with the athletes when they are injured. That’s a tough part of the job, but it’s also the most rewarding because you are helping them in their time of need,” he said.

Lambert’s interest in sports medicine came from his own school experiences.

“Dr. (Steven) Oatman was on the sidelines, and Dr. (Lonnie) Pitts was another chiropractic mentor of mine as I was growing up, and they were involved in athletics, as was Dr. (John) Ingram. Just watching them, I knew this was something I wanted to do,” he said.

“When I graduated from the University of Iowa in athletic training and graduated from chiropractic school and came back to Denison, I spoke with the athletic director. From there I started showing up and helping at every event,” he continued.

Lambert had experience in athletic training long before that through his participation in baseball and football at Denison High School.

“But I was too short and couldn’t shoot well enough to play basketball, and that’s kind of where I got my start,” he said. “I went to an athletic training camp at Iowa State, and while I didn’t play basketball, I still wanted to be part of the team. So, I became a manager and an athletic trainer and taped players. I did that all four years in high school.”

Just as Lambert had mentors as he was growing up, he tries to be a mentor for anybody that wants to go into athletic training or any type of health care field.

“A lot of students have asked questions and/or have gone into chiropractic or athletic training,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s specifically because of me, but it’s been fun to work with the students, to answer their question and guide them to a career field that they might have questions about.”

Lambert enjoys being on the sidelines, but his attention is focused on something different than the average fan. He is always watching to see if an athlete gets injured.

“When you see how an injury happens, that’s 90% of telling you what’s wrong,” he explained. “If you can see the mechanism of injury, that’s going to aid you in finding the best solution or determining what’s wrong.”

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For Lambert, what he does is all for the student athletes and the school.

“It is fun being with the athletes and seeing them as they come up from a young age all the way through high school,” he said.

A lot of the athletes will call Lambert “Coach” even though he isn’t one.

“That is one of the more of the rewarding aspects, even though you’re not a coach or teacher, you still feel like you’re part of the team and helping out as much as you can,” Lambert said.

Lambert, who is also president of the school board, added that supporting the school is a big part of what he does.

“When I grew up, my mother was a single mom, raising two kids going through school, and all the people who volunteered around the school kind of helped grow me and helped my brother, Daren, so I’m just trying to give back to the school that gave to me,” he said.

He added, “It’s an honor to be recognized that maybe I’m doing some of that through giving back.”

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