Al Lambert

Although little known, Al Lambert is one of the most distinguished of USA Olympians, and the reason the 1904 Olympics had a golf tournament. Lambert played in the 1900 Olympic golf event in Compiègne, France, finishing eighth. When plans were being made for the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Lambert and his father-in-law, Col. George McGrew, were instrumental in bringing golf to their own Glen Echo Country Club. Lambert, a left-handed golfer, played again and made it to the quarter-finals individually in addition to playing on the second-place team. Lambert’s most notable achievement in golf was winning the 1907 Missouri Amateur. He played in the US Amateur in 1903 and 1905, losing in the first round both times.

In 1896, Lambert had taken over the family business, the Lambert Pharmacal Co. This later became Warner-Lambert, which marketed Listerine, invented by Al Lambert’s father. Lambert was also a pioneer in aviation in the United States. In 1920 he purchased Kinoch Field, from which he flew bi-planes and balloons. He later donated the field to the city of St. Louis, and it eventually became Lambert International Airport, St. Louis’ main airport. In 1927, when Charles Lindbergh made his trans-Atlantic flight, he was sponsored by a group of St. Louis businessmen. The group was started, and headed, by Al Lambert. He was known in St. Louis as the “Dean of Aviation”.

Lambert was always a US citizen, but he entered the 1900 Olympic golf tournament playing out of the Golf Club de Paris, although he was also a member of the Glen Echo Country Club in St. Louis at the time.