[2] As a senior, he won the national amateur light heavyweight championship at the Boston Garden in 1925,[1] and successfully defended the title the following year.
[5] Lamar joined the athletic department at Harvard University in 1931, initially intending "just to help out for a few weeks", but he remained at the school as a boxing and football coach for four decades.
"[8] During his tenure at the university, he coached the four Kennedy brothers: Joseph, John, Robert, and Edward,[1] all of whom played as ends on the football team.
[9] During World War II, Harvard football coach Dick Harlow spent 30 months in the United States Navy, during which time Lamar served as the team's mentor for the 1943 and 1944 seasons.
[12] In that post, he attempted to reform the sport in the state, including through a review of all licenses and the mandatory screening of fighters for brain damage.
[1] Lamar also courted controversy, for example, by suspending Sugar Ray Robinson for walking out on a fight and by withdrawing the state from the National Boxing Association.