Dr. Don Kyle retires from UTA

Tuesday, Jul 31, 2018

After thirty-four years in the Department of History at UTA, Professor Don Kyle has retired. A pioneer in the field of Ancient Sport History, Dr. Kyle published several path-breaking books including Athletics in Ancient Athens (1993), Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (1998), and the award-winning Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (2006; 2nd ed. 2014) along with a variety of articles and book chapters. Over the course of his productive career Dr. Kyle delivered numerous papers and invited presentations at such places such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Worchester Museum, the University Memphis, Dartmouth College, NYU, the University of Calgary, Karl-Franzens University (Graz, Austria), and the Nicholson Museum in Sydney, Australia. He also served as a consultant to the History Channel on documentaries about Roman Olympics and the Ancient Olympics as well as served on three journal editorial boards on sport history.

His scholarly accomplishments were rivaled by his teaching. Dr. Kyle was particularly popular in the classroom where he mixed his expertise with true care and concern for his students. In 2009 he was named the R.D. Milns Visiting Professor of the School of History, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland, Australia, where he delivered a series of lectures to faculty and students. Dr. Kyle also served as Supervising Professor of a postgraduate seminar in Athens, Greece at the invitation of the International Olympic Committee.

Dr. Kyle’s contributions to the Department and campus were also significant. After a seven-year stint as the Department’s Assistant Chair, he served as Department Chair from 1999 to 2006 a period during which the Department prospered, maintaining its status as one of the best units in the College. Notwithstanding his Canadian lineage and preference for hockey, he also contributed greatly to the Department’s softball team, the Wayback Machine, playing a stellar right field and hitting with power.

Whatever Dr. Kyle did, he did well, whether it was teaching, scholarship, or service. Faculty, staff, and students will miss his dedication to the craft of history, and his commitment to making the Department and the University a better place.

Congratulations (and many thanks) to Dr. Kyle on his successful academic career! 

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