Dr. Bert Lyle, an important figure in the early years of women’s collegiate athletics, was the head track & field coach and director of athletics at Texas Woman’s University from 1965 to 1982. He also served as head basketball coach when the Pioneers joined NCAA Division II in 1982 through 1986. A 1994 inductee in the inaugural class of the TWU Athletics Hall of Fame, Lyle led the Pioneers to three Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Championships, including the first-ever AIAW Championship in 1969, and two U.S. Track & Field Federation team titles. Lyle’s squads finished in the top three of the AIAW standings in each of the first seven years of competition, and during the 15-year history of the AIAW, Texas Woman’s 465 total team points was second only to UCLA.
Lyle was the women’s sprint and relay coach for the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1992 Barcelona Games. During his career, Lyle also served as the U.S. Olympic Sprint Development Committee Chair, the USATF Women’s Elite Sprint Coordinator, and the USATF Junior Development Committee Chair for sprints.
Lyle coached athletes including Louise Ritter, a three-time Olympic high jumper and gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Games, and Leleith Hodges, a two-time Olympian representing Jamaica. Both are members of the TWU Athletics Hall of Fame as well.
In 2005, Lyle was presented with USA Track & Field’s (USATF) Giegengack Award for outstanding contributions to the development and success of USA Track & Field, and the larger community of the sport. USATF again honored Lyle in 2007 with the Heliodoro and Patricia Rico Lifetime Achievement Award. In December 2010, Lyle was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. (
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Lyle was born in Tupelo, Miss., and was a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in the Korean War. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Duke University, his master’s degree from Southern Methodist University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas. Since his retirement from TWU in 1988, he made his home in Denton with his wife Pris, and continued for many years to be a key player in the science of sprinting and hurdling.
Lyle died on May 11, 2011, at the age of 83.
Dr. Bert Lyle: The Loss of a Legend
USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Induction Video
