Memorial Statement
Marvin H. Eyler was born in Allegany County, New York in 1920 and earned his A.B. at Houghton College in 1942. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, he pursued the Ph. D. in Physical Education at the University of Illinois under the legendary Seward Staley. His dissertation (1956), "Origins of Some Modern Sports," was one of the first scholarly works in what we now know as sport history, a subfield he helped shape for more than thirty years. Along with Staley, Marv Eyler was instrumental in gaining section status for the history of sport within the National College Physical Education Association for Men in the early 1960s. Contemporaries attribute the founding of the North American Society for Sport History in large part to Marv’s organizational efforts, and he served as NASSH’s first president. Dr. Eyler also trained several generations of scholars, who, in turn, led the organization and produced significant scholarship.
Marv Eyler spent his professional career and with his wife, Kay, raised a family (John, Judy, and Bill) in Maryland. From 1956 until 1971, Dr. Eyler served as chair of the Department of Physical Education, and then took over the deanship of the College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (now Health and Human Performance) until he retired in 1982. During his long tenure at Maryland, Eyler was elected to the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (Fellow #202) and served as the Academy’s president in 1976-77. After they retired, Marv and Kay traveled extensively, studied, stayed in touch with "old" students, and had much more time for their children and grandchildren.
Those of us who knew Marv well understood his passions – for sport history (and physical education more broadly), for sports, and for his family. He had an engaging smile and sense of humor, and he was a fierce competitor, especially but not only in sports. His alma mater, Houghton College, inducted him into its "Hall of Honor" for his track and field prowess, and he received the college’s alumnus of the year award in 1972. During lunch hours, one would usually find him on the tennis courts, and during the summers, he climbed mountains, including two attempts at Mt. Everest.
About two years ago, Marv and Kay moved from their longtime home in Beltsville, Maryland to Riderwood Village in Silver Spring. Kay remains there and appreciates visits from "their" students and friends. A call or a visit now and then will help remind her of how much we respected him and loved both of them.
