ATHLETE

1901-1908

The late Frank Kyle was one of the most successful college athletes to ever call Clay County home, because at some point in his career he played not just one, but three sports at Vanderbilt University from 1901 to 1906, and he also served as Mississippi’s head football coach in 1908.

He was best known for being Vanderbilt’s star quarterback and defensive back on the gridiron, where he led his team to a 35-3-2 record.  Kyle made the All-Southern team three years and was voted team captain in 1903.  He also played basketball and pitched for the school’s baseball team as a postgraduate law student in 1906, all before returning home to Celina where he ran a successful timber and rafting business with his brothers until his death in 1929.