In Memoriam

Lynn W. McCraw (Fellow #189)

Written in fond memory by Waneen W. Spirduso. Former student, colleague, and friend.

Dr. Lynn Wade McCraw, Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin, passed away on June 15, 2004 at the age of eighty-nine. He was born on October 26, 1914, in Bonham, Texas. He graduated from Austin College in 1937 where he was an all-conference football player and captain of the team his senior year.

After graduation, he taught English and directed the Intramural Sports Program at Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, Texas. In 1941 he joined the United States Army, advancing from 1941 to 1946 from Private to Major. He served in the United States Army Reserves from 1946 until his retirement in 1974 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He received his Master's Degree from The University of Texas in 1946. Armed with a college background strong in mathematics and English, and financially supported by the GI Bill, he was able to spend full time on his doctoral studies, finishing in two years. He was one of the very first physical educators in the nation to use the newest statistic, factor analysis, as a tool in his dissertation: "A factor analysis of motor learning."

Dr. McCraw's student career was so impressive that he was appointed Assistant Professor of Physical and Health Education at The University of Texas. He quickly advanced through the academic ranks, serving as Professor and Chairperson of the department from 1958 to 1973. and as Graduate Advisor from 1960 to 1973. He taught courses in the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral programs and supervised 60 Master's theses and 18 Doctoral dissertations. In the classroom and in independent research supervision, his teaching was highly organized, current, and inspirational. Many of his students published the results of their work, which was not common at that time in the development of the profession. He published over 40 professional articles and delivered more than 70 invited lectures on his research, which focused on measurement, strength development, and motor learning. Even though he was one of the first in the field to depart from publishing exclusively about professional issues, publishing on disciplinary topics such as strength training and motor learning problems, his heart was largely focused on the professional development of future physical educators.

Dr. McCraw was active in many professional associations and served as Vice-President of the American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) and as President of the Texas Association (TAHPERD) from 1953- 1954. It was, however, in his role as Executive Secretary-Treasurer, and as Editor of the TAHPERD Newsletter that he made his largest professional impact. For 30 years he guided the state association, providing a strong, ethical, forward-looking perspective that focused on building the association enrollment and financial resources. He strongly contributed to the development of a mission for the association, and assisted incoming annual presidents in understanding and fulfilling that mission. When he completed his last year as Executive Secretary-Treasurer, the association was one of the three largest state associations for health, physical education, recreation, and dance in the country. So powerful was his influence, and so keenly was this influence recognized by the association leadership, that they later named the association's keynote annual lecture the Lynn Wade McCraw Lecture.

His professional influence extended far beyond TAHPERD and The University of Texas, however. Many professional groups sought his leadership, wisdom, guidance, and counsel, including AAHPERD; Southern District AAHPERD; Travis County Board of the American Cancer Society (21 years); State Executive Committee of the University Interscholastic League (32 years); The Office of the Governor of the State of Texas; the Texas Legislature; American Heart Association; Texas Medical Association; State Board of Education; Texas Education Agency; Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness; and The University of Texas Men's Intercollegiate Athletic Council. Because of his extraordinary success with the TAHPERD, numerous state professional associations comprised of school administrators, parents, teachers, and coaches and groups working on improvements and standards in Texas education at all levels sought his advice. Dr. McCraw received many university, state and national awards for outstanding contributions to his profession. Perhaps due to many of these contributions and awards, he was elected into the American Academy of Physical Education in 1967.

In 1984, the students in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education created the Lynn W. McCraw Excellence Award to be given annually to the outstanding student in the department. The department also honored him by naming several recognitions and scholarships for him, including the Lynn W. McCraw Lecture Series, the Lynn McCraw Fellowship, and the Lynn McCraw Scholarship.

In 1985, Dr. McCraw was appointed as Professor Emeritus. His impact on the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, which included a strong sense of professionalism, integrity, and intellectual rigor, has shaped and will continue to influence the department for many years to come.

Marilyn Hinson (Fellow #271)

Marilyn Hinson, died Monday, January 17, 2005, after a long struggle with esophageal cancer. Her death was unexpected in that she was still relatively active (e.g., she had just joined a local group of the Red Hats Society) and continued to manifest her great sense of humor and the fluent, creative conversational style that attracted a broad, crosssection of friends. Marilyn had been retired from her position as Provost of the Texas Woman's University (TWU) for 13 years, time during which she lived in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on a beautiful wooded lot, near a major lake, as part of an active golf and fishing mobile home community. Marilyn's friends from TWU frequently visited and believed she was, at last, getting to do the things she liked best. Her beloved companion, Pepper, a black cocker spaniel, preceded her in death.

Born in 1932 in El Paso, Texas, Marilyn grew up as an only child, extremely bright with exceptional talents in many areas. She graduated from high school in Dening, NM, earned a bachelor's degree from Western New Mexico University, a master's degree from Indiana University, and a doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota. As was the practice in the 1960s, she taught a wide variety of courses at Beloit College and the University of Wisconsin at River Falls until accepting employment, which emphasized graduate level teaching and research, at TWU in 1970. There she was able to specialize in biomechanics and statistics, developing new courses and developing a strong commitment to the hard sciences in her students. Marilyn authored two books in biomechanics and coauthored a card-file folder for learning muscle actions, locations, and innervations. Marilyn's tremendous work ethic, her all-round excellence, and her willingness to serve led to her unanimous election by the faculty to be Department Chair and later Dean of the College of Health Sciences.

During her last 5 years at TWU, Marilyn served first as Registrar and Director of Admissions and later as Provost. During these years, she assumed responsibility for computerizing the entire campus, a mammoth task that included everything from ordering computers for all of the secretaries and faculty, establishing in-service training, and organizing and staffing an outstanding academic computer center which still offers free accessibility to faculty and students and unlimited tutoring and mentoring. She chose to retire from TWU early, in 1992, and to escape to Arkansas. We continue to miss her.

Harold M. Barrow (Fellow #216)

Prepared by John Shea, Fellow # 403, who would like to express appreciation to Harold M. Barrow's wife, Mrs. Kate D. Barrow, who provided information and the photo for this memorial.

Harold M. Barrow, died on May 15, 2005. Harold was 95 years of age at the time of his death. Harold was born August 8, 1909, in New Bloomfield, Missouri. While growing up on a farm during the Great Depression, Harold attended New Bloomfield (Missouri) High School before receiving an A.B. degree from Westminster College in 1936, where he starred in basketball and track. In 1942 he earned an M.A. from the University of Missouri and then obtained a P.E.D. from Indiana University in 1953.

Harold M. Barrow began his 47-year service in education teaching in a one-room schoolhouse from 1930 to 1934. He later worked as a high school coach and director of physical education in Fulton, Missouri, from 1936 to 1943 before serving a two-year stint in the Navy. He then spent three years as the head football and basketball coach, as well as Director of Athletics and Physical Education, at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. Harold spent the majority of his esteemed career at Wake Forest University, where he served as a professor of physical education from 1948 to 1977, as well as chairman of the Physical Education Department from 1957 to 1975. He received many awards during his distinguished career. Among these were the Medallion of Merit from Wake Forest University, the Kingdom of Callaway Award in 1958, Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Westminster College in 1975, Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University in 1988, and the Hetherington Award from the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education in 1995. He served a president of the American Academy of Physical Education in 1979.

Harold wrote a number of highly regarded and widely used articles and books on health and physical education including Man and Movement: Principles of Physical Education, which was published in three editions from 1971 to 1982, and A Practical Approach to Measurement in Physical Education, which he co-authored with Dr. Rosemary McGee from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Harold and his five brothers were a dominant, nearly unbeatable independent basketball team in the 1930s and early 1940s, in an era before professional basketball was established and the elite college players played on independent teams. Harold was the brothers' star forward and leading scorer. The Barrow brothers were the first team of brothers to be inducted into Missouri's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. A man of many talents, Harold was musical, artistic and poetic. He learned to play the organ without ever taking a lesson.

Marvin H. Eyler (Fellow #202)

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.