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Blyth, sports safety pioneer, dies at 82

Carl S. Blyth of Chapel Hill, a driving force in the field of athletic injury research and a longtime fixture of the University's old Department of Physical Education, died Jan. 18. He was 82.

Blyth's research helped lead to improved performance and a dramatic reduction in sports-related deaths and injuries throughout the U.S.

He participated in the life of the University as well, serving as faculty marshal during commencement exercises from 1968 to 1978.

Frederick O. Mueller, chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Medicine, read a memorial resolution for Blyth at a Feb. 16 Faculty Council meeting.

"Carl's legacy of laying the groundwork for athletic injury research in the country will live on," Mueller said.

But perhaps more than anything else, Mueller said, Blyth was a devoted family man to his wife, Dorothy, and their three children, Elaine, Karen and Carl Blyth Jr.

Mueller told of how Karen asked her father shortly before he died which he valued more -- career or family. "My family, of course," he replied.

Born Dec. 20, 1918, in Pittsburgh, Pa., Blyth served as an ensign in the U.S. Navy in World War II before completing his undergraduate work at Lenior-Rhyne College.

After earning his master's at Carolina, Blyth was appointed to the University faculty in 1949. He completed his Ph.D. in physiology here in 1953 and then moved through the ranks to full professor in 1963.

From 1957 to 1977, he directed the University's Laboratory of Applied Physiology and from 1970 to 1977 served as the department chair.

He served as the faculty representative's to the NCAA and led efforts by the American Football Coaches Association to implement improved safety standards.

Those efforts resulted in the reduction of heat stress-related deaths in football and the requirement that all football players wear helmets that meet specified safety standards.

He also served on the research task force of the Council on Physical Fitness and was past president of the American College of Sports Medicine.

After he retired in 1985, the department established the annual Carl S. Blyth lecture in honor of his many years of service.

Memorials may be sent to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church or the N.C. Alzheimer's Association, 400 Oberlin Rd., #208, Raleigh, NC 27605.

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