Daniel Joseph Lyle (born September 28, 1970) is an American former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played for the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States in men's international rugby union competitions. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, a ...

45 times from 1994 to 2003, serving as U.S. captain in 24 of those matches. Lyle played number eight.

Early life

Lyle was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. A 1992 graduate of

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

where he played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

, he took up rugby union at age 23 in an attempt to keep fit.

National team

Lyle debuted for the U.S. national team against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in November 1994 at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

. He first captained the U.S. squad in a match against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in June 1996, in the Pacific Rim tournament. He also led the U.S. sevens team to victory in the bowl competition at the

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competiti ...

in 1997. Lyle captained the team at the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Lyle appeared for the United States in the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

, and retired from international play in 2003. Through his national team career, Lyle earned 45 caps for his country, and captained his side in 24 matches, including 11 wins in those matches (at the time a record for the most wins all-time by any U.S. captain; that record has since been broken by

Todd Clever Todd Stanger Clever (born January 16, 1983) is an American retired rugby union player. He became the first American to play Super Rugby. At the international level, he was a member of the United States national team, served as captain, and is t ...

Professional rugby

He joined

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

club

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

from the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club ( OMBAC) for the 1996/7 season. He spent seven seasons at

and played in 125 matches for the club. He helped them to lift the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

title in 1998 with victory over

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

, and captained the side for the 2001/2 season. Lyle moved to the

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

in 2003. He had been invited to train with the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

and had a trial with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. Lyle was inducted into the US Rugby Hall of Fame on June 4, 2016, in Philadelphia, PA.

Management

Dan Lyle worked fo
United World Sports
as an Executive Vice President and Tournament Director with USA Sevens LLC from 2006 to 2016, the owner and operator of the

USA Sevens The USA Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held annually during March in the United States. The USA Sevens is the largest annual rugby competition in North America, having drawn over 80,000 fans to events. The USA Sevens was introduced in 2004 ...

rugby tournament. That tournament is played every year at

Sam Boyd Stadium Sam Boyd Stadium (formerly the Las Vegas Silver Bowl) is a closed American football, football stadium in Whitney, Nevada, an unincorporated community in the Las Vegas Valley. It honors Sam Boyd (1910–1993), a major figure in the hotel and casin ...

in Las Vegas, and is the largest commercial rugby tournament in the United States. Dan Lyle left UWS for to become the Director of Rugby for

Anschutz Entertainment Group Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports ...

launching AEG Rugby in October 2016.

Personal

Lyle married Rebecca Hansford on December 30, 2004, at St John's Church in Bath, England. They have three boys and reside just outside Boulder, Colorado.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyle, Dan 1970 births Living people American rugby union players Rugby union number eights Bath Rugby players Leicester Tigers players VMI Keydets football players United States international rugby union players Virginia Military Institute alumni Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players American expatriate rugby union players in England