Peter Lyman, the renowned coach of the University of Rochester’s tennis and squash teams, died Sept. 28, 2012. He was 86.
Lyman graduated from Rochester in 1947, and studied for more than a year in Princeton’s eminent math department before leaving for health reasons without a degree. He coached Rochester’s men’s tennis teams for 42 years and the squash teams for 44 years. In his prime he had been a premier tennis and squash player.
For 22 consecutive years, his men’s tennis teams made the NCAA Division III national championships, either as a team or on an individual basis. Five of his teams made the Top 10. In 1990, he was the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Division III National Coach of the Year.
Lyman’s squash teams achieved a consistent Top 20 national rank. He coached five athletes, including one woman, to nine All-America awards in squash. In 2000, the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award. Tim Butts *72, who had played squash for Lyman at Rochester, wrote, “He was without question an institution.”
Lyman is survived by a sister and a niece.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.