Frank Pyke

Frank Pyke
Personal information
Full name	Frank Sherman Pyke
Date of birth	(1941-12-01)1 December 1941
Place of birth	Perth, Western Australia
Date of death	22 November 2011(2011-11-22) (aged 69)
Place of death	Perth, Western Australia
Original team(s)	Armadale Juniors
Position(s)	Half-forward flanker, ruck-rover
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1959–73	Perth	130 (154)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1963–66	Western Australia	2 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1973.
Career highlights
WANFL representative team 1963, 1966 Runner-up Sandover Medal 1963 Perth premiership side 1966

Frank Sherman Pyke (1 December 1941 – 22 November 2011) was an Australian sports scientist, educator, author, Australian rules footballer and sports administrator. He played 130 games for Perth in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL) and two interstate matches for Western Australia, and later served as a professor at a number of universities in Australia, Canada and the United States. He also served as the inaugural executive director of the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS), where he pioneered the Athlete Career and Education (ACE) program.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, on 1 December 1941, Pyke played schoolboy cricket and football and was also a noted athlete, winning state championships in running, long jump and high jump. He represented Western Australia at the 1956 National Schoolboys' Championships held in Launceston. He made his debut for Armadale in the South Suburban Football League at the age of 15. Falling into the Perth Football Club's recruitment zone, Pyke made his senior debut for the club in round one of the 1959 season, at the age of 17. Playing originally as a half-forward flanker, and later as an onballer, Pyke became a regular in the Perth side, and finished third in the Sandover Medal in 1962 and second in 1963, behind Ray Sorrell. He played in the club's 1966 premiership win over Template:WAFL East PerthL, playing as a loose man in defence during part of the game. Pyke also opened the bowling for the Perth Cricket Club in the WACA district cricket competition. Outside of sports, he worked as a physical education teacher at Belmont Senior High School.