S P O R T S & R E C R E AT I O N
her that she would be taken care of at Auburn. “He told her that I was like a son to him,” Horace said. “The enthusiasm that Coach Dye showed me and Kyla is something that is hard to overlook. He was just a great person, as well as a great coach.” Kyla’s athletic interests were difficult for her father to decipher initially. When she was 4 years old, she played for a co-ed baseball team but let it be known that it was not for her. Horace thought his daughter was looking elsewhere, so he enrolled her in gymnastics and ballet. “What it turned out to be was that she did not want to play baseball with boys,” he said. “Softball was her passion, even early on.” Kyla established a Newton County Recreation Commission record when she blasted 16 home runs as an 8-year-old. Her prodigious skills only developed further from there, and she made her college intentions known at 13 while still at Cousins
36 The Newton Community Magazine
Middle School. Horace at first encouraged his daughter to consider possibilities other than Auburn, fearing many would believe her decision had been based solely on past history. “I told her not to go just because I went there,” Horace said. “I told her to make the decision that best fits her. She has always been an Auburn fan—we were dressing her in Auburn clothes almost as soon as she was born—but this had to be her choice. Once we drop her off, she has to be comfortable enough to stay.” There was significant interest from other major programs, including Georgia, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Washington, Notre Dame and LSU. However, Kyla cited the family environment that was present when she visited Auburn as one of the strongest selling points. She claims she would have made the same decision, regardless of whether or not her father had once attended college there.
