Eugene L. Roberts

Who was Eugene L. Roberts?

Eugene Lusk "Timpanogos" Roberts was head of the department of physical education and a coach of sports including track and field at Brigham Young University starting in 1910.

Roberts was born in Provo. Roberts was the child of William D. Roberts and his wife the former Julia Lusk. The family ran the Roberts Hotel in Provo. He studied at Brigham Young Academy from 1898-1904. He also studied at BYU itself receiving at B.A. degree. He then studied at Yale University. He later went to the University of Southern California from which he received a masters degree.

Roberts married Sytha Brown in 1906. A few days later they jointly left to serve an LDS mission. As of 1908 he was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Switzerland. It was here, watching the procession of 5000 to worship atop a mountain near Einsiedeln that Roberts conceived the idea of an annual Mount Timpanogos hike, an idea he later implemented while on the BYU faculty, with the first hike occurring in 1912. In fact Roberts was so heavily connected with the mountain, and viewed as a man of such stature, that he was often called "Timpanogos" or "Timp".