Agreeing With Kyle: Sims On Tackling, Texas and Testimony

By RAHUL ROHATGI

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Do you remember Kyle?

That’s Kyle Sims, one of four senior defensive linemen playing his final collegiate game against Yale on Saturday. But since he’s one of the more unheralded stars of a top Ivy defense, you may remember him first for his role as the poster child in the “Do you agree with Kyle?” campaign in the spring of 2000.

After a campus blitz of flyers and pamphlets promoting “Jesus Week,” Sims delivered his stirring testimony before hundreds in front of the Science Center to culminate the religious celebration.

Even if his identity remained secret back then, his play on the field now ought to make up for the years of obscurity.

The 6’2, 250-lb defensive tackle may not get all the glory numbers, although he has three sacks this season, but his presence up the middle alongside captain Ryan FitzGerald has made it impossible for most teams to sustain any type of rushing attack against the Crimson.

“Sometimes my job is to take on the double-team so our linebackers can run free,” Sims says. “But there are plenty of times when I have the green light to rush the quarterback.”

Sims has 29 tackles so far this season, along with four for losses. Add a key sack during the third quarter of Harvard’s comeback over Dartmouth, and it’s clear his role has been more than that of peripheral to the likes of senior ends Marc Laborsky and Phil Scherrer. That strong front four has been instrumental in making sure the Crimson, unlike years past, puts teams away for good.

“Ever since the Yale game last year, we’ve stressed finishing games,” Sims says. “Maybe it was a bit of a psychological thing in the past.”

Sims’ killer instinct mentality was nurtured on the gridirons of Irving, Texas, where high school football is taken seriously.

“The town I lived in had three major high schools, so it wasn’t like Varsity Blues,” Sims explains. “But [football] was the obsession of the town—we got a lot of support, a lot of people in town knew who we were and came out for games.”

Harvard is not exactly a pipeline for talented Texas football players, who tend to remain in-state or in the South. So Sims’ first instinct was to look at Rice in Houston, where both football and academics were important. But after the Rice coaching staff began to focus its efforts on other talent, Sims turned to the Ivies, and Harvard in particular.

“I took a visit up here, and more than anything it kind of debunked the myths, and I had a great time,” Sims says.

He had played defensive end and center scholastically, and Harvard recruited him as an end. But he put on a lot of weight and moved to the tackle position.

“It was about the freshman 40, thanks to Annenberg,” Sims recalls.

Freshman year opened up his eyes to the reality of Ivy football. Coming from Texas, Sims thought that the league’s academic priorities would mean the players would be less physical and less intense.

“Then I met guys like Mike Clare ’01 and Chris Eitzmann ’00—legitimate football players who have signed pro contracts,” Sims says. “It was a great awakening.”

Sims’ use of the term “great awakening” is interesting, because it speaks to another aspect of his life that has been featured more prominently than football—his Christian faith.

Having grown up in a religious household, and attended Bible study groups and church youth groups in Texas as a child, Sims realized in high school that he needed to re-evaluate his faith.

“I began to realize there were a bunch of other things out there, a bunch of other ideas and I wanted to know how that fit in with what I’d been told,” he says. “That’s when I began an active relationship with Jesus Christ as a Christian.”

Upon entering Harvard, Sims also began an active relationship with campus organizations like Christian Impact, a Bible study group.

“People back home were telling me, ‘be careful up there at liberal Harvard’!” Sims recalls. “It was very fortunate to get involved with some of those groups during Freshman Week.”

During his sophomore year, Christian Impact would dramatically impact Sims’ stature on campus, when he lent his name to the “Jesus Week” campaign.

But why was Sims chosen as the spokesperson?

“Some little no-name sophomore like myself? I really don’t know,” Sims says. “They had thought about using some other people, but since I hadn’t really been at the forefront or leadership of the groups, I guess it added to the mystery.”

The “mystery” was the posters that began popping up around campus, asking only “Do You Agree With Kyle?”, telling people to gather on Friday at the Science Center to find out. The campus was awash in students carrying the posters and wearing the related orange shirts, but no one was spilling the beans.

“By mid-week people were asking, ‘Who’s this Kyle? Are you the Kyle?” Sim says. “I told them I didn’t know and they’d have to wait and see.”

On Friday Sims gave his testimony on a rock in front of the Science Center while students gathered, listened and prayed together. The Crimson had run a story earlier that day on the mystery campaign, and his identity was finally revealed.

Sims has said that was one of his proudest days, and that he heard nothing but positives after he gave his speech. Even at “liberal Harvard,” Sims says the exposure to new cultures, faiths and ideas has only strengthened his own commitment.

Because of the strength of his faith Sims has also become a leader on the field. He leads team Bible studies, and says the team prayer in the tunnel before the Crimson storm the field.

“My faith is not something I can separate from what I do, so it carries over into sports and plays a major motivating factor in how I play,” he says.

Back in Texas, it was the same way when he played in public school, despite the recent controversial issue surrounding prayer at high school football games.

“I haven’t really gotten involved in that issue, which popped up more once I graduated,” Sims says. “We had invocations during the game. I think sometimes that stuff gets blown out of proportion—people are looking for something to complain about. As long as you are considerate and thoughtful of others and respect others’ faiths, it all works out.”

Sims’ dedication both to God and football have paid off for the Crimson as it heads into the Yale Bowl with the Ivy championship secured. He’s also realizing the finality of it all.

“I’d really like to score a touchdown before my career’s over,” he says. “But above anything else, I’d like to win this last game.”