Family Ties
KYLE HOUSE ’13 “CONTROLS THE CONTROLLABLES” DURING CHAOTIC TIMES
By Jodie Valade
Kyle House ’13 started his collegiate swimming career at Purdue University, a swimming powerhouse in the Big Ten Conference. Tough the Indiana native did well in the program and excelled academically, after two years, he yearned for something that was more like what he had known his entire life. Coming from a swimming family, Kyle was coached
by his parents, while his older sister and younger brother swam alongside him. Family legend has it that he was on a pool deck the day after he was born. While Kyle was exploring schools to transfer to,
his dad, Ray, saw an ad in Swimming World magazine about Jeff Dugdale starting a swimming program at Queens University of Charlotte. Kyle soon contacted Dugdale and became one of the first members of Queens’ inaugural men’s swimming team in 2010. Now, eight years removed from Queens and working at pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, Kyle remains one of Queens’ biggest fans. So big that he pins a
Queens Royals pennant to the wall behind him for Zoom conferences. So devoted that he traveled to see the Royals’ first of five national titles in person—and “cried like a baby” when he witnessed what he helped build. And so invested that even he wonders sometimes how he became one of those “super fans” he used to marvel at. “What it boils down to is that my experience at
Queens was so familial in nature,” Kyle explained from his home in New Jersey. “Tey [teammates] became like brothers to me. And I always tell people that Jeff is like a second dad.” “It goes both ways,” adds Dugdale, associate athletic
director for strategic partnerships and leadership development and director of swimming operations at Queens. “I see him as a son, as well.” Out of the pool, Kyle leans on Dugdale in his work
with Johnson & Johnson, asking his old swimming coach to recall his days working in pharmaceuticals before he turned to coaching. He constantly reflects on two of Dugdale’s favorite sayings: “embrace the chaos” and “control the controllables.” Tough Kyle did not have an active role in Johnson
& Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine development, his work supported those who did. “I feel like we’re doing a service on a worldwide level right now that a lot of other
Standing between his mom, Sue, and father, Ray, Kyle House credits his dad for discovering Queens for him.
6 MAGAZINE
House (far right) was one of the first members of Queens’ inaugural men’s swimming team in 2010.
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