Poetry, cartoon drawing, journalism and baton twirling may not be typical adolescent pastimes, but as a young man, Provo native Eugene Lusk Roberts excelled in all of these and more. Later in life, Roberts would become Brigham Young University's first athletic director and father of the Annual Timpanogos Hike, a community tradition that lasted almost 60 years.

While BYU's Homecoming festivities honor all alumni, this year's events will spotlight Eugene L. "Timpanogos" Roberts, a colorful educator who began his career at BYU 99 years ago in 1910. To honor him, the BYU Alumni Association has sponsored an essay contest and designed its "Homecoming Spectacular" event around his legacy.

Charlene Winters, communications manager for BYU Alumni Relations, said that the Homecoming Committee wanted to chose a founder who was a central figure in the challenging, early years of BYU.

"We came to agreement quite quickly once we realized Eugene Roberts was a possibility," said Winters. "He was such a fascinating person at the university, and he has never been honored before. This is a man who should not have been forgotten by time."

A search through BYU's L. Tom Perry Special Collections archive reveals Roberts's profound influence on the university, the Provo community and the mountain that gave him his nickname.

Born in 1880 to a large Provo family, Roberts grew up in the shadows of the Wasatch Mountains. During his youth, he worked as a bellhop at the family-run, now-demolished Hotel Roberts on south University Avenue, and also as a postal clerk.

Roberts also played hard. He roamed the foothills and became intensely interested in nature. Friends and neighbors regarded him as an exceptional circus performer, more than skilled at marbles, jacks, swimming, climbing, fist-fighting, wrestling, balancing, baton twirling and other impressive stunts.

Eugene Roberts entered the Brigham Young Academy in 1898, where his skills as a journalist and cartoonist were often featured in the campus paper. Ever the alert and interested student, Roberts excelled academically and athletically and became a popular leader. When football was banned as an official university sport, Roberts led the "Outlaw Eleven," a renegade football team that won some local renown.

In 1904, he was elected class president. During his college years, Roberts accompanied researchers on geological expeditions to Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon and Colorado. It was on these trips that Roberts's boyhood enthusiasm for nature and the outdoors swelled as he learned to "rough it" -- and enjoy it.

He began guiding hikes to Mount Timpanogos, the "monarch of the Wasatch Range," as he called it.

"Roberts was a master at exploring and promoting Mount Timpanogos," said Steve Ashcraft, wilderness ranger for the Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Area. "He invited local residents and students to experience the natural beauty and solitude of the mountains."

It was not long before his passion for the mountain earned him the nickname "Timpanogos Roberts."

"This mystical mountain does something to every pilgrim who treads its trails," Roberts wrote in the Provo's Sunday Herald (the Sunday edition of what would become today's Daily Herald) a few days prior to the July 24, 1936, hike. "If you yield to its spirit, it will elevate you."

At age 26, Roberts turned down a promising job offer as a newspaper editor to serve a mission to California for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the time, he was engaged to Sytha Brown. In a move that would hardly be allowed today, the two quickly eloped and Roberts petitioned the church to reassign him to a foreign mission so he could take his new bride along.

The request granted, Eugene and Sytha left for England. Roberts despised the formal British attire -- stiff collars, top hats, fancy suits -- and no doubt missed the rugged mountains of Utah. At a mission conference soon after their arrival, a visiting mission president asked for volunteers to serve in Germany and Switzerland. He mentioned that proselytizing was illegal in Germany and carried a risk of "arrest, imprisonment or banishment."

Roberts's decision took only a moment. True to character, he volunteered for the more dangerous assignment. Threats of imprisonment did not intimidate him. In any case, he was more than willing to abandon the top hat.

He spent much of his mission in the Swiss Alps, thrilled with the fresh mountain air and beautiful scenery. At Einsiedeln, Switzerland, Roberts witnessed a nighttime mountain pilgrimage, where some 5,000 worshipers with candles reverently ascended to a hilltop shrine. As he observed from a distance, he envisioned a similar spectacle in Utah County: a community climb on Mount Timpanogos, which would become a reality a few years later.

Contributions to BYU

After returning from Europe, Roberts trained as an athletic director at Yale and received several prestigious job offers. One came from BYU President George H. Brimhall, who advised Roberts that his place was at his own school, among his own people. Roberts accepted, and became BYU's first Director of Physical Education.

Before leaving Yale, he compiled notes, photos and ideas for athletic activities he wanted to implement at BYU. With his new position, Roberts intended to make BYU the center of athletic activity in the Rocky Mountains, a goal he would pursue for 16 years.

In an introductory campus address, Roberts declared his intent: "We are not primarily interested in the star athlete or the Olympic hero. We are concerned about the physical and social welfare of every student."

Though many were at first skeptical of Roberts's bold philosophy, his creativity and zeal gradually won the BYU community over. He initiated track meets and races, including what is now the Cougar Run during Homecoming week. He raised funds for and helped build a new ladies' gymnasium. Spurred by Roberts's enthusiasm for recreation, students became more excited about dancing, intramurals and competitive sports.

Under Roberts's tutelage, two BYU high-jumpers achieved world renown. Alma Richards won a gold medal in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. At the Pennsylvania Relays five years later, Clinton Larson broke the world high-jump record, which remained unbroken for 17 years.

Roberts also took over as basketball coach, though he lacked the qualifications for this specific task. But, once again, he rose to the challenge, working hard to secure the necessary skills. He inspired his players and developed drills and other coaching methods that are still used today. During his six years as basketball coach, Roberts led his teams to four state titles, as well as second place at the 1917 national competition in Chicago.

There was hardly anything about BYU athletics Roberts didn't influence; even calling the athletes "Cougars" was his idea.

On the mountain

Motivated by what he had experienced in Switzerland, in 1912 Roberts and 22 people loaded camping gear on buggies and followed the sketchy dirt road up Provo Canyon. They came to Stewart's Flat (now Sundance) and continued on foot up to a primitive mountain valley Roberts had named Aspen Grove.

After a small campfire ceremony, the group retired under the stars. Early the following morning, stars still visible, the trekkers woke to resume their ascent of the 11,750-foot mountain. Navigating the cliffs, loose rock and thick brush without a trail was often treacherous, but they made it to the summit and returned to Aspen Grove satisfied with the day's labors.

Thus the Annual Timpanogos Hike -- a community tradition that drew thousands and last lasted for decades -- was born.

Roberts moved quickly to make Timpanogos more accessible. In 1921, he brought 300 students to assist the Forest Service in carving an official trail to the summit. He also raised funds to build the Theater in the Pines at Aspen Grove, which would accommodate larger crowds for the pre-hike festivities.

As the hike grew in popularity over the years, the pageantry also swelled. The small campfire became a bonfire, and the associated activities included storytelling, music, poetry readings, and geology or astronomy lectures. In the later years of the climb, as many as 10,000 attended the pre-hike bonfire program at Aspen Grove.

Each year, hundreds of hikers climbed to the pinnacle of Mount Timpanogos and received a commemorative pin; some Utah County residents have dozens in their collection.

"The Timp Hike was a ritual event, Provo's town festival," said Provo historian Jed L. Woodworth. Woodworth also said that Roberts was a perfect fit for his time. In "the 1920s, sports, the rugged life and a kind of muscular Christianity were becoming culturally popular," he said.

Roberts personified that, and with the Timpanogos hike, said Woodworth, "Roberts went further, creating a format where church and community and nature seamlessly merged."

Roberts's mass hike thrived for almost 60 years, even making it into Sports Illustrated magazine in 1953. Because of Roberts's influence, thousands of Utah County residents, as well as visitors from all over the world, became acquainted with the lore and beauty of Timpanogos.

Of the hike's success Roberts said, "That the hike has steadily grown all these years proves that it satisfies a hunger. ... [But] the satisfaction must square with an ideal to bring real happiness by exalting all who submit to its influence."

Roberts died in 1953 at age 73. The annual hike survived a few years longer but was discontinued due to environmental concerns in 1970 when, as one writer put it, "Timpanogos was loved to death when 3,500 made the summit."

Roberts's legacy, however, lives on in the spirit of the mountain. Roberts Horn, a secondary Timpanogos peak visible from Aspen Grove, was named in his honor. The well-defined trails, canyon roads and facilities Timpanogos visitors benefit from today are largely attributable to Eugene Roberts.

"In the modern history and development of Mount Timpanogos, he was a giant," said Ashcraft, a wilderness ranger. "Much of what we enjoy and celebrate today originated in the mind and actions of Mr. Roberts."

In addition to his contributions to BYU, Mount Timpanogos, and the community, Roberts was also instrumental in introducing the Scouting program into the LDS Church and starting its Institute program in southern California. Roberts left Provo in 1928 to continue his profession at the University of Southern California but returned to Provo almost every year to participate in the annual hike.

If you go

Brigham Young University Homecoming -- Oct. 20-24

For details and a complete schedule of BYU Homecoming events, visit homecoming.byu.edu. Some of this year's highlights are as follows:

Tues. Oct. 20

11 a.m. -- Homecoming Opening Ceremonies, Marriott Center

6 p.m. -- Hike and Light the "Y" (meet at Hinckley Center)

Thu.-Fri. Oct. 22-23

7:30 p.m. -- Homecoming Spectacular, Marriott Center

Sat. Oct. 24

10 a.m. -- Homecoming Parade

5:30 p.m. -- Football game vs. Texas Christian University