A Stanford graduate, class of 1961, Dick Lyon rowed for the United States in two Olympic Games. In 1964 he had the two-oar for the Lake Washington RC four that took a bronze medal in Tokyo. In 1966 Lyon rowed for both a national and a world champion in that same event. In 1972 he again qualified for the Olympic team, this time in the coxIess pairs with Larry Hough, but they failed to make the finals.
Lyon was an electrical and mechanical engineering major at Stanford, and made his living as an engineer, for many years with Hewlett-Packard. He used those talents to help design the ergometer testing technique which is used by all major crews to help test the efficiency of their rowers.