Jack Kyle Jr., made, sold pork rinds

Pork skins were good to Jack Kyle Jr. He made a career out of manufacturing and distributing the crackly snack across the Southeast.

His association with pork skins started in the early 1950s when he worked at Atlanta-based Bullock’s Manufacturing Co. Years later, he struck out on his own, opening Dixie Snack Foods in Decatur off Scott Boulevard. Dixie produced and distributed potato chips, corn chips, cheese puffs and pork rinds.

The business was a family affair.

“All of us, at one time or another, worked for my father in the snack business —- either in sales, warehouse or freight,” said son William Curtis Kyle of Snellville. “The first George Bush said [pork rinds] were his favorite snack.”

John Curtis “Jack” Kyle Jr., 77, of Winder died Sunday of prostate cancer at home. The memorial service will be noon Friday at Grayson United Methodist Church. Tim Stewart Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Kyle was in his 30s when he ventured into the pork rind business. He’d tried selling insurance, but that didn’t cut it for the entrepreneur, who held a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emory University.

He operated Dixie Snack Foods from 1961 to 1974. Mr. Kyle erred in trying to sell a variety of snacks, his son said, noting that Dixie went bankrupt. In 1979, he started Southern Snacks Inc. and specialized in one item: pork rinds. He sold the business and retired in 1998.

Mr. Kyle, said his son, experienced the evolution of pork skins. Today they are considered a hip snack, not something relegated to rural consumption. Pork rinds come in dozens of flavors —- smoked, barbecued, hot, spicy, with salt and vinegar.

“Since we were in the business, there’s been an explosion of pork skins,” his son said. “He was part of that. He could have done anything he wanted to, but he went into the snack business.”

In college, Mr. Kyle was an athlete who excelled at intramural sports. The Air Force veteran received the 1954 “Bridges Trophy” given to Emory’s best all-around athlete.

“He was a natural athlete,” said daughter Kathryn Frances Kyle of Winder, “and he was till the day he died.”

Additional survivors include a son, John Richard Kyle of Smithfield, N.C.; a daughter, Susan Kyle Davis of Lilburn; a stepson, Dick Alger of Lawrenceville; two stepdaughters, Patricia Bowser and Diane Brooks, both of Roswell; two brothers, Benjamin Gayle Kyle of Manhattan, Kan., and Robert Anderson Kyle of Snellville; eight grandchildren; and eight stepgrandchildren.