James 'Chick' Doyle

Chick Doyle was born to Edward James ("Jimmy") Doyle, an employee of the Dublin Gas Company, and Josephine Doyle (née McNamara) in April 1930.^{[citation needed]} Reputedly the name 'Chick' was attributed to his time working as a chicken sexer in Australia, though this is apocryphal.^[2]

He was the eldest of three siblings. His sister Ursula Doyle (born 1931), was a child performer, later actress, stage director and second wife of Jimmy O'Dea,^[3][4] and his brother Noel Doyle (born 1932), was also a child performer and entertainer before emigrating to Canada.^[5][6] In 1958 Doyle married Marie Clarke.^[7] They had four children.^[8] Besides his playing ability, Doyle was noted in badminton circles for his humour and enthusiasm, as well as his teetotalism, being a non-smoker and propensity for motion sickness.^[2]

His daughter Elaine Doyle^[9] was capped fifteen times for Ireland and won a Ladies doubles Irish National Badminton Championships title in 1986.^{[1][10][11][12]} Elaine married Limerick hurler Shane Fitzgibbon in 1991.^[13] Their son, Doyle's grandson, John Fitzgibbon also played intercounty hurling for Limerick.^[14]

With the encouragement of his father, Doyle began playing in the Dublin Gas Company club where his talent was recognised by Geoff Trapnell, reportedly putting in six hours practice per day.^[6][2] By 1948 was playing league badminton with the club.^[15] In that same year he first appeared playing at national tournaments. The Irish Times reports of the Irish Close Badminton tournament of December 1948 lists Doyle as losing in the first round of the senior men's singles to Frank Peard^[16] and competing unsuccessfully in a number of junior events.^[17][18] As well as being a player, Peard was instrumental in implementing intensive coaching schemes which Doyle benefitted from.^[19] Doyle's playing career progressed rapidly and by December 1949 he was playing for the Midland (now Leinster) branch interprovincial team at the age of nineteen.^[20]

Doyle was first called up to the Ireland national badminton team for their match against Scotland in 1951 and would continue to be selected for Ireland up to 1964.^[21][22] He played thirty times for Ireland.^[23] 1951 also saw Doyle first reach the final of the men's singles in the Irish National Badminton Championships, with Frank Peard beating his protégé in three sets.^[24] In 1952 he emigrated to Australia.^[25] Doyle continued his playing career in Australia in 1952 and 1953, playing for the Victoria state badminton team and competing in the Australian National Badminton Championships, where he was a runner up in the men's doubles in 1952.^[26][27][28] He placed seventh in the 1952 Australian men's singles rankings.^[29] He subsequently returned to Ireland. 1955 saw Doyle emerge as winner of the men's singles in the Scottish Open tournament and in 1956, he went on to win the men's singles in the Irish Open tournament. Doyle maintained his dominance in Irish men's badminton until 1961, when for the first time in a decade he lost to another Irish player, Lennox Robinson, at an interprovincial tournament.^[30]

Over the course of his playing career, Doyle achieved an unprecedented eight consecutive title wins in men's singles at the Irish National Badminton Championships,^[31] a feat equaled only by Irish Olympian professional badminton player Scott Evans in 2012.^[32] Doyle and Evans are second only to Michael Watt in total Irish men's singles title wins, with Watt achieving a record ten non-consecutive men's singles Irish titles as a player.^[31] Doyle's style of play was described as a mixture of good footwork, the use of varying strokes and the ability to deceive opponents.^[2]

Following his retirement from playing, Doyle took up coaching and administration. In 1960, he was listed among the Midland Branch 'Entertainment' committee members.^[33] By 1968 he was serving on Midland branch executive committee^[34] and was president of the Leinster branch of the Badminton Union of Ireland from 1973 to 1978.^[23] In 1976, he became a partner in the Great Outdoors sports shop in Dublin, where he opened the Chick Doyle racquet shop.^[35] By 1980, Doyle was a Vice President of the Badminton Union of Ireland.^[36] He died of heart related health problems in 1985.