Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/131896
the fifth quarter lou somogyi Notre Dame's All-Time Writer W By Lou Somogyi hen Notre Dame commemorated its 125th year in football last year, we assembled an alltime 25-man Fighting Irish team at each position. If one writer had to be selected to cover that team, it would be Joe Doyle. The 1949 Notre Dame graduate and South Bend Tribune sports editor from 1951-81, and sports editor emeritus for several decades beyond that, died May 10 at the age of 92, three weeks after attending his final Blue-Gold Game. No man on this planet knew or wrote more about the program's history than Doyle. He was born two months prior to George Gipp's last game and death in 1920, was 10 years old when Knute Rockne perished in a plane crash, and after serving in World War II he enrolled at Notre Dame in 1946, when the football team began a four-year unbeaten streak. In the prime of his career, he would meet close friend Ara Parseghian for daily breakfast at Milt's Grill in South Bend from 1964-74. He stepped down as sports editor prior to the 1981 season, but continued his coverage of the Irish through the Lou Holtz era and beyond, including several years as a treasured freelance writer at Blue & Gold Illustrated. Doyle ended up at Notre Dame by accident after World War II. The Wis- Joe Doyle served Notre Dame football, his country and his community with distinction. photo courtesy South Bend Tribune consin native moved to Illinois in 1939 and from farm life he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps Cadet program in 1941. After the war, he was asked by a friend to accompany him on a ride to Notre Dame, where the friend was hoping to get admitted. The friend didn't receive admission, but Doyle, who also submitted his application for the heck of it, did. Destiny can take some odd twists. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Notre Dame, Doyle joined the Tribune and his first assignment was covering the 1950 Army-Michigan game. The following year, Doyle was promoted to sports editor. By then, Doyle had already estab-