There are some who grow to love baseball.
And then there are those like Kirk Doyle, who are born into it.
Among Doyle’s earliest memories are of him cavorting in a Major League clubhouse while father Brian played as a backup infielder on the 1978 world champion New York Yankees.
It stood to reason that Doyle — a fair athlete in his own right — would follow in his father’s footsteps on the diamond.
Though Kirk couldn’t match his father’s foot speed or hand-eye coordination to play professionally, he was good enough to play collegiately. And his passion for the game was unparalleled, even after hanging up his cleats for good.
That’s when he joined his father’s famed Doyle Academy, for years one of the country’s preeminent training grounds for fledgling baseball players itching for a chance to play pro ball.
At its peak — and through the formative years of Kirk’s childhood — the Florida-based Doyle Academy worked with upwards of 20,000 players and 10,000 coaches a year.
But times change, and so do life circumstances.
Kirk got married, switched careers after his son fell ill, and eventually got back into coaching a decade or so ago.
Now 49, Doyle finds himself at the helm of the Allen Community College baseball program.
He was appointed in November as interim head coach after college trustees placed his former boss, Clint Stoy, on a leave of absence at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
“The reason I came was I saw an opportunity at a place that’s on the verge of something really cool,” Doyle said.
DOYLE was born into a family of ball players.
His father was one of three Doyle brothers — along with his twin brother Blake and older brother Denny — to have been drafted and played pro baseball.
“That should be your story,” Doyle laughed. “Their story is nuts. They’re from this itty bitty town in the Middle of nowhere and win the state championship from the smallest school in Kentucky.”
