Doyle runs his way to the county Hall
This is the sixth in a series of articles profiling members of the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024
EBENSBURG — The transition was natural.
After playing soccer for six years, 1998 Knoch graduate Kevin Doyle decided to try his hand at cross country and track and field.
“I played midfield in soccer and that involved constant running on the field,” Doyle said. “My father was a very good distance runner at Penn Hills, so I guess I had some of the genes, too.
“The summer between my freshman and sophomore years, I ran a few road races and was beating some of the cross country guys. I started thinking, ‘maybe I should be doing this.’”
His then-girlfriend and now-wife, Julie, ran track for Knoch at that time “and was a big reason why I joined the track team my sophomore year,” Doyle said.
Doyle wound up being the first Knoch boys soccer player to score 19 goals in a season. He set school records in the 3,200-meter and 1,600-meter runs while serving as captain of the track team. He won the WPIAL championship in the 1,600 his senior season.
After going on to set the 5,000-meter record at Saint Francis University, compete for Team USA at the Chiba Ekiden Relays in Japan and placing high in major road races, Doyle is finding himself being inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.
Doyle will join Josh Barthlow, Brandon Fusco, Tammie Kelley, John Papa, Dana Petruska, Lily Grenci and John Enrietto in joining the BCSHOF during the organization’s banquet at 6:30 p.m. April 27 at Founders Hall on the campus of Butler County Community College.
“This will be Doyle’s third Hall of Fame induction. He’s a member of the Knoch Athletic Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Saint Francis Athletic Hall of Fame with his cross country teammates in 2000.
“They didn’t have a great Division I team when I was bring recruited,” Doyle said. “I was part of a pretty good class and we just clicked.
“It’s a high honor to be going into this (county) Hall of Fame. So many great athletes have passed trough this county over the years.”
Doyle earned four letters in cross country, indoor and outdoor track at Saint Francis. He ran his school-record time of 13 minutes, 55 seconds in the 5,000 meters in 2002. He won the North East Conference cross country title in 2001, was a four-time All-NEC selection in cross country and a two-time All-Mid-Atlantic choice.
After graduating from college, Doyle’s running career was far from over.
“He consistently placed among the top 10 at USA National Road Running events and ran for Team USA in a 10k relay against some of the top runners in the world in CHIBA, Japan.
“That was a true highlight in my career,” Doyle said. “It wasn’t the Olympics, but anytime you get to compete in something wearing a USA jersey is a special feeling.”
Doyle also placed second out of 8,000 runners in the Richard Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race, finished first in the 30-39 age group at the 2017 Pittsburgh Marathon and finished among the top 100 out of 30,000 runners in the 2014 Boston Marathon.
The last race he’s run was the 2021 Boston Marathon, placing high in his age group that year as well.
“I’ll get back into competitive running again,” Doyle said. “That year I finished among the top 100 in Boston, I was already married, had kids, was working full-time. That was the case before I ever ran my first marathon.
“I never trained seriously for a marathon. trained for fun, ran to stay in shape. I was surprised by how well I did.”
Doyle and his wife own the Up ‘N Running stores in Valencia and Ebensburg, where the family now lives. They have three children: 16-year-old daughter Madeline and sons Miles, 14, and Emmett, 10. Their sons are involved in soccer and track.
Doyle also works full-time as a director of software engineering.
Tickets to the BCSHOF banquet are available at www.butlersportshall.com or at the Butler Radio Network on Pillow Street in Butler, Parker Appliance in Chicora, Saxonburg Drug or Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople.
