Frank Coyle

Frank Coyle

Induction: 1961

1938 Four-Wall Doubles Champion

1939 Four-Wall Doubles Champion

1941 Four-Wall Doubles Champion

1944 Four-Wall Singles Champion

1946 Four-Wall Doubles Champion

1950 Four-Wall Doubles Champion

1951 Four-Wall Doubles Champion

1951 Three-Wall Doubles Champion

Coyle was an outstanding New York Athletic Club water polo player and an excellent handball player in singles, but was best known for his doubles play. In 1944, the quick-handed southpaw startled the handball world by upsetting another lefthander, who had been unbeatable for almost a decade, Joe Platak.

Coyle used a slow, control game to overcome the blasting power of Platak on the lively Town Club court in Chicago. In doubles, “Lefty” Coyle’s style was to play a left front court with his partners. His partners worked the ball around until they could get a shot for Coyle’s deadly left.

 

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