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.