Gloves come off to salute Doyle

The gloves will be off in a harbour town this weekend when it remembers the centenary of the birth of its most famous son — boxer, crooner, and film star Jack Doyle.

Numerous events are being planned in Cobh, Co Cork, to commemorate the birth of Doyle and they get under way tonight with 10 amateur boxing bouts. WBO-ranked No 6, middleweight Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan, will attend, along with Michael Taub, author of the Doyle’s biography The Gorgeous Gael.

Also in attendance will be Doyle’s nephew, Chris Doyle. His uncle was not only a formidable boxer but a fine singer who made 78 records with Decca and starred in two Hollywood movies — McGlusky the Sea Rover (1934) and Navy Spy (1937).

Later in life, Doyle fell on hard times and drank much more than was good for him. He died in London in 1978, at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. It looked as though he would be buried in a pauper’s grave in Britain until two Cobh people, in particular, organised for his body to be brought home.

They were undertaker Paddy Barry and Pat O’Shea who owned the Commodore Hotel. Pat O’Shea Jr said he remembered, prior to Doyle’s death, his father bringing the local hero to the family home.

“He was absolutely huge but a lovely man,” Pat said.

The walls of the Commodore Hotel, where a special commemoration dinner will be held tomorrow night, are adorned with images of Doyle.

Meanwhile, Paddy Barry’s brother Colin once stayed in London with Doyle. “To the people of Cobh he was a hero. He was someone to make us feel proud at a time when there wasn’t much money around and Ireland, as a whole, was a bit of a backwater,” Colin said.

The weekend events include documentaries, lectures, and exhibitions about Doyle’s life along with walking tours of his birthplace at the Holy Ground and the Old Church Graveyard where he was laid to rest.