Projo Running Blog

Members of the running community share their thoughts on Rhode Island marathon legend Bobby Doyle, who died early yesterday morning of an apparent heart attack at the age of 58:

Hi, my name is Joe Sullivan. I’d like to share a couple of thoughts about Bobby Doyle.
Everyone knows he was a tough competitor with a strong work ethic. I remember him once doing a 30 mile run at 6:00 minutes per mile pace.
But the two things I admired most about Bobby were his kindness and his humor.
I used to run for the Johnson and Wales Athletic Club back in the 1980s. I was a shy, nervous person and didn’t know him well at all. But I remember thinking if I wanted to run marathons I needed to run faster and longer, so I got up the guts to ask him if I could run with him. Though he was a champion runner, he never hesitated and allowed me to tag along on his training runs. We would run from his house in Seekonk out into Attleboro and up into Cumberland and around back to Seekonk. I learned a lot just by running with him and I got into good shape. I will always be grateful to him for allowing me that opportunity.
Now about his humor. On one of our runs in the Summer I had put on an older pair of shorts. After we had run from Seekonk and got out into Cumberland on some country roads I was having trouble keeping the shorts on because the elastic waistband was worn out. We were miles from home and I was panicking. I was running for a while with one hand holding my shorts up and Bobby was laughing. We wound up stopping at a house in Cumberland which I believe was his wife’s cousin’s house. I was embarrassed about it but wound up having to borrow a safety pin from Bobby’s wife’s cousin to hold my shorts up. Well, from then on he would always kid me about making sure I had a safety pin before a run. I would go over his house and he would give me one of his young son Patrick’s safety pins, or he would see me at a race and take a large safety pin out of his bag and offer it to me. It became a running joke he would remind me of through the years.
That’s the Bobby Doyle I knew. Terrific runner, wonderful guy. I can’t believe he’s gone. I will miss him very much.
Thank you.
- Joe Sullivan, fellow runner

This is indeed a huge blow for the running family in Rhode Island.
I remember Bobby as a fierce competitor and had a lot of fun racing against him back in the 1980's.
In my view he was one of Rhode Island's greatest athletes and he is to Rhode Island what [four-time New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon winner] Bill Rodgers is to Massachusetts. Bobby and his entire family have set many standards for running in Rhode Island. He also was a dedicated coach at Woonsocket high school. I have always enjoyed chatting with him about track and the old days at track meets. I'm not sure any Rhode Islander will ever match what Bobby Doyle has accomplished in his career. He was a happy guy and we will all miss him dearly.
- Charlie Breagy, CVS/Caremark Downtown 5K race director

Bobby truly defined long distance running in Rhode Island. When the running boom of the late 1970s was at its peak, Bobby emerged as a world-class marathoner, truly a source of pride for the Ocean State.
He remained true to his roots throughout the decades, promoting and supporting the sport in his home state. He will be missed by all distance runners in the region, and remembered as the greatest marathon runner Rhode Island has ever produced."
- Don Allison, Amica Insurance Breakers Marathon race director

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