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  • Photo:

    Mark Palmer •

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    Retired Cedar Falls high school coach Gene Doyle passes

    Gene Doyle, educator and wrestling coach at three high schools in Iowa for more than a half-century, passed away Sunday at the Cedar Valley Hospice Home in Waterloo after a short battle with cancer. He was 77.

    Gene Doyle
    Born in Marshalltown, Iowa in November 1940, Raymond E. "Gene" Doyle played football at Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa) before launching a 47-year teaching and coaching career in three sports -- including wrestling -- first at Keota High School for four years, then Dubuque Senior for another eight before coming to Cedar Falls High in 1974 to coach for 40 years.

    At Cedar Falls, Doyle served as assistant coach to Keith Young for the Tiger wrestling team for 14 seasons, until taking the helm in 1986. He retired from coaching in 2014.

    As head coach, Doyle compiled a 241-52 dual meet mark over 16 seasons, while winning traditional state championships in 1993, 1997 and 1998, posting six top-five finishes and also claiming the 1993 state dual crown.

    Doyle coached 43 state medal winners, including 10 state champions. including one of Iowa's 82 three-time state champions, Josh Budke, in 1995-97.

    "He did so much for us," Cedar Falls athletic director Gary Koenen told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier Monday. "Track, football, wrestling. All those years I saw him coach I never saw him yell or get mad at a kid. Very calm. He didn't have a negative word to say about anyone and that was just Gene.

    "He remembered every kid and tried to make sure every kid was successful in whatever they did."

    Michael Kelly, Cedar Falls High head wrestling coach, tweeted Sunday, "A great ambassador for the sport of wrestling & for #TigerNation. His legacy lives on through multiple lives he has touched."

    Doyle earned many honors during his long, successful coaching career. He was named Iowa Wrestling Association Coach of the Year award in 1992 and the National Wrestling Association Iowa Coach of the Year in 1996.

    Doyle was inducted into the Iowa Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. in 2011, and welcomed into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame in Cresco in 2012.

    Doyle is survived by his wife of 58 years, Sandra; four sons; three daughters; 24 grandchildren; a brother and two sisters.

    Visitation for Gene Doyle will be from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 at Richardson Funeral Service, 615 Main St., Cedar Falls. Mass of Christian Burial will be 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 19 at Saint Patrick Catholic Church, 705 Main Street, Cedar Falls.
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