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                                                                               TJ’s Paddy Doyle

The early 1980’s were some of the more memorial sports years in the storied history of Port Arthur’s Thomas Jefferson High School.  The Jackets played for the 5A State Football Championship game vs Odessa Permian in 1980, and then won the 5A State Baseball Championship in 1983 by defeating Corpus Christi Moody.  Those teams had multiple players that went on to play college ball, one being Paddy Doyle.  Paddy was one of the few players talented enough to play on the TJ varsity football team as a sophomore.  He ended his high school career in 1983 as an All-State football player as a wide receiver and baseball player as a center fielder, earning him numerous scholarship offers.  He settled on playing football for Louisiana Tech where after his junior season in 1986 he earned All-American honors as a wide receiver for the Bulldogs.  Paddy was a successful high school and college athlete but where is he now?  I sat down with Paddy to discuss his playing days, and what he’s up to today.

 
What is your biggest high school sports memory?
“One of the things I’ll always remember is when Todd Dodge set a state passing record his senior season, I was only a sophomore but caught the record breaking pass.  That was a big deal for me and one of the highlights of my high school career.”

 
You played football and baseball at TJ and were all-state in both sports. So which did you prefer?
“Although it’s hard to decide, I’d have to say my preferred sport was football. I loved both sports but I didn’t play baseball as a junior. I did have scholarship offers to play baseball but I had already signed to play football.  If I had it to do over again I’d probably do the same thing.”  

 
Do you keep in touch with any of your former teammates?
“Yea I keep up with Craig Stump who’s doing a great job over there at West Brook, but I haven’t been able to talk with Dodge (Todd) much since he’s made the move to North Texas.  I do still talk with Mitch Gaspard who’s now the head baseball coach at Alabama every now and then.”

During the 1980 football season I remember Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” playing at Memorial Stadium after every TJ victory. Whose idea was it to do that?
“Yes, they used to play that at the pep rallies and before the games in the locker room.  I’m just not sure how it started.  I was only a sophomore playing varsity back then so I was just the little guy.”

What are your memories of the 1980 State Championship Game?
“The first thing I remember is being at Texas Stadium and the temperature being around 19 degrees at kickoff.  The next thing that sticks out in my mind is going in at halftime 19-6 us, then the game ending 28-19.  We had a dropped TD pass a the end of the half that may have put the game out of reach.”

You played for former TJ and Memorial head coach Ronnie Thompson. Tell us what that was like.
“He was a strong disciplinarian.  I will tell you this….this is a true story, I remember being in the coaches office and Fred Akers calling Coach Thompson wanting to ask questions about our passing game.  Here he is a high school coach that had just left Vidor for Port Arthur and he has the University of Texas head coach calling him to ask questions about his passing game.”

What are your memories of the 1983 Baseball State Championship season? 
“One of my biggest memories about that season was when we were playing Klein for the semi-finals.  I remember Trace Hammond, a sophomore playing 3^rd base making a diving stop on a hard shot then throwing the guy out at first to end the game. We won 1-0 and there was a runner at 3^rd at the time so who knows what would’ve happened had he not made that play.  That was a memorable moment during that baseball run.”

What are your thoughts on the PAISD Consolidation to Memorial High School?
“I thought consolidating was one of the biggest mistakes made by Port Arthur.  All three of the former high schools had rich history and great coaches and athletes. I was really against it and still think it was a mistake.”

With no TJ, do you still follow Port Arthur Memorial?
“I started following Memorial when Coach Thompson came back to coach them.  When he came back I wanted to see what he would be able to do with the combined schools.  Another reason I keep up with them is because when I was doing my student teaching in 1989, Kenny Harrison was a senior wide receiver and I was able to work with him, now he’s the head coach so I do follow them because of those two guys.”

Talk about your decision to attend and play college football at Louisiana Tech.
“I had offers to play football from other schools but after seeing former teammates like Shea Walker not getting to play at Texas A&M and Todd Dodge and Brent Duhon having to sit until their junior seasons at Texas, I wanted to go somewhere where I could get some early playing time.  Louisiana Tech had a history of guys that made it to the NFL and they were a pass happy offense.  I ended up starting for four seasons and was All-Conference and an All-American after my junior season.  I enjoyed my time there.” 

So where are you living now?
“I live in Lumberton now and follow the Raiders because my boy plays here.”

Tell us about your family.
 “I’ve been married to my wife Bonita for 10 years.  I have two step sons, 18-year old Mason, and 24-year old Beau.  We also have a 3-year old grandson named Jackson.  Mason was second team all district for Lumberton following his sophomore season but was injured last year and missed six games.  He has one more year so we’ll see what happens.”

What are you doing now?
“I work with a business development for an electrical contractor and been with this group of guys for the past 15 years.  It’s a good job and I enjoy it.” 

What are your future goals?
“To finish raising this boy.”

Thanks for your time Paddy.
“Thank you, I enjoyed the talk.”  

                                             

To view more pictures of Paddy’s playing days at TJ and Louisiana Tech, CLICK HERE.

If you know anyone or have a recommendation of someone you would like to see featured in the next “Where are they now??” feature, please send us an email at mike@texassportsinsider.com adams@texassportsinsider.com or publisher@texassportsinsider.com.

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