On the surface, Kathleen Doyle was always a picture of calm, even in the most tense situations.
That was a quality Benet coach Joe Kilbride singled out when he recalled the time Doyle’s layup beat Edwardsville 53-51 in the 2016 Class 4A Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional.
“She was always in the moment, never thinking about the last one, never thinking about the next one, always right there,” Kilbride said. “It’s a superpower. It was one of the many things that made her such a great player.”
So it was no surprise that Doyle did not get emotional when Benet retired her No. 11 jersey during a ceremony at halftime of an East Suburban Catholic Conference game on Saturday in Lisle.
But she did choke up briefly while thanking her parents, Mike and Mary, dozens of other family members, coaches and teammates during a postgame reception.
“I always dreamed about playing and having the type of success that my teammates and I had, and now to have my jersey hanging up in the gym is something I never even dreamed of,” Doyle said. “Little Kathleen would be freaking out right now if she knew what was going on.
More Top Picks Best Printers For Homeschool
“So it’s just awesome to look back on my basketball career and being back with my teammates. The people are what made my basketball career so much fun and memorable, so I’m grateful for everybody who came out to support today. It means the world to me.”
Doyle is the first female athlete, and the third athlete overall, to have her jersey retired by Benet. She joins former NBA player Frank Kaminsky and former NFL quarterback Dan LeFevour.
Doyle, a 2016 Benet graduate, led the girls basketball team to 4A state championships in 2015 and 2016, winning Illinois Ms. Basketball as a senior. She then starred at Iowa, where she was the Big Ten player of the year during her senior season.
The Indiana Fever chose Doyle with the 14th pick in the 2020 WNBA draft. She played one season for the Fever and two more in Poland and Turkey before retiring in 2023.
In his remarks to the crowd, Benet athletic director Scott Lawler, who coached Doyle’s brother Mick in baseball at Notre Dame, extolled Doyle as one of the best athletes in Benet history and its most humble. Emma Hlavin, one of Doyle’s teammates on Benet’s 2015 championship team, shares that sentiment.
“She, out of anyone I played with, was the most natural leader,” Hlavin said. “Even as a sophomore, she was such a leader on the floor and in the locker room.
“She’s not only a fantastic player but also a fantastic person that’s just so easy to root for. I followed her since graduation and cheered her on, and I think anyone who played with her has similarly followed her. That’s pretty rare where people 10 years out are still cheering for her.”
Among them are current players like sophomore guard Bridget Rifenburg, who did a good impression of Doyle with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting, eight assists and five steals in the Redwings’ 82-30 win against St. Viator on Saturday.
“It was amazing that she was able to be recognized like this today, and the community and the people that she brought out to our game was huge for us and for women’s basketball,” Rifenburg said. “She’s just a great person, and she is a big role model for so many athletes, so many girls.”
It’s a role that Doyle, the youngest of six children who all graduated from Benet, has long embraced.
“I looked up to so many older players, whether they were on the varsity at Benet or college players I was watching,” Doyle said. “I wanted to follow in their footsteps, and I was blessed enough to have that happen, and it’s just crazy that I’m in that position where people wanted to follow in my path.”
Indiana freshman Lenee Beaumont, who was voted Illinois Ms. Basketball in 2023 after leading Benet to the 4A state championship game, is one of them.
“Lenee Beaumont telling me she always looked up to me, watched my games and then tried to practice my moves, that’s exactly how I lived as a little girl growing up,” Doyle said. “It’s very cool to see the love and the passion for the game is so strong in the younger generation, and it’s in great hands.”
Kilbride recalled the time after the Redwings won the 2015 state title when a fifth grader named Maddie McAndrew wrote a fan letter to Doyle and wanted to meet her. Doyle wrote back to McAndrew, who later was a backup guard for Benet in 2022.
More Top Picks Best Frozen Drink Machines
“Kathleen and (guard) Elise Stout went and met a bunch of fifth graders at Sts. Peter and Paul at a McDonalds in Naperville and talked,” Kilbride said. “That’s who she is as a person.
“I’m happy that we’re able to celebrate her today because in these hallways and the classrooms, on the court, she was such an amazing representative of everything good that Benet Academy stands for. She’s like the poster child for Redwing Nation. I’m incredibly grateful that I had a chance to coach her. I love this kid and everything she’s done, not just for me and our program but for this school as a whole.”
Doyle’s legacy is still being written. She is an assistant under Benet boys basketball coach Gene Heidkamp and aspires to be a college coach. Players on Heidkamp’s team attended the ceremony on Saturday.
“It’s been awesome to be back at Benet and learning from coach Heidkamp,” Doyle said. “I’m getting great experience, and the guys have been super fun to coach. They’ve welcomed me with open arms, and they definitely have made me excited for a career in coaching.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.