Donald Byrne, 1954

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April 08 1954

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, April 08, 1954

Donald Byrne of Brooklyn, holder of the national “open” championship, is here on a brief vacation from his duties at the University of Michigan. With him is his bride, the former Miss Madge Ellen Coleman of Ann Arbor.
If a pace on the American team can be found for him, Byrne will be available to play against Russia. His brother, Robert, at the University of Indiana, is assured of a place.
Results of the Marshall Club speed contest: Donald Byrne, 11-1; James T. Sherwin, 10-2; Arthur B. Bisguier and Walter Shipman, 9½-2½; Karl Burger, Brooklyn, 8-4, Shipman won from Byrne.

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Donald Byrne, 1955

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1955

Vol. 5, No. 1, California Chess Reporter, July 1955. Donald Byrne. http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/ccr/V5N1.pdf

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Abraham Yanofsky, Donald Byrne and Hans Berliner. Unknown date. Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame, gift of Carl Ebeling. For fair use, all credits must be kept intact. Color photo version created by the developer (me, yours truly) of https://best-in-chess.blogspot.com/p/donald-byrne.html https://worldchesshof.org/hof-inductee/donald-byrne

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Donald Byrne, 1959

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January 24, 1959

Vidette-Messenger of Porter County, Valparaiso, Indiana, Saturday, January 24, 1959

Caption: Makes Success Of Hobby—Planning next move on board is United States chess champion Donald Byrne, Valparaiso university English professor. Byrne is currently holder of National speed title; was US Open champ in 1953, and winner of Western Open trophy in 1957. (V-M Staff Photo)
VU English Teacher Is Excelling On Chess Board
Teaching English on the Valparaiso university campus is his profession, but Donald Byrne has achieved superior fame in another field—he is a United States chess champion.
Currently holder of the National Speed championship which allows 10 seconds per game move, Byrne was U.S. Open champion in 1953—he placed fourth in the same tournament while in high school in 1946—and Western Open champion in 1957. He has held the National Speed title several times.
He tied for fourth in the national invitational tournament during the Christmas holidays. Only America's 12 top chess players were invited to compete in this New York City meet.
And all of this started, Byrne claims, simply because his brother, Robert, now a resident of Indianapolis, needed an opponent when he learned to play chess at Children's Museum, Brooklyn.
Robert, by the way, tied for ninth in the Christmas tournament.
Both men have been rated among the top six or seven players in the U.S. Chess Federation listings for many years. This rating will include more than 6,000 people in its next issue.
The Byrnes also played on two American teams which faced the Russian world champions in 1954 and 1955. Both years—one meet was played in New York and the other in Moscow—the Valparaiso Byrne played the current Russian champion. And both years he won four and lost four games against these two top players.
Best Recent Record
This is the best record made by a U.S. players since the end of World War II when the Russians took the championship from the Americans.
In such team play, each side has eight players and each person plays eight games, but he plays the same opponent in all matches. The strongest player on one team plays the top opposing player and so on down the line of eight, each man playing the opponent judging his equal.
The Americans are improving despite their recent losses, Byrne says, because there are some excellent young players coming into the ranks. Two fellows—one 16 and one 21—have already beaten some of the world's best chess players.
A match against the Russians is being considered for this summer and Byrne thinks the U.S. will be able to offer its best team since the war. If the team play is set up, Byrne will be invited to participate.
“I don't practice and I don't keep up my game,” Byrne commented when asked about ‘keeping in shape.’
Style Is Aggressive
“And this is beginning to tell on me,” he grinned, “because in the invitational tournament I spent lots of time trying to find a way through the prepared plays and latest openings used by my opponents.”
He noted that until this tournament he had rarely had to adjourn a game—a game is halted after five hours of play and continued the next day—but that this happened to him several times in New York.
“I usually play short games because I have an aggressive style and I either beat someone quickly or lose quickly,” he commented.
Each player is allowed 40 moves in five hours and some of the invitational adjourned games lasted for 60 or 70 moves. The average time for each move is 3½ minutes.
Invitational tournament play is round-robin style with each participant drawing a number and all numbers being scheduled so that every player takes on all entrants. A win counts one point; a draw, ½.
Having played for 20 years, Byrne smiles at the fact that it was no until they reached high school that he and Robert encountered players they couldn't beat. So it was not until then that they bought a book and really began studying the game.
In grade school they found their best competition in playing one another. Robert learned how to play at Children's Museum and taught Donald the game. On his second day of chess, Donald defeated the Museum instructor two games out of three.
And even in high school the Byrnes eventually became the best players and the city champions. It was also during this time that they first began entering national tournaments. “Most meets are open to any player who pays his fee—that's how you get in,” Byrne explained.
The chess champion English teacher has been on the Valparaiso campus since September. He previously taught at Olivet college, Olivet, Mich.

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Donald Byrne, 1960

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January 24 1960

The Times, Munster, Indiana, Sunday, January 24, 1960

Caption: He's a Chess Champion; she's a ceramics fan, and both are instructors at Valparaiso University. Mr. and Mrs. Donald Byrne shares interests in arts but he teaches English and she is philosophy instructor.
Ceramics, Chess Interest Valparaiso U. Faculty Couple
Valparaiso—An interest in the arts has led the Donald Byrnes of the Valparaiso university faculty to careers in philosophy and English and hobbies ranging from ceramics to chess.
Mrs. Byrne is the philosophy instructor in the family, receiving introduction to the discipline through aesthetics. She is now writing her doctoral thesis for the University of Michigan on “The Aesthetic Theory of Remy de Gourmont.”
The study of this French philosopher won Mrs. Byrne a Fulbright travel grant and a French government scholarship. She studied for several months at the University of Sorbonne in Paris.
She notes, however, that the days of students living for pennies on the Left Bank are gone. The high cost of living in France makes it necessary to have an allowance from home because French scholarships give very low stipends.
While studying at Michigan, Mrs. Byrne held a philosophy teaching fellowship for leading discussion groups of 25 undergraduates—a contrast to Valparaiso where she has fewer than ten students per class, she commented.
Although both Byrnes share an interest in the theater, dance, concerts and paintings, Mrs. Byrne works in ceramics.
A member of the Potters' Guild of Ann Arbor, Mich., she entered a vase in the Craftsmen Exhibition for Michigan Artists at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Mrs. Byrne works with stoneware which requires 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit to be fired.
She prefers to shape vases and bowls on the wheel because “the symmetry achieved on the spinning wheel is more satisfying than the unusual shapes resulting from other molding methods.”
Chess achievements are left entirely to the head of the Byrne family who has held the national speed championship several times. This particular chess championship limits time per move to ten seconds.
Byrne was U.S. Open champion in 1953 and Western Open winner in 1957.
The most recent major tournament in which he participated was the national invitational held at New York City during Christmas vacation, 1958. He placed fourth. It is limited to America's 12 top players.
Byrne also played on two American teams which faced the Russian world champions in 1954 and 1955. Both years he played the current top Russian and both times won four and lost four games against the Russian champions.
What Does his wife do while he ponders moves on the tournament chess boards? She goes to a play or a concert, usually arriving at the meet just in time to watch the last half hour of play.
“It makes me too nervous to watch the entire match. It's so slow and I know how hard he has to concentrate. The tension is too much for me.”
Mrs. Byrne knows the rudiments of chess and finds the game fascinating. So fascinating, in fact, that she is satisfied to have only a small knowledge of the game for fear that in mastering it she would neglect more important duties.
The Byrnes have been in Valparaiso since September 1958, when the husband joined the VU English faculty after teaching at Olivet (Mich.) College.
His wife became a member of the philosophy faculty this fall.
Mrs. Byrne holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Michigan and her husband holds the B.A. from Yale University and the M.A. from the University of Michigan.
The Byrnes have an 18-month-old son, Jonathan.

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Donald Byrne, 1962

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March 13 1962

Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, March 13, 1962

And It Has a Senior Master as Coach: University Boasts Only Varsity Chess Team in the United States
Caption: Coach Donald Byrne and two of his Penn State chess players.
The University, rich in athletic lore, now boasts what is believed to be the only varsity chess team in the country.
“Moreover,” says Robert G. Bernreuter, special assistant to the President in charge of student affairs, ”our is the only team in the country with a Senior Master as coach.”
Even before 32-year-old Donald Byrne came on the scene, a small but enthusiastic band of students had persuaded the University to grant varsity status to its chess team.
The coming of Mr. Byrne, who has been ranked with the top 10 players in the country for a decade or more, gave new impetus to a movement which now has spread from the main campus to the University's 14 two-year centers scattered throughout the State.
“There's at least one chess board in every residence hall on our campus,” Mr. Bernreuter reports. “Some 40 or 50 chess players come together at least once a week to play and to learn more about the game from Coach Byrne.”
Mr. Byrne is dividing his time between chess and his teaching stint in the English department. He also has returned to tournament play, after several years of inactivity, and fully expects to retain his standing as one of the nation's top players.
“The campus-wide interest in chess intrigued me,” Mr. Byrne says, “and I accepted the Penn State position primarily because I was convinced there was a future for the sport here.”
In two short years, the “Blue and White Knights” have established themselves as a power to be reckoned with and this winter emerged victorious in their first six matches. A yearly schedule of 12 to 15 matches is contemplated.
Coach Byrne is no Botvinnik, but he has scored some impressive victories. He learned the game at age 7 from his brother, Robert, two years his senior, in their Brooklyn, N.Y., home. After that first day, the two brothers worked hard and rose in ability together. Both have been listed with America's top ten.
Donald Byrne became a recognized master in 1946 when, at the age of 16, he finished fourth in the U.S. Open chess tournament. He numbers among his achievements the defeat of the then Russian champion, Yuri Auerbach, three games out of four, in 1953.
He earned his bachelor's degree at Yale University, and his master's at the University of Michigan. He taught at Olivet College in Michigan for one year and at Valparaiso University in Indian for three years before accepting his present assignment.

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Donald Byrne, 1963

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April 01 1963

Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Monday, April 01, 1963

Master in Chess to Conduct Lecture And Exhibition Match in Hazleton
Donald Byrne, chess coach at the Pennsylvania State University and an international master in chess, will conduct a lecture-simultaneous exhibition match on chess at the Hazleton Campus of the University on Friday, April 5.
His appearance is one of the series for the Commonwealth Campuses of the University to stimulate student interest in the areas of art, music, drama, literature, and related subjects.
Mr. Byrne, who is also instructor in English at Penn State, was U.S. Open champion in chess in 1953 and several times was U. S. Speed champion, averaging ten seconds a move.
He was a member of the USA Chess Team for the USA-USSR match in New York in 1954 and again in Moscow in 1955 and last year was a member of the USA team playing in the World Chess Team championship, in Bulgaria. In this event, he had the highest score on the USA team and was 5th highest scorer among 100 players in the event.
Mr. Byrne is also the only USA player with a plus score against the Russian players who are recognized as the best chess players in the world.
A member of the Penn State faculty since 1961 and, also Penn State chess coach since that time, Mr. Byrne is a graduate of Yale University with a bachelor of arts degree in English literature and a minor in philosophy. His master of arts degree in the same area of study was conferred by the University of Michigan.
He has served on the faculty of the University of Michigan, of Olivet College in Olivet, Mich., and prior to his appointment at Penn State in 1961 served three years on the faculty of Valparaiso in Valparaiso, Ind.
Mr. Byrne is a member of the Michigan English Association, the Indiana English Association, and also the Modern Language Association.

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Donald Byrne, 1976

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April 09 1976

Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania, Friday, April 09, 1976

DONALD BYRNE
Donald Byrne of 714 Allen St., State College, assistant professor of English at the University, 45, died Thursday in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Byrne was captain of the U.S. team in the 1966 and the 1972 Chess Olympics and won the U.S. Open Chess title in 1953. His 1966 team was headed by Bobby Fischer and Mr. Byrne's brother, Robert, also an internationally renowned player and chess authority, and chess editor of The New York Times.
A member of the Penn State faculty since 1961, Mr. Byrne received the BA degree from Yale University and the MA degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a teaching fellow and instructor in the School of Public Health.
He had also served as an instructor at Valparaiso University and at Olivet College.
He was coach and adviser of the Penn State chess team.
Mr. Byrne retired from active chess competition in 1959, receiving the rating of the U.S. Chess Federation. That year he was ranked third behind Fischer and Sam Reshevsky.
In 1954 and 1955, he was a member of the U.S. team that faced the Russian team first in New York, then in Moscow. In the 1954 match he received a special prize for the best score by a U.S. player, and both years received the “brilliancy prize” for his showing against the then Russian champions. He twice placed third in the U.S. Open.
In 1972 he was ranked 12th among the top 50 players in the United States by Chess Life magazine.
In 1946 at the age of 16, he placed fourth in his first Open. In 1962, he competed in the World Team Chess Championships in Bulgaria winding up with the highest score on the US team and placing fifth among 200 individual players. He also played on the U.S. team in the 1964 Olympiad in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Born June 12, 1930 he is survived by his wife Madge; two sons, Christopher and Jonathan, and his brother.
Funeral arrangements under the direction of the Koch Funeral Home, State College, will be announced when available.

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April 10 1976

Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania, Saturday, April 10, 1976

Byrne Services
Funeral services for Donald Byrne of State College, assistant professor of English at the University, who died in Philadelphia Thursday, will be held at St Andrew's Episcopal Church, State College, Monday at 2 p.m., with the Rev. James B. Trost officiating. Dr. Henry Sams, professor of English at the University, will deliver the homily.
Friends will be received at the church Monday from 1 p.m. until the time of service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Arthritis Foundation the fellowship fund for lupus research, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 240, New York NY 10027.
Mr. Byrne was the son of Francis and Elizabeth Cattelier Byrne. Among his survivors are his mother of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his wife, the former Madge Coleman, whom he married Feb. 6, 1954.
Among his memberships was the U.S. and International Chess Federation.

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April 10 1976

The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, Saturday, April 10, 1976

DEATHS
Chess Champ Donald Byrne, Ex-Captain of U.S. Team
State College, Pa.—(AP)—Donald Byrne, a former U.S. Open chess champion and captain of the U.S. team for the 1966 Chess Olympiad, is dead at the age of 45.
Byrne, assistant professor of English at Penn State University, died Thursday in Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania Hospital, a university spokesman said.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
The 1966 team which he headed for the Olympiad at Havana included Bobby Fischer and Byrne's brother, Robert, also a renowned chess player. Robert Byrne lost to Russian champion Boris Spassky in Puerto Rico in 1974, two years after Fischer defeated Spassky in Iceland.
A native of Brooklyn, Byrne won the 1953 U.S. Open chess championship. In 1959 he retired from active competition, after receiving the master rating from the U.S. Chess Federation and being ranked as the No. 3 player that year.
He was graduate of Yale University and received a masters degree at Michigan. Survivors include his wife and two sons.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

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Donald Byrne, 2010

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February 21 2010

Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania, Sunday, February 21, 2010

Madge Coleman Byrne
September 28, 1925—January 26, 2010.
Madge Coleman Byrne died peacefully in her home on Jan. 26, 2010.
Born Madge Ellen Coleman to William Noble Coleman and Desse Lee Austin Coleman in Detroit, Mich., Sept. 28, 1925, she lived a long and rich life, full of both great sorrow and great joy. She came from a wealthy family that lost their fortune in the Great Depression, so she raised rabbits in the backyard for food as a child. She sang professionally with big bands in Detroit and Chicago during high school and college, which she paid for herself. She graduated summa cum laude from University of Michigan in English, stayed at Michigan on a graduate assistantship in philosophy and studied in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship.
At Michigan, she met Donald Byrne and on Feb. 6, 1954, they married. Madge and Donald taught at Olivet College and at Valparaiso University where they had two sons, Jonathan, born June 21, 1958, and Christopher, born Dec. 14, 1960. Madge had finished nearly all of her doctoral thesis when her advisor died and Donald contracted a terminal disease. Donald beat his prognoses by 10 years and lived until 1976, serving as English teacher and chess coach for Penn State and competing internationally on the U.S. chess team. After several years grieving death, Madge blossomed as an independent woman who was happy living alone in the College Heights home in which she had raised her family.
Despite excellent references from her prior teaching, Penn philosophy department refused to hire her and discouraged her from finishing her Ph.D. because “a woman has no business teaching philosophy.” When Donald's death was imminent, she took a minimum wage labor job at Pattee Library and worked her way up to be a supervisor in the cataloging department, where her knowledge of French, German and Latin enabled her to invent some of the cataloging protocols in use today. She retired in 1990 after 16 years of full-time service to the library.
In her retirement, she traveled the world and energetically volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, Centre Volunteers in Medicine, the Palmer Museum Docents and many other organizations. She was a life-long learner and took Penn State courses in history and art history throughout her retirement and also took in dozens of lectures on video and cassette. She invested much of her time and energy in her grandchildren. Nurturing her granddaughters' pursuit of music and dance was especially close to her heart.
She stayed active in music herself, singing for many years with the State College Choral Society and was a patron of our local orchestras. She occasionally sang jazz with her son Chris' bands, which in recent years included one or more of her grand- daughters. Madge's last public performance was with the Jackson-Byrne Band at Big Easy while celebrating her 80th birthday with the rest of her family on the dance floor.
She took great pride in compiling an encyclopedic scrapbook of chess tournaments, which brought his brilliant but tragically short career renewed attention. Along with the wonderful advocacy of former Penn State team member Dan Heisman, the book resulted in Donald being posthumously inducted into the U.S Chess Hall of Fame in 2003. Madge was given the “Chess Mate of the Year” award by the U.S. Chess Federation.
Madge's son, Jonathan, died in October 2009, a blow she endured with characteristic strength. She spent her last months at home under the care of her son, Chris, and his family, not really ill but rapidly winding down. Strong-willed to the end, when Madge made up her mind it was time to die, she did with grace, humor and a brave acceptance of the unknown she was facing.
Madge is survived by her son, Christopher, his wife, Caryl, and their daughters, Keely, Adrienne, Grace; and her son Jonathan's son, Jonathan Michael Byrne, of Burke, Va.
Memorial contributions can be made to Centre Volunteers in Medicine. Friends will be received in home from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010.

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