Odds are, if you’re a college football or NFL fan, you’ve probably heard a game called by ESPN’s Mike Patrick. He has one of the most soothing, distinct voices in the industry and was incredibly talented. On Sunday, the Clarksburg, West Virginia, native passed away at the age of 80.
Patrick was not only a native of the Mountain State but was also a huge Mountaineer fan, as anyone from the state would expect. He called several Mountaineer games over the years, including the 2007 Backyard Brawl, where WVU fell to Pitt, denying them a berth in the national championship.
If you didn’t know Patrick was a fan of WVU or a native of the state, you would have never known by listening to him call that game. He could have very easily let his emotions show, but he handled the situation like the class act professional everyone knew him to be.
In a story on WVUSports.com, Patrick reflected on how difficult that game was for him, knowing how much the end result hurt him to the core.
“I was never going to be accused of favoring West Virginia, ever. My job was to be 50-50, and I probably did the games 60-40 against them because nobody was ever going to say, ‘Oh, I hear it in your voice. You were rooting for them!’ My heart was, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. Well, the Pitt-West Virginia game, when Pitt beat the Mountaineers and denied them a chance to go to the national championship game, after it was over and we were off the air, I walked into an empty room when people were filing out of the press box, and I just started screaming. It absolutely killed me. That was the most difficult time I ever had handling my emotions.”
Patrick began his time at ESPN in 1982 and spent nearly 20 years on Sunday Night Football. He was also known as the voice of the women’s college basketball national championship for 13 years and the College Baseball World Series from 2003-14.
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