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Brownsville’s Patterson played at WVU

By George Von Benkofor Heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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In the early 1970’s Brownsville High School suffered through some tough football seasons. However, the lack of success did not reflect a lack of talent. One of the brightest stars of that era for was big Norm Patterson.

The Falcons posted records of 1-8 in 1971, 4-7 in 1972, 0-9 in 1973 and went 1-8 in 1974, Patterson’s senior season. The lone win in 1974 occurred in the last game of the season when Brownsville downed Laurel Highlands 16-14.

“We had a good team,” Patterson recalled. “We just couldn’t put it together to get over the hump.”

Patterson played for Vince Coppolino for three season and Walt Whitehead, who had coached at Jefferson-Morgan, came in and took over in 1974. One of Patterson’s big highlights came in Brownsville’s 21-8 loss to McKeesport in 1974. Patterson scored the only touchdown of his high school career in that game.

“We recovered a fumble at the McKeesport 22-yard line,” Patterson remembered. “Quarterback Jim Argenti hit me with a pass on a tackle eligible play and that was a big thrill.”

At that time, Brownsville was part of the powerful Big Ten conference and faced some pretty formidable opposition. “Back then Thomas Jefferson was a powerhouse,” Patterson said. “Monessen was a tough team and Clairton was good.”

Patterson captured Fayette County Class AA All-Star honors in 1973 and 1974. He was a Big 10 All-Star and was named Honorable Mention All-State in 1974. Patterson played tight end and defensive tackle early in his career and he was shifted to tackle on offense in his senior season. “I liked playing defense,” Patterson offered. “I think I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder and I liked the tenacity of the defensive side.”

Patterson also excelled in the shot put and the discus for the track team.

“Jack Henck was the track coach. Year in and year out we had fantastic track teams,” Patterson stated. “We had Bill Hungerford, a runner. I had the shot put and discus records for Brownsville for quite some time. We had an outstanding track team. Coach Henck was an innovator, I met him as a kid and he was always a motivator. He had a garage filled with weights that he let us use to work out when we were little kids. He taught you life lessons as well as sports.”

Winning in track took the sting out of losing in football.

“Yeah, it did kind of made up for what was going on there,” Patterson said. “We’d get beat in a football game but when track came around we would get a little revenge.”

When Patterson graduated from Brownsville in 1975 he was on the radar screen for a few colleges. Pitt, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Lehigh offered football scholarships.

“It started out with Pitt,” Patterson recalled. “It was really between Pitt and West Virginia the whole way. I knew I was going to play defense if I went to West Virginia and that was the determining factor. I went on my visit to Pitt and they kept mentioning offense. I met Tony Dorsett on my visit and he said, ‘You’re going to block for me.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to block for you, I want to tackle.’ So I went to WVU.”

In Patterson’s four seasons at WVU, the Mountaineers went 9-3 in 1975, 5-6 in 1976, 5-6 in 1977 and 2-9 in 1978. Patterson played as a freshman and posted solid career defensive stats: 66 solo tackles and 45 assisted tackles, two sacks, six tackles for loss and one pass defensed.

“We went to the Peach Bowl in 1975,” Patterson explained. “We got off to a great start and then lost to Penn State and had a hangover the next week, losing to Tulane. I played a lot as a freshman because of injury. We had guys like Ray Marshall from Clairton and Gary Lombard from Frazier.

The highlight was beating Pitt 17-14 on a late field goal in 1975. Coach Bobby Bowden left for Florida State after the 1975 season. Frank Cignetti took over and we started to struggle and we had a lot of injuries. I got hurt my junior year in 1977 with a torn ACL in the third game. We were snake-bit with some tough losses. My senior year I never really recovered from the knee injury.”

Looking back Patterson has no regrets about the decision to go to West Virginia.

“I loved it,” Patterson gushed. “I met my wife there and my children were born in Morgantown. Even though western Pennsylvania is home, Morgantown is home, too.”

Patterson married his wife Crystal in 1977 and they have two children, daughter Andria and son Jason. Patterson has worked for State Farm Insurance for 25 years.

He is currently claims team manager for the Mid-Atlantic zone. Patterson resides in Baltimore, Maryland.

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